Jump Start # 675

Mark 6:42 “They all ate and were satisfied.”

Our verse today comes from the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. There are several interesting things to note about that miracle:

• Aside from the miracles surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus, this is the only miracle found in all four gospels. The raising of Lazarus, walking on water, healing of the centurion’s servant are not found in all of the gospels.

• This miracle was experienced by the largest crowd. Most miracles were watched and one or two were personally affected. Our verse tells us that “They all ate.” Matthew’s account says that there were 5,000 men not counting women and children. There easily could have been 10,000-15,000 people.
• This miracle demonstrated the power of God. The disciples asked Jesus to send the people home. Jesus told them to feed the people. They realized that they didn’t have enough money nor food to accomplish the job. They had no solution. Jesus did. God can do things when man gives up and believes things are impossible.
• This must have been one of the longest miracles. The impression from Mark is that Jesus multiplied the food and the apostles carried it to the crowd who were sitting in groups of 50 and 100. It seems that the apostles went back and forth from Jesus to the different groups. Twelve men feeding 10,000 or more would take some time.

• It is interesting that Jesus did not change the substance of the food. At another miracle he turned water into wine. Here, He multiplied what He started with.

Our verse shows that the crowd didn’t just get a sampling, like some stores may give you. Rather, they all ate and all were satisfied. Men tend to eat more than women. Some men take a lot of eating until they are satisfied. There was enough left over to fill twelve baskets full. That’s interesting. Twelve baskets and twelve apostles. Twelve baskets full.

The blessings from Jesus are an abundance.  They were satisfied. There is something about that statement that involves more than just food. That expression sums up the heart of a disciple and His experience with God—he is satisfied. God treats us well. God gives us an abundance. God is good to us.

Satisfied with salvation. Who could ask for more? We are the ones who sinned. We are the ones who are broken, busted and doomed. God’s grace forgives us and accepts us and includes us. We are not treated as second class citizens. We are not reminded of what we did wrong. Gone are the sins. Gone is the guilt. Gone is the hurts. The relationship with God is renewed, restored and incredible. We have trouble treating each other the way God treats us. We struggle with forgiving like God and accepting like God and letting God like God does. Satisfied with salvation.

Satisfied with worship. Worship is both private and individual as well as involving the church. Praising God with the church, fellow Christians is an incredible experience. Singing together of hymns, bowing heads together, studying God’s word together, being there for one another is all part of worship. Satisfied—some are not. Some want to change. Some want to go to the land of different and always do things differently. Some want more emotions and less Bible. God’s way, God’s plan fills the heart, the soul and the mind. It is challenging to the intellect and rich with feelings. Worship is about God and not us. Worship reminds us of God. We can come to a service tired, beat up and feeling defeated. We leave uplifted, encouraged and connected to God. Worship satisfies.

Satisfied with God’s word. It’s living. It’s sharp. It cuts to the heart. It kills our lame excuses. It opens our eyes. It leads us. It answers our questions. It keeps us on course. No other book is like the Bible. Satisfied with God’s word.

Space doesn’t allow me to continue with this thought, but you can. Satisfied with the church…satisfied with prayer…satisfied with Heaven…satisfied with what God wants from you.

They all ate and were satisfied. How about you? Some want to be satisfied with out the eating part. That won’t happen. There’s some chewing on God’s word that must be done. There is some praising in hymns that needs to be there. The chewing part comes first. The satisfaction part follows. Many complain without trying. Many want the satisfaction without the other steps.

When one is satisfied they don’t look elsewhere—that’s true in marriage, jobs and with the Lord. Satisfied…what a great experience that is!

Roger

Jump Start # 360 

Mark 6:42 “They all ate and were satisfied.” 

  Our passage today comes from the miracle of feeding the 5,000. It was getting late, the crowd needed to eat. The disciples urged Jesus to send them home. Jesus told them to feed the crowd. A search was made and all they found was five loaves and two fish. They faced a problem but didn’t see a solution. Jesus did.

  There are several interesting things about this miracle. First, aside from the miracles associated with the death, crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus, this is the only miracle found in all four gospels. Now that’s amazing. If all the miracles of Jesus were laid out on a table and I was told to pick one that would be in all the gospels (other than the death and resurrection) I don’t think I would have chosen this one. Walking on water was amazing. Lazarus coming out of the tomb or the calming of the storm would probably be my choices.

  We call this the feeding of the 5,000 but that’s not actually accurate. In Matthew’s gospel we read, “There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.” They didn’t count the women and the kids! The number may have been 10,000 or even 15,000. This miracle had the most participants. Think about this. Most miracles, especially with the healings, one receives the miracle and the rest witness it. A blind man is cured or a leper is cleansed. Many see it, but only one actually received the miracle. Not here. Here possibly 10-15,000 actually ate what Jesus made. Also, with this size of crowd, this may have been the longest lasting miracle. Mark tells us that Jesus had the crowd sit in groups of hundreds and fifty. The passage says, “He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving  them to the disciples to set before them” (Mark 6:41). Imagine being in a restaurant with a crowd of 10,000 people and there are only 12 waiters. It’d take a while.

  The loaves and fish? This is actually a poor boy’s snack. It’s more like dried sardines on crackers. Nothing fancy. Jesus didn’t change the substance. He did at the wedding of Cana. He turned water to wine. Here, He could have turned dried fish and crackers to lamb and potatoes but He didn’t.

  Everyone ate. They didn’t get just a pinch but they ate until they were satisfied. When it was over, the disciples gathered up the leftovers and it filled twelve baskets full. That’s an abundance. Not wasteful. Thinking of another day.

  Our verse today is revealing. They ate. They were satisfied. This is not just true at this miracle, but this is true of all that Jesus does. This is true of the Gospel. It satisfies. It answers, it corrects, it removes doubt and worry, it strengthens, it helps. We become satisfied. A satisfied customer is a happy customer. Some who leaves the kitchen table satisfied doesn’t immediately open the frig door looking for something else to eat. They are satisfied. Someone satisfied in marriage doesn’t have wandering eyes. It is said in Genesis 25 that Abraham died an old man, satisfied with life.

  Jesus satisfies. He satisfies the soul that is looking and hungry. He satisfies the heart that seeks to know. He satisfies. Those that want depth, you will find it in Jesus. Those that want clear answers, you’ll find it in Jesus. Could it be that is why He said, “seek and you shall be find…”

  All were satisfied. Nothing else was wanted. Imagine living like that. Content. Peaceful. Satisfied. Solomon’s experiment in Ecclesiastes shows one who was looking for satisfaction. He didn’t find it in stuff, or wealth or pleasure or wisdom. They all leave you empty and something missing. This is hard for us to grasp. We live in times that push more. More space. More stuff. More. You need more. We buy into this thinking. We don’t feel satisfied. If only I had, we think.

  There was a commercial fisherman who was sitting on the edge of his boat near the end of the day. He was just looking out over the bay. A businessman passing by rebuked him for not being out on the sea. There is still daylight, you ought to be fishing still. “Why?” said the fisherman. “Because you can catch more fish. More fish is more money. You could hire a crew. Catch even more fish. More money. Buy additional boats. More fish. More money. Then you could sit back and enjoy life.” The fisherman looked over the bay and replied, “I thought I was.”

  Jesus satisfies. Do you believe it? Are you there?

Roger