Mark 6b (10-8-25)

What's up everybody? This is Pastor James. Welcome back to our midweek Bible study.

Today we are going to finish up chapter 6. Once again, it's a good bit of

Scripture, so let's get started for time's sake and read with me Mark 6

Mark 6:30–44

verses 30 through 44 to begin with as we read about Jesus feeding the 5,000.

The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all that

they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, let's go off by ourselves to a

quiet place and rest a while. He said this because there were so many people

coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn't even have time to eat.

So they left by boat for a quiet place where they could be alone. But many

people recognized them and saw them leaving and people from many towns ran

ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. Jesus saw the huge crowd as

he stepped from the boat and he had compassion on them because they were

like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. Late in

the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, this is a remote place and it's

already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to nearby farms and

villages and buy something to eat. But Jesus said, you feed them. With what

they asked, we have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for

all these people. How much bread do you have? He asked. Go and find out. They

came back and reported we have five loaves of bread and two fish. Then

Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the

green grass. So they sat down in groups of 50 or a hundred. Jesus took the five

loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven and blessed them. Then breaking

the loaves and the pieces he kept giving the bread to the disciples so

they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone's

share. They all ate as much as they wanted and afterwards the disciples

picked up 12 baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and

their families were fed. Okay, so this passage is a continuation of verses 6

through 13 when Jesus sends out the 12 disciples. And the disciples come back

and seem to be in good spirits as they report all that they had done and

taught. You almost get the sense of a need to celebrate as Jesus wants to

pull them away so that they can all go and rest and kind of rehash all that's

happened. And as usual, they get in the boat. They get away from the crowd, but

apparently the people were becoming wise to Jesus and his behaviors, and they run

ahead and meet him where they got out of the boat. And the great thing about

Jesus is that he never rebuked people for coming to him. I can't imagine the

amount of stress and pressure that people put on Jesus and his disciples,

yet Jesus always loved them and gave them what they needed and met them

where they were. He never saw people as a nuisance, but rather he saw them and

had compassion on them as the scriptures say multiple times. Jesus wanted to lead

them. He wanted to care for them like a shepherd for his sheep. This was a

calling on his life and this was something he took very seriously and he

was very willing to do. The beautiful part of this story is that the

disciples who just came off of a victorious ministry experience noticed the

people's need of food and brought it to Jesus' attention as if they didn't

know their needs as well. But Jesus having the reports of their recent ministry

success challenges the disciples to feed the people themselves rather than send

them away. And even though they had been given authority to cast out evil spirits

and perform miracles in their recent ministry, the disciples still quickly fell

back into the worldly mindset of reality and possibilities. They still could not

overcome their normal answers for everyday situations and even after Jesus

told the disciples to feed them, they kept giving worldly normal answers to a

Savior who had already proven many times to be beyond such simple hindrances and

circumstances. Jesus was trying to teach him that there was a better way, a more

powerful way, a spirit-filled way. So Jesus took what they had which was five

loaves and two fish and fed 5,000 men. And in this it's estimated that the women

and children would have put the numbers to 10 to 15,000 people total and they

had leftovers. And thankfully we serve a Savior that can take an inadequate

source and use it to completely satisfy us and still have plenty left over. This

miracle was probably regarded as the greatest miracle to the people of Israel

because it would have been something that they all would have wanted and

desired. And Jesus in this moment was able to provide for them in a way that

that they had never experienced before. This would have been a very unique

moment to the people of Israel as Jesus did this. And this would have

really given the people the attitude that he is quite possibly the Messiah

that they have been talking about and expecting for so long. Okay, let's read

verses 45 through 56. Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples

get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida. While he sent

the people home after telling everyone goodbye, he went up into the hills to

by himself to pray. Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the

middle of the lake and Jesus was alone on land. He saw what they were in serious

trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three

o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He

intended to go past them, but when they saw him walking on the water, they

cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. They were all terrified when they

saw him. But Jesus spoke to them at once. Don't be afraid, he said. Take

courage, I am here. Then he climbed into the boat and the wind stopped. They were

totally amazed, for they still didn't understand the significance of the

miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in. After they

had crossed the lake, they landed at Geneseret. They brought the boat to

shore and climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once and they ran

throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard

he was. Whenever he went and villages, cities, or the countryside, they brought

the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least

the fringe of his robe and all who touched him were healed. Okay, so this

final passage of chapter 6, we see how Jesus has sent his disciples ahead to

cross the lake. This is the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus tells all of the

people by and heads up to the hills to be by himself and pray. And this

was a regular practice of Jesus. He always made time to get away and pray.

This is one of the reasons why Jesus being of the flesh, being fully human, was

also completely filled with the Holy Spirit and walked in such close

fellowship with God. Now Mark's account of this is quite interesting as Jesus

seems he sees them struggling and he went towards them about 3 a.m. and

intended to pass them. And that's pretty interesting that Jesus was just gonna

walk past them. He was gonna leave them there to struggle. But when they saw

Jesus walking on the water and thought he was a ghost, once again it never

crossed their mind that Jesus, who could heal the sick, raise the dead, and

make food multiply to feed tens of thousands of people, could ever

possibly walk on water. And even after Jesus had on the storm in chapter 4,

their mind still reverts to a worldly answer rather than someone else that

Jesus could be capable of. And it made more sense that it was a ghost walking

on the water than Jesus walking on the water. So that's still kind of the

mindset of the disciples that we're dealing with. They are still very much

lost and immature in their spiritual thinking, associating and giving credit to

worldly things much quicker than they do to Christ and his deity. So let's talk

about verse 50 really quick. Now this verse is far more important than we could

ever realize. The whole time Jesus has been telling people to keep it a

secret. This is one of the big themes of Mark. Don't tell anybody. And many

people will try to argue that Jesus never claimed to be God. However, when

you look at the original Greek translation, Jesus answered them, I am is

here. So Jesus is not just saying I'm here, he's saying I am. And that's what

the original Greek is translated as. So Jesus refers to himself many times in

the Gospels as I am, which is the direct way that God identified himself to

every major Old Testament character in Scripture that he communicated with. They

would say, who should I tell them has sent me? And God says, tell them I am that

I am. And so that is God's identifying name. And this is how Jesus refers to

himself multiple times in these passages. So Jesus does the exact same thing. He

But you only notice that if you look down at your footnotes and see the very

important distinction in the original Greek in which it was written. And that's

something that you need to be very aware of as you're reading the Bible.

Pay very close attention to the footnotes. A lot of times we get so busy

and we just want to read just to say that we read it and get it over with and

get it done. But it is very, very important for us to make sure that

we're reading footnotes because they have a lot of information to give us. Now

in verse 52, they still don't understand and their hearts are still hard. That's

what the Scripture tells us that their hearts were too hard to understand. And

this should be an eye-opening passage because it the disciples whom Jesus

handpicked, who witnessed all that they had witnessed up to this point, they

ministered with the power and authority that God had given them. And yet their

hearts were still too hard to understand or accept how much more may we be prone

to be unable to receive Jesus and his truth in certain matters or in certain

situations. The disciples were regularly lost. And I think that's important for

us to remember as followers of Christ is there can be many times in our lives

where we might think we know what's right or we might think we know what's

best but in reality we could very much just be lost. And not saying that we're

not saved but saying that we're lost in a way that we just don't understand all

that God is trying to do or all that God is capable of doing. And that's

really important because the disciples were closer to Jesus than anyone else

on earth and yet they still didn't get it. Now when they finally get to the

other side something wonderful happens. Now the last time they were on this side

of the lake, the capitalists, they were rejected and begged to leave. Remember

Jesus had cast out the the legion of demons from the man in the

tombs of the graveyard and cast them into the pigs and the pigs ran off the

hill into the lake and they all drowned and they begged Jesus to leave. Now this

time on this side of the lake and the capitalists, the people recognized him and

they believed in him. They were bringing their sick from all over the area.

Jesus ministered to them all and was gladly received. And what changed?

Remember the man that Jesus cast out the legion of demons. He wanted to follow

Jesus but Jesus said, no you stay here and tell everyone what God has done for

you. And the man was sent out to tell everyone that the Messiah had healed him

and set him free and he must have done his job very very well because when he

come back the people on that side of the lake and the capitalists were very

much ready to receive Jesus and have him do a miracle in their lives just like he

did for the man in the tombs who was possessed by thousands of demons. And

that's the power of the Savior and God that we serve. He can walk on water, he

can feed the multitudes, he can cast out demons, he can do all these things and

bring glory and the honor to his name and we're very fortunate to be able to

follow him. Let me pray for you today as we am. Father in heaven, thank you again

for the opportunity to know you and serve you. And I pray that you would

help us to remember that you are God and you are more than able and more

than capable of doing immeasurably more than we could think or imagine. Help us

to remember that and have faith in you and trust in you. Jesus we love you. We

thank you and we ask all this in your precious and holy name. Amen. Alright

guys thanks for tuning in for another week. Thanks for being a part of the

Graham Chapel family and a part of the kingdom of God. Tune in this weekend for

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for you, and I hope you have a great week.