Discovery: The question of how we serve is not about mechanics or methodology. It is about understanding and living out the heart of God. In our passage today, we see Jesus' heart. Our challenge is to emulate it.
After a successful ministry venture, in which Jesus sent out the disciples two by two to proclaim the gospel and to drive out evil spirits, the whole group gathers for a time of debrief. In v. 31, Jesus noticing that the crowds were gathering again and thus not giving his disciples even a chance to eat he suggests, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
When they do get to this quiet place, our text tells us that people had already gone ahead of them and were already there when they landed. Our key verse is v. 34, "When Jesus landed and saw the large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things."
Application: How would you have felt if you were one of these disciples? Your expectation was that Jesus was going to give you a time of rest and now it feels as though the needs of other people are creeping into that space. In the sermon, I talked about the whole story of how Jesus responded to the people and what it means to follow in his footsteps.
For those who have gone through the InterVarsity Mark Manuscript study, you may be familiar with one of the key questions and observations from this passage. Who was the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 for? Was it for the crowds or was it for the disciples?
Clearly the crowds benefit from this miracle. They see the compassion, the wisdom, and the power of God all manifest during this time. But the ones who were most impacted by this miracle had to be the disciples.
Jesus is teaching, demonstrating, and modelling what it means to have God's heart. When Jesus looks at the crowd, he doesn't see them as a nuisance or inconvenience but rather as an opportunity to show the mercy of God. By recruiting the disciples to break the groups into small groups of 50 and 100 and to hand out the food, Jesus is pushing them out of their comfort zones and reminding them this simple truth: ministry is about interacting and touching people's lives. By taking the 5 loaves and 2 fish and performing a miracle of provision, Jesus is telling the disciples: I can take what little you have a multiple it a hundred fold.
This is the lesson for the disciples and it is our lesson as well.
Prayer: Jesus, help me see every person who comes across my path as an opportunity to serve versus an obstacle to overcome. Help me get back to the "bread and butter" of discipleship by getting back involved in the lives of our church members. Take what little I have and what little I give and multiply it for Your glory sake.
