30 And the apostles
gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done
and taught. 31 And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a
desolate place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and
going, and they did not even have time to eat.) 32 And they went away in
the boat to a desolate place by themselves.
33 Now many saw them going and
recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there
ahead of them. 34 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. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came
to him and said, “This is a desolate place,
and the hour is now late. 36 Send
them away to go into the surrounding countryside
and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 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?” 38 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.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down
in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down
in groups, by hundreds and by
fifties. 41 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. 42 And they all
ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken
pieces and of the fish. 44 And those
who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
We will do a little recount
of last week. After having
studied about the death of John the Baptist where we saw
the lack of fear of God through Herod. the hardness of heart, the hatred and
contempt for the truth according to justice. We also saw the delight of
perverse men over the death of a righteous man. John did nothing more than
expose the light, the truth, in the midst of darkness in the midst of sin just
as he was commanded to do and as a result he received death.
Now the disciples gather with
Jesus and tell him what they had done to cast out demons and heal the sick,
taught and preached repentance. The fame of Jesus was already
spread everywhere many people gathered
to hear him and to be healed.
Because of this he no longer entered the cities openly but stayed outside
in deserted places and this is what he did. He
went with his disciples to a deserted place to rest a little and it is said
that there were so many of them and it was overwhelming that they did not have
time to eat so they went alone in a boat to a deserted place.
Christ comes out in front of them and looks at the great crowd and enters
before it. He was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a
shepherd because they lacked true teachers, they had no guides other than the
blind scribes and Pharisees. They did not have spiritual food but rather
traditions created by man. Thousands of immortal souls were before our lord
ignorant, defenseless on a path towards ruin and this touched the merciful
heart of the lord and he was moved by compassion. In the old testament Moses prayed to the Lord to appoint a
leader. A shepherd before his death in the wilderness so that the people would
not be like sheep without a shepherd and God appointed Joshua. In Ezekiel 34:23
There was no shepherd for the sheep but God himself promises to save his sheep. He promises the coming of a faithful
shepherd who was David his servant,
through him he established a covenant of peace
and they would dwell in the wilderness in safety.
Through this background, Mark
proclaims that Jesus is the one designated by
God to be the leader
of the people in their
exodus to the desert. The servant of God, like David. All this
multitude that followed them are representatives once again of Israel in the
desert and like a good shepherd he feeds them, he is patient with the ignorant
and lost. They experience the compassion of the
messiah who also teaches them extensively about the kingdom of God. (Psalm
145:8-9) Gracious and merciful is Jehovah
Slow to anger and plenteous
in mercy. The Lord is good to all and his mercy is over all
his works.
This wilderness place signifies more than a deserved rest after vigorous labor is a recurring theme in the
Scriptures. The wilderness where God provides rest for his people. A generation
was led by Moses
and Joshua in this case the presence
of Jesus and the provision of God will give to
this time of withdrawal the character of rest within the wilderness.
When it was already very late
before nightfall the disciples showed concern and worried for the people
who would need food as dinner time was already approaching. They felt responsibility for the people
to whom they had followed them from different
towns in which they had ministered so they felt obligated to call Jesus. Then
they ask the lord to send them away so that they can find food in neighboring
places or in the countryside not considering the size of the crowd that a
massive crowd would come to neighboring towns.
The disciples' concern for these
people was reasonable but Jesus' response to them was somehow unreasonable.
Give them something to eat! where could they find food to feed so many. But let us remember in this context that the disciples
had just returned
from a mission in which they
exhibited the authority of Jesus to teach,
heal, expel, they went without money, without food but God was
their provider. On this occasion they are
challenged to take faith and action to a greater
extent. They said.!
That we go and buy bread for them? You're not serious are you? 200
Denarii would be the cost of almost a year of a man's work. This equivalent is not just pennies. But he tried to make them think according to the things of the kingdom of God.
Jesus rejects what was said and does not let this matter rest and insists and asks what are the reserves of
bread? This situation was beyond the faculty of human ability, and he said you
go and see. Five
loaves of bread and two fish they said! In the eyes of the disciples whose
hearts were still hardened, these resources were insignificant in the face of
such great need. Perhaps they could have heard in their minds Moses' cry of
anguish in the desert where he had in charge of 600,000 people on foot where he said where will I
get meat to give to all these people because they cry for me to give us food
(Numbers 11:13,21-22) but God gave them meat and they ate and the hand of Jehovah was not shortened for such great need.
In the time of Elisha, there was a great famine
in the land. A man brought
Elisha man of God 20 loaves of the first fruits and 20 loaves of barley so that
100 men could eat. Elisha's servant doubted God's provision and believed it was
insufficient. Elisha said to give the people to eat because The Lord had said
they will eat and there will be leftover so they passed it before them and they
ate and they had leftover according to the word of The Lord.
By order of Jesus, the immense
crowd lay down in groups on the grass in the middle of this desert. There were
green pastures. This desert was transformed into a place of refreshing through
the power of God. An outstanding aspect to the tradition
of the prophets in the desert. Due to
divine intervention, the land of curse becomes abundant pastures, fertile land
where the true shepherd gathers, feeds the sheep, then they sit in groups. Mark
here portrays Jesus as the eschatological Savior, the second Moses who transforms a
leaderless flock into the people of God.
Then He took the five loaves and two
fish, He lifted his eyes to heaven. He blessed them. He broke them, gave them
to his disciples ahead and they were distributed to everyone. Here the glory of
God is revealed through the abundant provision
of bread in the desert
where Jesus is the faithful shepherd of Israel. Also, as we
see it was not a normal
and ordinary food. It is necessary to observe Jesus'
prayer not as a usual prayer as was common with his gaze downward but on the
contrary, he raised his eyes to heaven. He gave thanks trusting in the Father to
obtain what was necessary to meet the needs of the people. The bread was God's
provision and was confirmed by those present with an amen. The God who gave
manna in the wilderness and who made amazing
provisions for his servants Elijah and Elisha He now gives the people their daily bread
visibly and yet in a hidden way.
The loaves and fishes were
miraculously increased but at first, there seemed to be a lack of funds for the
disciples and a shortage of food. Mark tells us that after all this they all
ate and were satisfied. Not only was it a bite but they
were satisfied. Despite the large size of the
crowd. There is no indication that those present truly realized how things
happened. This event was intended to be more revealing for the disciples since
they prompted the action, those who brought bread and fish, those who distributed
those who picked up the leftover pieces, and despite this they did not
understand since their hearts were hardened.
Those who ate were 5000
men; this did not include
women and children
the number was much larger.
Jesus came to save sinners.
Sinners suppress the truth and hide in their darkness because they love darkness. They are unbelieving, vile, foolish,
rebellious, haters of God who have adopted the ideologies of this world and the
doctrines of men. They have become slaves to their sexual desires, perverting the flesh and mind, and rebelling against
the created order of God. They are
doomed to condemnation and will be
judged by Jesus and sent to Hell where they will burn for eternity in the
lake of fire.
However, God so loved His
creation, mankind, that He sent His Son Jesus, who can forgive you of your sins
and redeem you because He has the authority and power. Jesus brings eternal
life to all who repent and believe. For Jesus bore all our sins; He bore all
the sins of all who believe in Him. Jesus was born and lived a perfect life of
obedience to God as a man. Jesus was condemned to be executed and die in the
sinner's place. He suffered
the totality of God's wrath
upon Himself on the Cross, which every sinner deserves, so
that those who believe in Jesus may have peace with God. Jesus rose from the
dead, conquering death, and lives, and ascended to the right hand of God the
Father. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and He is in your midst with
us offering you salvation.
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