The All-Sufficient Savior

The Gospel writers recorded 35 of Jesus' miracles. Of the 35, the feeding of the five thousand men is the only one that appears in all four gospel accounts. It is presented as the great climax of the Lord's public ministry. It is the miracle witnessed by the largest number of people and in which the greatest number of people took part.

It was a real miracle that helped real people by meeting their real physical needs of hunger. But it was more than miracle because His miracles are never just raw displays of supernatural power to impress the crowds. In reality, miracles are signs - significant displays of creative power and compassionate love that point beyond themselves to the deeper realities that could be seen only with the eyes of faith.  There are seven signs given in John’s gospel account of the which the feeding of the five thousand is the fourth sign. We read in John 6:14, “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” The ultimate significance of the miracles are not in the miracles themselves, but in what they reveal symbolically about Jesus’ unique identity and ability to meet humanity’s spiritual needs.

Mark 6:30-56 is one of those passages where everything seems to happen at once. The disciples are exhausted. The crowds are desperate. Food is scarce. The sea is raging. Sick people are everywhere. And in every scene, Jesus is revealing something about Himself.

This passage teaches us one great truth: When we are worn out, when we are overwhelmed, when we are afraid, and when we are broken in health and in heart - Jesus is the only all-sufficient Messiah/Savior and He is more than enough!

To the Hungry, Jesus Gives His Provision – 6:32-34

Jesus, upon learning of the death of His cousin and forerunner, John the Baptist, takes His disciples and heads to the country to try and get some rest and relaxation.  In fact, Mark 6:31-33 records: “And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.’”

The Kingdom of God Comes Not Only in Creative Power but in Compassionate Love

Mark 6:34, “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.” Luke 9:11, “The crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed healing."  The word "welcomed" in the Greek means “to receive someone favorably.”

So often when we are under the press and stress of people, we want to run them all off.  After all, they keep invading our privacy and we need space to keep our sanity. Again, when we are sorrowing over the death of a loved one, we tend to want to isolate and insulate ourselves from everyone. But notice Jesus' attitude here as He welcomes the crowds and makes them feel wanted. Jesus doesn't minister just out of obligation or duty or habit. Even though he is grieving inwardly over his cousin John's death, and his disciples are tired and need a rest, Jesus has compassion. He sees the needs of others and gives over and above what he has planned. Jesus knows this is one of those divine stops or interruptions, and He takes advantage of it to demonstrate not only the power of God, but the glory and heart of God. Jesus demonstrates clearly that the glory of God – that part of His character that He wants to put on public display - isn’t omnipotence but that He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin… (Exodus 34:6-7).

Remember, what matters isn’t power displays to dazzle people, but compassionate provisions coupled with creative power so that people are drawn to our great, merciful and gracious God.

The Disciples Learn Not to Leave King Jesus Out of Their Calculations – 6:35-44

If we factor in the women and children that probably accompanied the 5000 men in attendance, the crowd was perhaps as low as 10,000 and maybe as high as 20,000 persons. This was a deserted place to the east of Bethsaida, and there were no grocery stores or fast-food take-out places.

Notice what the first, natural response of the disciples was: “It's their problem, send them away so they can deal with it." In essence they were saying to Jesus, “Cut the sermon short and send the people home, we have our own plans.” Our perspective determines whether we see people as problems to be solved or shoved out of our space, or as potential kingdom citizens to be saved! At that moment the disciples saw them as a liability to kingdom business and not as assets.

Whether we see growing numbers of people as a problem or a potential, will depend upon our perspective. Graham Scroggie said, "Some people see only difficulties in opportunities, but he who sees opportunities in difficulties thinks with God."

Despite spending two years with Jesus and seeing the world that He brought with Him work in miraculous power time and time again, the disciples were as if they were standing beside Niagara Falls and worrying about where to get a drink of water. They were in the presence of the God who made “the something of this universe out of nothing”, yet they could not recognize it and thus saw people as annoying problems and themselves with inadequate provisions to help them.

They had seen Jesus turn water into wine, heal the nobleman’s son, and heal the man at Bethesda’s pool, and yet they still didn’t get it. It is so frustrating to illustrate a point time after time after time only to realize that the people still don’t get it.

No Problem is too Big to Solve when Jesus is Factored in Our Calculations

Philip was Staggered by the Size of the Problem – Jn. 6:7 (Impossible) Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."

Andrew was Skeptical because of the Smallness of the Provision – Jn. 6:8-9 (Illogical) One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?"

It seems illogical that a little can become a lot when God is in it!

The bottom line is “Anytime you leave Jesus out of your calculations, you always come up short!” The point of faith’s expectations is that Jesus will do something we hadn’t thought using what little we have. He will do something new and creative because that is the way life is in the world that He brought with Him – the world of the kingdom of heaven!

The Bread and Fish Multiplying Miracle Should Have Evoked Several Thoughts of Biblical Themes

1. It recalls God’s miraculous provision of food. The disciples begin with hardly anything and end up with enough to satisfy five thousand. The fragments collected into twelve baskets reveal both the great abundance and the magnitude of the miracle; they end with far more than they began. The miracle recalls God’s answer to Moses: “Is the LORD’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you” (Num. 11:23), and Elisha’s response to his servant, “The LORD says: ‘They will eat and have some left over’” (2 Kings 4:43b).

2. The feeding recalls the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their being fed in the desert. The wilderness motifs suggest that Jesus is a new and greater Moses, leading a new and greater exodus. Like Moses, Jesus feeds the people with teaching and with miraculous food. The image of sheep without a shepherd recalls Moses’ supplication to God to appoint a successor when he is informed that he cannot lead the people into the Promised Land: Moses said to the LORD, “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” (Num. 27:15–17)

3. Another echo of this miracle comes from the Elijah/Elisha cycle. Some observers have already guessed that Jesus might be Elijah (6:15) or one of the prophets because he speaks with authority and performs wonders. Like Elijah and Elisha, Jesus works in northern Israel, speaks rather than writes, and gathers disciples. Elijah provided miraculously for the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8–16) and mediated divine power by raising her son from the dead (17:24). Elisha fed the guild of a hundred prophets with twenty barley loaves, over his servant’s objections (2 Kings 4:42–44); Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves. If we are meant to recall the works of these sainted prophets of old, we see that in Jesus one greater than Elijah and Elisha is here.

4. The feeding account is a foretoken of the Last Supper in Mark. The action of taking bread, giving thanks, breaking it, and giving it to the disciples (6:41) matches his action at the Last Supper (14:22). While this gesture is not out of the ordinary, the reader familiar with Jesus’ action on his last night (see 1 Cor. 11:23–24) could not help but make the connection. The abundance of food left over after feeding five thousand means that there is more to go around and much more where it came from. Those who come to hear the teaching of Jesus and to share in the broken bread will receive the same abundant blessing.

Mark does not refer to the astonishment of the crowd, which normally accompanies his miracles. Do they even know that a miracle has occurred? Could it be that they have eaten a miracle in a deceptively simple meal and did not realize it? Do they just accept this bounty without reflecting on the gracious gift offered to them? Are they like dumb sheep who eat the grass without a thought for the one who made the grass?

In John’s lengthy account of this miracle in John 6:1-71, Jesus exposes the motives of most of the crowd. The next day after the miracle, Jesus confronted the reassembled crowd with these words in John 6:26, “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.’” 

Then in John 6:35, “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” 

He repeats again in John 6:48-51, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 

John 6:41, “So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 

John 6:42, “They said, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?’” John 6:60 , “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” John 6:66, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”

The disciples, who distribute the bread from their meager supply, no doubt knew that a miracle was occurring as they distributed the food, but the next episode on the boat makes it clear that they do not comprehend its significance and what it says about the one who did it.

To the Helpless, Jesus Gives His Presence – 6:45-52

Jesus has just fed 15 or 20 thousand people (Mark 6:30-44). Messianic excitement is at a fever pitch. The crowds want to make Him king now (John 6:14-15). However, it is neither the time nor the means whereby He would receive His kingdom. A throne awaits Him, but there is a cross on the way.

Why did Jesus compel His disciples to leave? First, because the crowd was getting restless, and there was danger they might start a popular uprising to make Jesus King (John 6:14-15). Second, He wanted to teach them a lesson on faith that would help prepare them for the work that lay ahead of them after He was gone. The disciples had just completed a very successful mission, healing the sick and preaching the Gospel. They had shared in the miraculous feeding of 5,000 people. They were on a “spiritual high” and this in itself was dangerous. It is good to be on the mountaintop if you don’t get careless and step off a cliff.

Spiritual blessings must be balanced with burdens and battles; otherwise, we may become pampered children instead of mature sons and daughters. On a previous occasion, Jesus had led His disciples into a storm following an exciting day of teaching (Mark 4:35-41). Now, after a time of miraculous ministry, He again led them into a storm.

Let’s note three truths from this rough night on the lake experience:

Jesus’ Disciples Are Guided by His Plans -Mark 6:45 - Jesus takes control in this politically charged situation and makes the disciples “get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to Bethsaida.” Thus the disciples are exactly where Jesus wants them to be. Spurgeon said, “Their sailing was not merely under his sanction, but by his express command. They were in the right place and yet they met with a terrible storm.” Jesus purposefully sent them into trouble!

They Are Encouraged by His Prayers - Mark 6:46 - Jesus leaves the crowd, goes up to an unspecified mountain (Mark calls it “the mountain”) and prays. Mark only records three times that Jesus prays: (1) at the beginning of the Gospel when His ministry is being defined (1:35); (2) here, in the middle of the Gospel after He feeds the five thousand (6:46); (3) near the end of His ministry in Gethsemane, just before He goes to the cross (14:32-42).

They Are Blessed by His Power - Mark 6:47-50 - It is now late in the evening - the fourth watch of the night was between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. The boat is at sea, and Jesus is alone on the land enjoying prayer communion with His Father.

He sees them struggling on the sea. No doubt moved again with compassion (cf. v. 34), He does what no one had done before or since: “He came to them walking on the sea.” Walking perhaps several miles in pitch-black darkness, our Lord makes His way to those He has called, loves, and cares for. He knows where they are and what they are going through.

The phrase “He wanted to pass by them” has troubled many. Professor Daniel Akins gives an interesting explanation: “This phrase is rooted in the Old Testament understanding of a theophany, an appearance and manifestation of God Himself. In Exodus 33:18, 20-23, “Then Moses said, “Please, let me see Your glory.” ... But He answered, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.” The Lord said, “Here is a place near Me. You are to stand on the rock, and when My glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back, but My face will not be seen.”

And in 1 Kings 19:11 we see this encounter with Elijah: “Then He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.’ At that moment, the Lord passed by.”

“As the Lord “passed by” Moses at Sinai and Elijah at Horeb, so now the God of the Old Testament, who is Christ, “wanted to pass by” His disciples so that they might see His glory and believe! Only God can walk on water, and Jesus is showing them beyond question that is who He is!”

A number of miracles were involved in this event: Jesus walking on the water, Peter walking on the water (Mat. 14:28-32), Jesus stilling the storm, and the boat arriving on shore the instant Jesus entered it (John 6:21). It was certainly a “night of wonders” for the Twelve!

To the Hurting, Jesus Gives His Power – 6:53-56

This summary of Jesus’ healing activity illustrates once again his compassion for the sick and the common people’s profound attraction to him.

“Wherever he went … they placed the sick in the marketplaces.” This is the third summary passage (1:32–34; 3:7–12), and like the others it centers on both the miraculous power of Jesus and his incredible popularity with the people. Landing at Gennesaret, he visits all the towns and villages in the region. He begins ministering both in the towns and in the open countryside, with the sick lining the streets and the central marketplace in each town. He heals them all. Let them touch even the edge of his cloak . . . all who touched it were healed. Perhaps the story of the woman healed in Mark 5:28–34 had become well known, for they believed that simply by touching one of the four tassels on the fringe of his robe (required to be worn by Jewish males [Num. 15:38–39; Deut. 22:12]) they would be healed. And they were (cf. Acts 19:12). Jesus’s healing power extended even to the clothes he wore.

The relation of faith and the presence of healing power here is exactly the opposite of that in Jesus’s hometown. The inhabitants of Nazareth took offense at Jesus, with the result that he “could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith” (6:5–6). In this summary passage, however, the divine power is radiating from Jesus so that if any sick person were to “touch even the edge of his cloak” they would be healed (v. 56), indicating the presence of strong faith among these crowds. A similar powerful outbreak of healing takes place in Mark’s earlier summary in 3:7–12 and with the hemorrhaging woman in 5:25–34. Mark puts special emphasis here on the overwhelming force of divine power that is flowing from Jesus. Rather than touching Jesus himself (3:10) or his garment (5:30), if anyone even touched the edge of his cloak, they would be healed.

This “Bread of Life” allowed His body to be broken that our souls might receive the spiritual nourishment they needed. He walked the stormy waters through the dark night that led to the cross, so that He might rescue us and that we might never again be terrified or afraid. Through the wonderful touch of His bloody, redemptive hands, we can forever be healed of sin’s diseases and made well forever. He walked across the stormy waters of judgment in our place, and He took on our sicknesses in His own body. “Take heart,” He says. Understand, “I AM!”