24.04 | Understand the Loaves

Mark 6:30-56

‘And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.’

Mark 6:51-52

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For our ten year anniversary, me and Lydia went to Rome. 

I love Rome. For an art history student turned Bible nerd, with a love of pizza and hot weather, it’s one of my favourite places on earth. 

We stayed in a little AirBnB, a short walk from Vatican City. Our room was basic (we skewed our budget heavily towards food), but it had a balcony. From this balcony, looking to the left up the busy street, you could see just one part of St Peter’s basilica: the statues of the twelve apostles on the top.

When we think of the apostles of Jesus, often it’s such images that come to mind. Bearded men wearing flowing togas, sitting serenely in airy rooms with beautiful views, like Greek philosophers with halos around their curly grey heads. 

The disciples of the Gospels are a very different story. They are mostly working class young men, who panic in the face of challenge, compete and argue with their fragile egos, misunderstand the parables, and run away when Jesus is arrested.

We can come to the Gospels expecting to find stories of how these men who became saints and statues lived lives of glorious success. Instead, we find these young men who seemed to struggle with all the very same challenges and confusion and issues that we do.

Today you’ve got to feel sorry for them. They’ve just had a massive win. Jesus sent them out on yesterday’s mission, and it went well. The sick were healed, the demons fled, the gospel was preached. High fives all round. 

And yet they’re also tired. And hungry. 

There’s no time to rest and there’s no time to eat. Their output has exceeded their input. They’re spent.

So Jesus takes them away for a mini break. 

You’ve got to feel sorry for them, because when they get there, the crowds have followed. This means two things:

Much more ministry.

And much less food to go round.

More output. And less input.

What follows is among the most famous miracles of Jesus—the feeding of the five thousand, followed rapidly by Jesus’ stroll across the Sea of Galilee.

What’s Jesus trying to do with them?

Mark’s explanation is a little cryptic:

They were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves. 

What were the loaves meant to teach them?

I think it was this:

Jesus wanted them to understand that, when they were hanging out and exhausted and hungry and spent, with demands still coming at them, there was a different way of looking at the situation. It was a way of looking that stopped counting their resource according to what was in their backpacks or their bellies. It was a way of thinking and being and living that started the day hungry and tired, but that ended the day with each of them carrying a basket full to the brim with food. It was a fresh understanding about the resources of the Kingdom. They did not understand about the loaves, because they did not understand that this Jesus who they followed was not limited by the obstacle of wilderness or wallet or a seven mile hike across a lake. They did not understand that in the places when they felt most spent and stretched and beyond their resource, they had all that they needed because the God of all things—who showered manna on the Israelites in the wilderness in Exodus 16 and called calm to the waters of creation in Genesis 1—was with them. And in Him there is no lack.

How do you begin your days? Overwhelmed by the needs? Feeling like you lack the resources to do it all?

Look up, my friends. Look to His face. Understand the loaves. For you walk with the God of all things. And when evening falls, you may just find every need was met, with a basketful of leftovers.

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Reflect:

Where do I feel like I lack resource right now? List the places.

Bring these to Jesus. Look at His face. Place in prayer what you do have into His hands.

Is there anything is He asking you to do?

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Pray:

Father in heaven,

The demands of life are beyond me,

And I do not find it difficult to list to you the places where I feel lack:

Physically, emotionally, financially, 

And in the basic time to get it all done. 

But Father, 

Help me to understand the loaves:

To understand that what I have in my hand is enough when I put it into the hands of Jesus,

To understand that the God of all resource is my shepherd,

To understand that my moments of overwhelm may be the very moments that are followed by your abundance

With baskets full of leftovers.

Train my heart

To understand the loaves,

For here is a life walked in the lived out knowledge of your goodness and love.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen

Old Testament: 

For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:

Ruth 1-2 | Psalm 53