"You Give Them Something to Eat. You Feed Them"

You Give Them Something

Mark 6:30-44

Rev. Dr. Will Baez

7/19/15

For Jesus, there was nothing more important than preaching and teaching the gospel message about the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven.  Where is this Kingdom of God or Heaven?  It is near.  It is here, right now, within our reach, within us and among us.  And what is this Kingdom of God or heaven? It is not a place.  It is the reign, the realm, the rule and the reality of God.  It is a way of living and of being human that is spawned by God.  It is the very consciousness of the mind of God; a way conceiving or and perceiving life as God does.  This Kingdom message was so important that Jesus sent his apostles out to preach it and teach it.  It was their primary task.  Everything else they did was secondary to this Kingdom proclamation.

And people couldn’t get enough of this teaching.  They wanted to understand the way, the truth and the life that lead directly to unity or oneness with God; the way, the truth and life that Jesus demonstrated for them to live.  They weren’t interested in correct belief; they were pursuing a way of living in concert with God, where they were in God and God was in them.  Jesus and his Apostles needed a break from their teaching, because their teaching took a lot out of them because they were giving of themselves and their knowledge or experience of God to others.  They got a way for a little while and got their rest and renewal but the people pursued them, even arriving ahead of where Jesus and the apostles were heading next.

Now, when Jesus saw the great crowd gathered, he didn’t complain about his workload.  Rather, Jesus had compassion for the crowd, because the members of the crowd were like lost sheep, lacking a shepherd to lead them, and in particular to teach them about this Kingdom of God way of being.  They were hungry for God’s word and he fed them by preaching and teaching what they needed to know to have a right relationship with God and other people.  But after a while the people would need to eat, return home and sleep.

Before we continue, I want to make something perfectly clear; learning the word of God and preaching and teaching it is the most important thing we do as Christians.  Everything else we do supports the proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom of God and the transformation of people’s lives and world such that their ways are God’s ways.  Whether or not we know it or other people know it, it is what we hunger for and seek after more than anything else.  And when we realize it and others realize it; when the kingdom of God or Heaven becomes part and parcel of our lives we know it.  We are transformed.  We are new people.  Our worlds are transformed.  Our worlds are new worlds.  We discover the power of God in our lives to bring relief, redemption and renewal to others.

But at times we don’t realize the power we have in our experience of the Kingdom of God.  When the disciples saw that they were going to be faced with a problem of feeding 5000 men; really 5000 men plus their wives and children, they went to Jesus and told him to send them away so they got obtain food for their trip home.  But Jesus didn’t buy into their limited belief about what they were capable of doing.  He said to them, “You give them something to eat.  You feed them.”  

The apostles were incredulous.  “What!  Where are we going to get the food.  We can’t afford it.  It’ll bust our budget.”

Jesus knew that his apostles didn’t get it.  They didn’t know what they were capable of.  He had them check their inventory.  How many loaves of bread did they have?  They had five.  And how many fish did they have?  They had two.  What must those disciples been thinking!  What is he going to do with five loaves of bread and two fish?  He gave the apostles instructions to seat the disciples in groups of hundreds and fifties.  Then he took the bread, looked up to heaven, blessed and broke it and gave it to the disciples to set before the people.  Then he did the same with the fish.  And everyone, not just the 5000 men, but their wives and children ate until they were full.  And when they were done they had left over twelve baskets of broken pieces of bread and fish.

Now, it was Jesus’ intention that his apostles feed the people, first spiritually and then physically.  But to do this the apostles had to believe they were capable of doing what Jesus had told them to do.  Jesus’ actions demonstrated for the disciples what they were capable of.

I have no doubt that if you believe what Jesus believes you are capable of that you can fill this church and need to build a bigger one.  By studying, learning and applying God’s word in your life and sharing with others what you discover about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and yourself you’ll make it so that I, and perhaps some of you. will be preaching and teaching and we’d have to, instead of send people way to get lunch after church, feed them before they go home, so not only are they fed spiritually (through God’s word), they are fed physically (through food) and socially (Through interacting with you).   Nobody will want to go home so much will the Holy Spirit be moving among us.

So, here’s the thing.   Repeat it after me.  Jesus has called me (repeat).  Jesus believes in me (repeat).  God will speak to me through scripture, prayer, visions and dreams (repeat).  The Holy Spirit will inspire me (repeat).  I am as capable as Jesus says I am (repeat).  If Jesus tells me to do something I can do it (repeat).  Will you say Halleluiah with me!  Halleluiah!  Let it be so!