Yesterday’s blog was narrowly focused on one particular insight that wasn’t a key text. I’m hoping that today some of the material is repeated so that I can meditate on it a little more fully.
Matthew 14
Herod kills John the Baptist and then thinks he is reincarnated in Jesus. It almost seems that Herod wants to believe, but there’s no record that he ever does. Herod was too caught up in himself to ever believe in anyone greater than he was. John the Baptist was killed because of Herod’s arrogance and pride. I wonder how many other Christians have suffered for the same reason?
The 5,000 are fed, then Jesus sends the disciples ahead of Him. I recently was reminded that the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle that is repeated in all 4 Gospels. It certainly is a powerful miracle, but don’t you think someone coming back from the dead is even greater? And yet, when Jesus raises the dead, not all 4 authors feel mentioning it is necessary. I wonder why this miracle impacted them so greatly? Certainly there were more than 5,000. Probably closer to 15,000 who ate that day. Maybe the reason they all mention it is because they were involved in it. It would take hours to pass out food to 1,000 people (12 disciples, each handing out food to 1,000 or more) they were taking food out of the basket so quickly that you must have been able to see it multiplying. It really must have been an incredible experience, to hand out more than you could ever possess. But isn’t that what happens when we serve Jesus, we give out more than we have?
Jesus walks on the water, and the disciples are afraid. Peter walks on the water.
They land on the far side of the Sea of Galilee and many come to be healed. People are healed by touching the hem of His garment…this is after the woman with the issue of bleeding touched Him and was healed. I hadn’t seen this mentioned before.
Mark 6
some additional insight which adds to what we read earlier. The hometown folks didn’t just dismiss Him, they were deeply offended by Him.
In verse 31 it was Jesus who said “let’s go rest for a while”. Jesus had been so busy that He didn’t have time to eat or rest. If He said this, it was because He was tired, right? So as soon as the boat lands at what is supposed to be the quiet place where they can rest and eat….they find the crowd of over 5,000. All of them wanted to be healed or taught. Probably some of them were there to cause problems. I don’t know about you, but when I don’t have much sleep and I miss a meal or two I get pretty cranky. Like, “stay out of my way” cranky. I’m going to have to work through that…because one of the most significant events recorded in the Bible happened when Jesus was tired and hungry, and just wanted to rest. But He allowed himself to be inconvenienced, and continued to serve selflessly…and look what happened. Thousands were fed, and the event was captured for all eternity.
When the people were told to “sit in groups” they chose to sit in groups of 50-100. They didn’t sit in 500 person groups, or in groups of 12. I wonder, is there anything significant about that?
If 5,000 men were fed and many of them had families, then well over 15,000 were fed. (average of 2 people per man in attendance) I think even that number may be low. As I think of it, we do the Lord a disservice when we call this passage “the feeding of the 5,000”. We should assign it a higher number, or call it the “feeding of the multitude”
Mark doesn’t mention that Peter walked on the water. Why not? That seems like a pretty big event to miss. I notice that both authors mention that Jesus stayed behind to dismiss the crowd and spend some time alone in prayer. Jesus must have told them that, because they couldn’t have known it otherwise. And in Mark I learn that Jesus intended to walk right past the disciples as they struggled to row to the other shore. Ha! He wasn’t going to reveal himself to them…probably because they still didn’t understand who He really was. But when they spotted Him and were afraid, Jesus changed His plan and comforts them. God never wants us to be afraid of Him. The only way that Mark could know that Jesus “intended to go past them” was if they saw Jesus walking away from the boat (He had almost slipped past them before they spotted Him, so He turned around and came back). Or, Jesus told them later “I was going to walk past you”. Either way, you have to smile as you think about how that conversation would go. “yeah guys, I saw you straining, but I was going to skirt around you and let you struggle with it….” God has a reason for everything He does…..if He was going to pass them, there was a reason. Whatever the reason was, it changed when they spotted Jesus.
When Jesus climbed into the boat, the wind stopped. There’s no mention that He rebuked the wind and waves, but it’s implied that His entering the boat calmed the sea. I wonder if the devil was behind the sea churning and foaming? It’s the devil that makes us afraid, like Peter was when He tried to walk to Jesus. It’s the devil that tries to make us afraid…even of Jesus! But when God “enters our boat” (our lives?) a peace comes over us, and the waves cease. A battle has been fought and won…not by human strength or perseverance, but by the benevolence of a caring, compassionate God…who alters course, and climbs into our boat. It would be so much easier for Him to simply walk to the other side….but that would leave us stranded, and He wouldn’t do that.
Luke 9:1-17
Two observations from Luke. 1. why is the doctor so short on the details here? Luke writes more than any other author…why skip over these events with a few sentences? The only explanation I can think of is that he wrote after Matthew and Mark, and didn’t feel the need to reiterate the same story in detail.
2. It was Jesus who told the crowds to sit in groups of about 50. That make a huge difference for me…..Jesus never does anything by accident. Why 50? And the groups became slightly larger, but there isn’t any mention of tiny or huge groups. Are we seeing the ministry “cells” of the local church? I have noticed that a ministry needs about 50 people to keep it running year round, at a level of excellence that will attract non-believers. And when the ministry grows to around 100, it always multiplies into an additional ministry that brings the number in each ministry closer to 50. Maybe that doesn’t have anything to do with the reason Jesus said it…but it seems intriguing to me.
Faithfully,
PR