Mark 6:45-56
The feeding of the 5,000 revealed God’s perfect provision through Jesus. This miracle was not simply an act of power or a physical manifestation; it was for the apostles and for all believers that we would learn that anything we put in Jesus’ hands becomes whatever is necessary for what He has called us to. God’s call often leads us to impossible situations, that is when we learn to totally depend upon Him and when obedience is tested and faith is revealed. Michael Card wrote “His call is always precisely to the level of our inadequacy”, meaning that God puts us in positions in which without His intervention we can’t accomplish the task in front of us. Hudson Taylor said, “I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God; first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.” Let’s apply that to the feeding of the 5,000 to see what Taylor means. When Jesus told the apostles to feed the crowd themselves it was an impossible task. When Jesus told the apostles to seat the people and tell them they were going to be fed, knowing that all they had was 5 loaves of bread and two fish it was a difficult task, one that required faith and obedience. When they gathered up 12 baskets full of crumbs the work had been accomplished. If we ever stop at the impossible or in the difficult we never get to be strengthened and changed by the finished work. The feeding of the 5,000 was, as all of Jesus’ miracles were, about revealing His identity and making disciples. The apostles were the recipients of this miracle, not because they were fed but because they got to see Jesus as their ultimate provider. From the feeing of the 5,000 we move into tonight’s passage and we will see again, miracles that reveal Jesus’ identity to the apostles. They were His students, His followers and His friends. They had even been sent out to preach His message and had performed miracles in His name and yet tonight we see that they still were not sure of who He truly was.