“A living faith is ever a loving faith, and a loving faith is ever a doing faith.”
Edward Willan
In last Sunday’s sermon, we began to explore the feeding of the 5000. It is an astonishing miracle (but aren’t they all), and it is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels. A wonderful study is to compare the account in John 6 with that of Mark 6 and we did a little of that in the sermon. In Mark 6, we discover one of the motivations for Jesus leading his disciples into the hill country adjacent to the Sea of Galilee: “And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” (Mark 6:31) The disciples needed rest and Jesus led them to that rest but not in the way we would expect.
After retreating to a fairly desolate place, the crowds still kept coming. Jesus saw them assembled and it was a huge group. The Bible tells us it numbered 5000 men. This number did not include women and children. Commentators think the number may have been closer to 20,000. Jesus had compassion on the crowd and his first action was “to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34) After a session of teaching, he turns to his tired disciples and asks them, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” (John 6:5) His question contains the answer. He says, “we.” The disciples were content with sending the people away to fend for themselves. They were not able to see that Jesus was able to take their meager resources, the five barley loaves and the two fish, and multiply it exceedingly. Let us not repeat their mistake. I want to close with a few bulleted points for you to contemplate:
- Jesus has the right to test and it’s in the testing that we know who we are and who he is.
- Ministry is done for individuals who need rest and satisfaction byindividuals who need rest and are satisfied.
- Jesus is the end and means of ministry.
May the Lord strengthen The Road for the ministries that are ahead of us. Have a blessed week and we will see many of you on Sunday.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Dale
