7/26/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
In Mark 6:52 the disciples in the boat were amazed at Jesus’ work because they had not understood what he did with the loaves when he fed the multitude. Is that confusing? What does the multiplication of bread have to do with Jesus’ walking on water, calming a storm, and joining his disciples in the boat?
Jesus was able to pull piece after piece of bread off of five loaves of bread, until he had fed thousands of people and they had twelve baskets of leftovers to pick up. How is this possible? He not only fed people without the supply being diminished, but it was more than replenished! In the same way, Jesus was able to walk across the water in the middle of the night to come to his disciples, despite the distance, the depth, the dangerous waves, or the dreadful wind. Jesus is not bound by the difficulty of the task. He is bound by his compassion for those in need. His disciples were going to die. Left out in the fields, the crowd he fed would also have died eventually. Jesus doesn’t allow death to hinder his compassion. He was able to walk on the water.
Jesus could multiply the bread and the fish because he is greater than natural forces. He commands it to be so and it is. This is exactly the way he calmed the storm. He who created the heavens and earth by his gracious command is also able to sustain it and order it. A little localized storm is no more work for Jesus than doing the little bit of food preparation he did. Actually, the storm was less work than the food preparation. Have you ever pulled five thousand plus servings of food apart with your hands? I can easily imagine his hands and arms being very tired. It was a lot of work. In comparison, he spoke to the wind and it obeyed him. It didn’t even take much talking. Jesus is greater than natural forces.
Jesus cared about his disciples. He had compassion on them. He saw them struggling. The wind was contrary, they were tired after being up all day and most of the night, and He had compassion on those disciples, just as he had compassion on the people who had run to hear him. The disciples in their boat were like sheep without a shepherd. They needed their master, Jesus. He joined with them in the boat.
Jesus is exactly the kind of Lord who has compasssion on a crowd of strangers and feeds them. He is exactly the kind of Lord who cares about the life and well being of his disciples. He is exactly the kind of Lord who cares for all who trust him. Do we doubt? It is because we also don’t understand about the loaves.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
In Mark 6:52 the disciples in the boat were amazed at Jesus’ work because they had not understood what he did with the loaves when he fed the multitude. Is that confusing? What does the multiplication of bread have to do with Jesus’ walking on water, calming a storm, and joining his disciples in the boat?
Jesus was able to pull piece after piece of bread off of five loaves of bread, until he had fed thousands of people and they had twelve baskets of leftovers to pick up. How is this possible? He not only fed people without the supply being diminished, but it was more than replenished! In the same way, Jesus was able to walk across the water in the middle of the night to come to his disciples, despite the distance, the depth, the dangerous waves, or the dreadful wind. Jesus is not bound by the difficulty of the task. He is bound by his compassion for those in need. His disciples were going to die. Left out in the fields, the crowd he fed would also have died eventually. Jesus doesn’t allow death to hinder his compassion. He was able to walk on the water.
Jesus could multiply the bread and the fish because he is greater than natural forces. He commands it to be so and it is. This is exactly the way he calmed the storm. He who created the heavens and earth by his gracious command is also able to sustain it and order it. A little localized storm is no more work for Jesus than doing the little bit of food preparation he did. Actually, the storm was less work than the food preparation. Have you ever pulled five thousand plus servings of food apart with your hands? I can easily imagine his hands and arms being very tired. It was a lot of work. In comparison, he spoke to the wind and it obeyed him. It didn’t even take much talking. Jesus is greater than natural forces.
Jesus cared about his disciples. He had compassion on them. He saw them struggling. The wind was contrary, they were tired after being up all day and most of the night, and He had compassion on those disciples, just as he had compassion on the people who had run to hear him. The disciples in their boat were like sheep without a shepherd. They needed their master, Jesus. He joined with them in the boat.
Jesus is exactly the kind of Lord who has compasssion on a crowd of strangers and feeds them. He is exactly the kind of Lord who cares about the life and well being of his disciples. He is exactly the kind of Lord who cares for all who trust him. Do we doubt? It is because we also don’t understand about the loaves.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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