Mark 6:30-44 — Coming & Going, Empty & Filled

Mark 6:30-44

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

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.

And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Now many saw them going and recognized them,

and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

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.

And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”

And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.

And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people.

And he divided the two fish among them all.

And they all ate and were satisfied.

And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.

And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

Comments:

A Desolate Place Above the Lake

Imagine the excitement as the six pairs of disciples all returned and reported to Jesus all that they had done and taught! Imagine the confusion as they all tried to talk at once, competing with the crowd that pressed in for Jesus' attention.  

Jesus was moved by compassion for the disciples and wanted to get away to a quiet place where they could rest and eat (v.31) and spend time with Him talking about their journeys. So they got into the boat and headed across the lake for a deserted beach. 

However, the crowd—with their needs, their hurts, their stresses, their demands, their longing for the Messiah—ran around the lake and got there first (v.33). What was Jesus' response to this "imposition" of the crowd? How did he react to their spoiling his for a strategic and therapeutic retreat? Did he get angry? Did he send the people away? Did he tell them to come back during office hours? Did he get back in the boat and head for another place? No. He stood his ground and as he looked at the people up on the hills surrounding the lake, he saw into their hearts and was moved with compassion for them (v.34).

Ruins of Bethsaida near where Jesus fed the 5000.

He could see that they were lost and needed a shepherd. So, “he began to teach them many things." What would it be like to sit on that hill near the lake and listen to Jesus? Would we have been checking our watches to see if it was time to go to 2^nd breakfast, or lunch, or dinner? These people were hungry enough for real food (the teaching of Jesus) that they forgot that they hadn’t eaten.
Jesus also met the physical needs of the people in a miraculous way and dealt with any seeds of self-sufficiency in the hearts of the disciples at the same time. He told the disciples to feed the people, but they couldn't do it. They had no bread, no money, and no bulk bakeries to buy so much bread even if they had 200 days’ worth of wages. They calculated the number of people, the amount of food needed, and the available resources and came up short. Jesus, on the other hand, did not…in fact, his miraculous provision yielded 12 baskets of left-overs. 

In closing, let me make two literary observations:

1.    Did you notice the constant “coming and going” the arriving and departing…that almost gives you the literary feel of the waves breaking on the beach? Similarly, everyone comes empty, and they leave filled.

2.    I arranged the text like I did in hopes that you would catch that this narrative is also conveyed to the metronome-like beat of the word “And” (Greek = kai). This pericope is told in all four gospels (SeeàMatt. 14:13-21; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-13) and this is by far the most “to the point” account, written in Dragnet style, “Just the facts Ma’am! Just the facts.”

So what do we learn about Jesus from this periscope? What do we learn about ourselves?
Leave your answers in the comments section!