Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Mark 6:33-44 – Divine economy

The ministry of the Lord and His disciples were so successful that a large crowd would follow them. It was difficult for the Lord and His disciples to pull away from the crowd and not be noticed. That was precisely what happened in these verses. Although Jesus had told His disciples that they should go to a solitary place for a time of retreat, the people got wind of it. As they were in the boat and pulling out to their destination, they were spotted by many who knew them. So the horde of people, joined by others from the town, outran the boat and went to the place where they were going, long before the Lord and His entourage arrived. When the Lord arrived at His destination and saw the great mass of people, He was moved with compassion. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.

The people were listening to His teachings. Though we are not told what He taught, it must have been so interesting that no one barged. And before they realized it, the sun had set and it was getting late. Remember, the disciples had had a long day and they were hoping for some rest. So they came to the Lord, telling Him, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”  But the Lord did a deliberate thing. He told them to get something for them to eat. His disciples immediately retorted implying that it was well-nigh impossible to do what the Lord had told them to do. Even we can immediately think of some reasons: Where to find the bakery in this deserted place? Even if there is one, where do we find the fund, two hundred denarii in all, to buy the bread?

The Lord’s immediate response was, ‘how many loaves do we have?’ Go and look for it! And they found five loaves and two fish. In John 6:9 we are told that these were the food of a young lad. To the Lord, it was sufficient for a miracle. The Lord then commanded that they should gather in groups and sit around the green grass. So they gathered in groups of hundreds and fifties. The Lord took both the loaves and the fish, with eyes lifted toward heaven, He blessed them. Then He broke the bread and divided up the two fish among them all. Mark did not tell us exactly what had happened. With a bit of sanctified imagination, we can see the Lord passing whatever he had blessed, and broke and gave it to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. The remarkable miracle was this, whatever the disciples got in their hands just multiplied itself. Every time they gave out, some more would appear in their hands. There seemed to be an endless supply. So much so that even after the 5,000 men (not inclusive of the women and children) had eaten, they picked up 12 baskets full of left overs.

Here are some lessons from this miracle:
·      In Divine economy, supplies will definitely equal the demands, if not more.
·  There is no problem too big that the Lord cannot solve. If He could solve the problem confronting a multitude, how big can our puny problem be to Him?
·    There is nothing too small that the Lord cannot use. If He could feed well over 5,000 people with just five loaves and two fish, how will He not use whatever we are offering for His service? 
· There is no person too insignificant that the Lord cannot use. If He could use an unknown lad, how will He not use us who are willing to offer ourselves to Him?
·   God would only use us as we willingly offer ourselves and our resources to Him just as the lad did. 

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