"What
Is Needed"
[Mark
6:30-56]
April
9, 2006 Second Reformed Church
March
28, 2021 YouTube
John
the Baptist has been buried, and the disciples, who Jesus has sent out two by
two, come back to Him to tell Him what they have taught and what they have done
among the people of Israel. And then Jesus tells the disciples that they should
rest -- they should take time to refresh themselves in a quiet place.
While Moloch and Baal and Asherah and every other god is
crying out, "more, more, more," Jesus says there "is a time to
keep silence, and a time to speak" (Ecclesiastes 3:7b, ESV). Ours is the
God Who knows us and cares for us such that He said, "six days you shall
labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your
God. On it you shall not do any work..." (Exodus 20:9-10a, ESV). He also
calls us, now, after His Resurrection to rest, "on the first day of the
week" (Acts 20:7a, ESV).
Many
people were coming to Jesus and the disciples, but He knows they are tired, and
they haven’t had time to eat, so He sends them away, into a desolate place to
rest and prepare themselves for the work that is coming. And Jesus says the
same thing to us today, "You don't have to accomplish everything right
now. Take a break; rest and prepare yourself for the crowd that is coming. Rest
is necessary."
Do you take time to rest? We need to take the time we
need each day and each week to bring ourselves back and to ready ourselves for
the good works that God has set out for us. God does not want us to go non-stop
-- it's not healthy for us. And we need to be mindful of each other, that we
are not expecting others to run at a pace that does not allow them time to
rest. Rest is a gift from God that we must all receive and allow others to
have.
Jesus
sends the disciples off to rest, but the crowd recognizes them and runs after
them on foot. Every one of them wants to be healed and taught and cared for by
Jesus and His disciples, and they run so fast they get to the desolated place
before the disciple's boat arrives. And Jesus takes pity on them -- they are
desperate -- they are like sheep without a shepherd, so Jesus begins to teach
them, and He teaches them hour after hour, and they listen.
What
do we think of the desperate, the disillusioned, the disenfranchised? Do we
pity them? Do we look at those worshiping false gods and pity them? Do we see
those who are pursuing things that will never satisfy and pity them? Or do we
pass by on the other side of the road? Do we just say, "God bless you and
be at peace"? What or who makes your heart break? And what are you doing
about it?
The
disciples come to Jesus and tell Him that night is upon them, as if He is
unaware, and they tell Him to send the people away -- they have been with Him
all day, listening to Him preach and teach, and now they ought to get something
to eat. The crowd has been so wrapped up in what Jesus is saying, that they don’t
notice that they haven’t eaten -- have you ever been doing something that you
were so excited by, so enraptured with, that you forget about food -- that you
forget it is time for a meal? Jesus is that way: knowing Jesus is worth more
than food. If you haven't had that experience, pray God that there will be a
time when listening to Jesus' Word and studying it finds you forgetting about
your sandwich. If we are in love with Jesus, there will be times when we
suddenly realize that we have forgotten to eat, because we have been so
involved with Him.
Jesus tells the disciples, "You feed them." And
the disciples respond, "Right, we're going to go back with two hundred
days' worth of cash and buy this crowd bread." But Jesus says, "No, how
many loaves do you have?" And they told Him, "Five and a few
fish." That is more than enough for the God of the Universe, and they
should have known. They would have known how the prophet Elisha meets a man
from Baal-shalishah who had twenty loaves of bread and a sack of fresh ears of
corn, "And Elisha says, 'Give to the men, that they may eat.' But his
servant says, 'How can I set this before a hundred men?' So he responds, 'Give
them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, "They shall eat
and have some left."' So he set it before them. And they ate and had some
left, according to the word of the Lord" (II Kings 42-44, ESV).
Jesus
holds the bread and fish up to heaven and praises God and prays, thanking Him
for His bounty, and He breaks the bread and breaks the fish and begins filling
baskets and tells the disciples to distribute them to the people sitting on the
grass. And they go around and feed the people -- we're told there were 5,000
men, so it is not unreasonable to think there were about 15,000 people there,
if we consider that there could have been an equal number of women and
children. And once the 15,000 had been fed, the disciples come back to Jesus
with twelve baskets full of bread and fish.
Do
you doubt that Jesus can provide for our needs, as individuals and the church?
Perhaps we have not always gotten what we wanted, what we thought we needed at
a given moment. But the Scripture tells us that if we do not have, it is
because we do not need it to accomplish God's purposes. God gives each of us
what we need, and He gives us more and more.
Paul
writes, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from who every
family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory
he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner
being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith -- that you, being
grounded and rooted in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the
love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we
ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen" (Ephesians 3:14-21, ESV).
Immediately after these things happen, Jesus sends the
disciples back to the boat and tells them to sail, again, and He will get rid
of the crowd. Once Jesus has sent them away, Jesus goes into the mountain to
pray. Prayer is necessary.
Why do we pray? To change God? To give Him information?
To point out His mistakes? Of course not. We pray to align ourselves with the Will
of God – with the Mind of God. Prayer changes us. We pray to align ourselves
with the Will of God – the Mind of God. But we must take time to pray -- alone
and with each other -- because that is the example of the Scripture. Our
prayers don't have to be fancy or "perfect," whatever that means. But
we must pray. We need to pray that God would help us to understand, that He
would lead us, and that He would provide us with all that we need. Prayer is
necessary for our health and life: do we pray? Do we gather with each other to
pray? Let us become a people of prayer that are becoming more in line with the
Mind of God by His Grace.
While
Jesus is praying, a violent wind comes upon the Sea of Galilee, and the
disciples are struggling about mid-way across the sea to sail into the wind to get
to Bethsaida. And Jesus walks out across the sea to the disciples, and when
they see Him, they think He is a vision of some sort and they are shaken to
their core, but Jesus says, "Take courage It is I. Do not be afraid."
And Jesus gets into the boat and the storm stops. But they are still afraid.
And the Scripture tells us that they still didn't understand what the bread
means, and their hearts have been hardened.
What
a sad situation. Those closest to Jesus just don’t get it, and that lack of
understanding leads to fear. And that's true for us, as well, it is the things
we don't understand that we fear, and it is when we don't understand the place
of Jesus as God and Lord of the Universe that we fear. For, if we know that
Jesus is God and Lord of all, and He is our God, what would we have to fear? We
are not a people without hope. Yes, we suffer and mourn loss, but ultimately,
we have hope. We know what happened that first Easter morning.
Horatio G. Spafford sent his wife and four daughters from
America to England to their new home. They took the first ship, and he was to
follow shortly. But a storm rose and the ship his wife and daughters were on
sank, and his four daughters were lost at the bottom of the sea. Surely he
mourned their loss, but he did not fear, because he had a sure hope. He made
the voyage across the sea to be reunited with his wife, and as he sailed across
the deep where his daughters had died, he wrote these familiar words,
"When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows
roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, 'It is well, it is well with
my soul.'"
Is
it well with your soul? Do you know that Jesus is the Lord and God of all? If
you do, then you will come to receive whatever comes from His Hand and not be
afraid, but instead be satisfied in Him.
They cross to the other side of the sea and land at Gennesaret,
and they dock, and when they disembark, they are immediately recognized, and
the people rush to Jesus with their sick, bringing them on their mats -- on
their beds, if necessary. No matter where Jesus goes, the people run after Him
and seek salvation from Him. Action is necessary.
The word that we translate, "begged," is a word
the indicates that these people not only beg Jesus with words, but they press
against Him, they get in His face, and they will not leave Him alone until they
touch Him and be healed -- saved.
And we remember the woman with the issue of blood who is healed
when she touches Jesus' robe, Jesus does not have a magic robe. No, Jesus heals
her, and He has compassion on those begging Him for healing. Jesus has
compassion on them, and He has compassion on His people. Jesus has compassion
on us. Look at where we are, who we are, and think about where we could be. If
we understand how much worse off we could be, we can understand how much
compassion Jesus has shown us -- how much He has blessed us. Do you realize how
blessed you are? Do you understand the enormity of the compassion Jesus has
shown to you? Merely consider what He suffered, willingly, for you.
James
writes, "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily
food, and one of you says, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving
them the things needed for the body, what good is that?" (James 2:15, ESV).
What can you give of your abundance? What's holding you back?
The
crowd persists after God's Will and they receive results, and so shall we. If
we are about God's Will. If we seek after God and His kingdom, we shall receive
it.
To
live the Christian life, action is needed, prayer is needed, and rest is
needed. Each at the right time and in the right amount. As we live the
Christian life, we learn that Jesus has compassion for His own, He is the Lord
and God of the Universe, and He provides for all our needs.
Even
on that first Palm Sunday, we see Jesus having compassion on Jerusalem, crying
for them and their sin as He prepares to ride in. We see the crowds recognizing
Him as the One True King of Israel as they throw the palms and their cloaks
down to make a path of comfort as they welcome the new King into the city. And
we see Him providing for our needs, in His Life, through the horrific events of
the week of the crucifixion, and then as He rises from the dead.
Let
us pray:
King
Jesus, we come before You as people who have not taken the rest You give us.
Forgive us and teach us to love a holy rest. We come before You as a people who
have shuffled You off to the corner, rather than bowing before Your Throne.
Forgive us and humble us that we might be right witnesses to Your Majesty. We
come before You as a people who say, "it's not my job." Forgive us
for shirking our duty to You and Your creation. Make us understand that You
have equipped each one of us and given us good works to carry out in Your Name.
Increase our trust in You and make us compassionate towards each other for Your
Sake. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment