“You Give Them Something to Eat”

some people say experience is the best Maybe that's what Jesus had in mind when he used 5000 hungry men to teach his disciples a lesson they would never forget. Alistair Begg considers the motivation behind Jesus' statement, you give them something to eat.

That's the title of our message today on Truth for Life. We might even say that it was an unwelcome response, at least from the disciples' perspective. I'm referring now to verse 37.

I'll point it out to you, and then we'll come back to it. Jesus answered them, you give them something to eat. And the fact of the matter is, they couldn't, but as we're going to see, they did. And in that paradox, there is a lesson for us.

What I'd like to do is to simply follow along with you in the narrative as it is before us. But we know that when we come to a portion of Scripture like this, it sets within a context and an immediate and a wider context. And without being unduly arduous in tackling this, let me just suggest to you that if you turn back a page to verse 7 through verse 13, then you will have the immediate context for what follows in verse 30. In verse 7, calling the twelve to him, he sent them out.

He sent them out. Mark has been making this clear from the very beginning of his Gospel. In chapter 1—you needn't turn to it—in verse 17, when he calls the fishermen, Simon and his brother Andrew, to him, he says, Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Now, we perhaps are familiar with this story, and we have an inkling of what Jesus meant.

How striking it must have been for the two of them! Fishermen used to fishing for fish, and Jesus says, Why don't you come and be my followers, and you can go out and fish for men? In the fourteenth verse of chapter 3, in calling those he wanted to him, he sets aside the twelve, designates them as apostles, and his purpose is twofold. Number one, that they might be with him, and number two, that he might send them out.

He wants them to be with him, and then he wants them to go for him. And having sent them out to preach, he gives them authority to drive out demons, and the details of that unfold essentially throughout the Gospel record. Now, when you look there at verse 13 and following through to the end of verse 19, and then you fast-forward to chapter 6 and verse 30, then you can see how this all fits together. Verse 12 and 13 of chapter 6, they went out and preached that people should repent.

They drove out many demons and anointed many six people with oil and healed them. That had an impact in the community, as verses 14 and 15 and 16 make clear. And then, verse 30, the apostles gathered around Jesus and reported. So in verse 30, quite simply, we have a report.

And the report is clear. They reported to Jesus all that they had done and taught. That's what's supposed to happen when the followers of Jesus go out to gossip the Gospel, to tell others the nature of the kingdom of God, that lives would be touched and changed, and that there would be people who begin to ask questions about the identity of Jesus and what he said and what it was he came to do. Now, in response to this report, Jesus says it would be good for us to have a retreat. Verse 31, Because so many people were coming and going that they didn't even have a chance to eat, he said to them, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. This was the pattern of Jesus. His individual pattern was to slip away from time to time.

And so he includes his beloved core group in the pattern, and he says, Let's go to a quiet place and let's get some rest. Verse 32, So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. All of this ministry taking place around the Sea of Galilee, it made perfect sense for them to jump into a boat, that they could cut across a corner of the lake and be in a more remote region within a very short period of time. But verse 33 tells us that the planned retreat has to be aborted. And the reason is that the people, many of whom saw them leaving, realizing who they were, began to run on foot, and from all the towns they managed to get to the place that was the retreat place ahead of the little group that was going for the rest. And so when they reached there, there was no possibility of rest. They were confronted by, if not an unwanted crowd, certainly an unsought crowd. It was not that Jesus had sent his disciples out and said, Try and put a big evangelistic opportunity together for me, and then I'll come across and I will speak to all these people.

No, Jesus had done the very reverse. He said, Let's get away by ourselves. We need to regroup.

It's time for us to have some rest. And here they are confronted by that which challenges the very strategy. And here we see the wonderful nature of Jesus himself. But many who saw them leaving ran on, got there ahead of them. Verse 34, When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them. And he doesn't look at these people as an immediate intrusion upon him and his followers, despite the fact that they'd planned a retreat.

He looked at them and he saw them. They looked like sheep without a shepherd. Now, that picture, of course, is found again and again in the Bible, and Jesus has come to be the great Shepherd of the sheep. Jesus is the one who embodies the Shepherd, who goes out looking for the lost sheep. Jesus was teaching how important it was for him to reach out to individuals. And Jesus was the fulfillment of David, who was the great shepherd boy of Israel, pointing forward to a shepherd who would ultimately come, who would gather the sheep into his fold. Jesus is the shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.

Therefore, it is no surprise for us to discover that when he looks out as a shepherd with a shepherd's heart, he sees people as sheep without a shepherd. You see, if you're a businessman or woman with a businessman or a businesswoman's heart, when you see a crowd, what do you see? You see market. You see opportunity. Because you think in business terms.

And so you should if you're a businessperson. I wonder how many of these I could sell to them, you say. But Jesus sees this vast crowd, and he thinks what he can provide for them and what they need. And seeing them in this way, look at the striking sentence that ends verse 34. He saw them. They looked to him like sheep without a shepherd, and so he began teaching them. Teaching them!

Isn't that very interesting? You might have expected a different verb. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd. In other words, he saw them as harassed and bewildered and wandering and lost. He looks out on them, and he realizes that there are mums and dads there that are at odds with one another, as there are in this congregation right now. And he looked out, and he saw that there were disenfranchised individuals who were on the fringes of things, who by dint of their life and their choices were somehow removed from the crowd.

They were the wandering sheep. And he knew them too, as he knows you. And he sees all of that, and he teaches them. We'd be inclined to say, Well, why would you teach them? Don't they need a psychiatrist, or don't they need a psychologist, or don't they need somebody to just come and give them a back rub? What are you doing, Jesus, teaching them?

Some of you are here at Parkside this morning, and that's what you're looking for—some kind of solace, some kind of respite. And in you walk, and somebody's attempting to teach the Bible. What possible relevance could there be in the teaching of the Bible, for goodness' sake? Well, it actually says that he began teaching them many things—teaching them that he is the one who opens the eyes of the blind, teaching them that he is the one who sets the captives free.

Legion could have testified to that. Maybe he was somewhere in the community doing that even as Jesus spoke. I'm the man who had all the demons. You are?

What happened to you? Jesus set me free. And Jesus begins to teach them concerning the kingdom of God, the inrushing of God into a moment in time, speaking to all that will be accomplished ultimately in his plans and purposes. And while this is going on, the sun is setting. And verse 35 tells us that by this time, it was now late in the day. And so his disciples came to him. And this is actually… this is at least ironic. It is almost funny. Because here the disciples come to tell Jesus what to do.

There's nothing like stating the obvious, is there? This is a remote place, they said. But what was Jesus? I mean, he didn't understand that it was a remote place? And it is already very late.

You mean, like, I don't know what time it is? The disciples are actually very good at telling their master stuff. Because not only do they state the obvious, this is a remote place, and it's very late, but they actually instruct Jesus as to what he ought to do. They tell Jesus. Send the people away. Now, it would appear that they are driven by pragmatic concerns. They're practical men, after all. Send the people away.

It's late. They can go out into the surrounding countryside. They're going to have to go into the villages if they're going to buy themselves anything to eat. If they're going to get any supper at all, they're going to have to leave here.

And then it is that point, at that point, in verse 37, that Jesus gives them this uncomfortable assignment. He looks at them, and he says, You give them something to eat. You give them something to eat. Now, this is when I wish this was in video.

Because I'd like to see their eyes as they look at one another. Where are we supposed to produce stuff to give them something to eat? Philip—and we know it's Philip from the Johannine record—Philip starts to talk in terms of finances. Philip says, Well, I'll tell you right now, Jesus, it takes about eight months' wages to foot the food bill for such an operation like this. You don't honestly think that we're going to muster up that kind of cash and go out and go to the grocery stores, the equivalent of, and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat.

But Jesus doesn't quit. He says, How many loaves do you have? They must have said, Hey, search me. I don't know.

So he says, Well, then go and see. What a futile exercise! Five thousand men—not counting the women and the children—late in the day.

Jesus, our best suggestion is, Get these people out of here and on their way. Jesus says, Why don't you conduct an inventory? And so when they found out, they came back and said, Five and two fish. And in the Johannine record, again, that's in John's Gospel, Andrew is the one who says, There is a young lad here, and he has five loaves and two fish, but what are they among so many? In other words, what can we possibly do with this Jesus? Once again, now the kingdom of God is about to dawn.

An indication of it is about to be seen. Who is this Jesus? That's the question that's running around the court of Herod. Is he the prophet of God? Is he John the Baptist raised from the dead? Who is Jesus? A question that some of you are perhaps asking this morning.

And if you haven't resolved it, it's a question that you should be asking. And then verse 39. Without giving them any indication of what he plans to do, Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. And so, verse 40, they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves, and then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. Fantastic, isn't it?

Either this is gonna be a dramatic display of the fact that Jesus is none other than the creator of the ends of the earth, or it's gonna be a bust. And the twelve take the material, take the loaves, and they begin to serve. And they continue to serve. And the miracle unfolds.

And did you notice? It's not like some of the people got a wee bit of bread, and some of the folks got some fish, and a few less people got fish than got loaves, because there was only two fish. After all, you know, you could make the five loaves go a little further than the two fish.

But no! He divided the two fish among them all, and they all ate and were satisfied. He gave the loaves to the disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

They all ate and were satisfied. In other words, Jesus is doing here, in the Galilean context, what had been done many, many years before, when God had provided manna in the wilderness. Here the shepherd of Israel is showing himself as identified in this persona.

And for those who have eyes to see, that's suddenly dawning upon them. He is the shepherd of Israel. He is the one of whom the psalmist wrote, The LORD is my shepherd, I'll not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. And as people ate and were satisfied, it is obvious that this was not a symbolic gesture. You read some commentators, and they try and come up with the idea that everybody got, like, you know, the tiniest fragment of fish and a tiny little piece, and he managed to grind it down and so on. That's not what it says at all. It says that the miraculous impact of Jesus made it possible for everyone to eat and for everyone to be satisfied.

There's no surprise in this. Remember Mary, as she provides what we refer to as the magnificat? You remember where she says, that the LORD has regarded the soul of his handmaiden? And as she sings of the one who is going to come from her womb, what does she sing of him? She says, he has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent empty away. And having all eaten and been satisfied, Jesus gives further instruction to the disciples. Hey, fellows, why don't you just go and pick up the leftovers? If they were in any doubt about what had taken place, as they all go with their baskets, it's a very humorous picture for me again.

All the big, smart guys. Jesus, I think we'd better get these people out of here. After all, it's late.

It's a remote place, and there's really nothing at all for them. We have done an inventory. We have five loaves and two fish. But frankly, I mean, you know, we know, everybody knows you're not going to be doing anything with that, at least not today.

Not for a long time. And now here they are with their baskets, bumping into one another, picking this stuff up, and suddenly realizing we have more left over than what we started with. You see, for those of you who are wondering about Jesus, let me just remind you of C. S. Lewis's great quote. Because the chances are, if you do not understand the Jesus of the New Testament, you have concluded that Jesus was probably a really quite nice man—you know, like a good man. And do you remember C. S. Lewis's wonderful quote, where he says, A man who was merely a man and said the things that Jesus said, did the things that Jesus did, would either be a lunatic on the level with someone who claimed to be a poached egg, or he would be a demon or something worse. So you can spit at him and call him a demon, or you can fall at his feet and worship him as Lord and God, but do not come to him with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great moral teacher. He has not left that option open to us.

He did not intend to. The Jesus to whom we're introduced in the pages of the New Testament is, if you like, in one sense, a difficult character to deal with. Because we're not introduced to somebody here who has come up with a list of rules and regulations and inviting people to come and apply them to their lives externally so that they might manage to navigate life a little easier.

No. We have a king inviting people to bow down before him. We have a shepherd inviting sheep into his fold.

Four points of application in two and a half minutes. Number one, the question of Jesus' identity, which is buzzing at this time, is rightfully buzzing. Because after all, such events speak to the fact that he is no ordinary man. And if you are hungry today, he will feed you. If you are not, he will send you away.

That's the first point of application. So if you're wondering about the question of the identity of Jesus, I encourage you to continue your search. Secondly, let's just notice the distinction between practical concern and divine compassion. The disciples were very, very practical, weren't they? But they were missing the compassion of Jesus.

Some of us are like that. Send the crowds away. We don't want to deal with these crowds. We don't want to deal with these people. They're not like us. They're asking dumb questions.

They're just a drain on our resources. And Jesus saw them with a heart of compassion. Teach me to love with a heart of compassion. Maybe that's your prayer from this sermon this morning. Thirdly, you might want to ponder throughout the day the simple distinction between verse 36 and 39. The disciples respond, Send them. Jesus responds, Seat them.

And finally, it's impossible to read the record of this without recognizing that God takes impossible situations, unbelievably limited resources, and he multiplies them for the well-being of others and for the glory of his name. I wonder if you've brought your life. You might feel yourself to be the only person—you may be the only person in your whole family that's a believer, and you're going to have a Father's Day picnic, and you're about to go out there and eat watermelon and stand around. And you're actually dreading it again. And you feel yourself, in the response of Andrew, to be saying, What am I among so many? What can I say? What can I do? God is able to take your life and multiply it.

It may not be much. If I had time, I'd retell the story of Gladys Aylward, which I don't have time to do. But I have her in my mind's eye as I close. A servant girl in the east end of London with no education, no savings, a small brown suitcase, and a passionate longing to go to China with the good news of the gospel. The Missionary Society blew her out. Now, I am telling you the story. And she said, she got down by her bed in a garret in the east end of London, and she said, Lord Jesus Christ, even if those men don't understand it, I understand it. You want me to go to China for you.

And this tiny little lady with the long, straight black hair began a journey by train and then by ocean liner and eventually ended up in Shanghai. And as she stood on the deck and looked out on Shanghai and she saw all the tiny little Chinese people with their jet black straight hair, she suddenly realized that God had a plan and purpose for her and that he'd even established her DNA in such a way that she would be perfectly suited to become the little woman who would reach all those tiny children's lives, because she offered up her life to God, and he multiplied it for his glory. Don't be too quick to assume that God is unable to do with you what he may intend to do with you.

Offer your life to him. Alistair Begg with a compelling challenge for us to offer all we have to God and let him multiply it for his glory. This is Truth for Life with a series called A Light In The Darkness, and it's all about having a heart for the lost. Sharing the message of the gospel is just one of the reasons we are committed to teaching God's word every day of the year. You often hear Alistair begin our program by inviting you to open your Bible, and that's the entirety of our mission, to teach God's word in a way that is clear and relevant. We know that when the scripture is taught, God's spirit transforms the hearts and lives of those who are listening, and that's why we're so passionate about teaching the Bible. We also love providing you with books that help you grow in your faith. Alistair's message today reminded us that God is able to take our lives and use them to reach the people around us. Today we want to recommend a book that will encourage you to cultivate a passion for those around you who need to know Jesus. The book is called Facing a Task Unfinished. It's a once a week devotional designed to help you spend time in prayer asking God to enable and equip you to do the work of an evangelist. We'll send you a copy of the book Facing a Task Unfinished when you donate today by tapping the image in the mobile app, or by visiting us online at truthforlife.org slash donate. Or if you'd prefer to call, our number is 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapine. Hope you can join us tomorrow as Alistair examines a life-changing conversation in the middle of an ordinary daily routine. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.