Today's Scripture
Disbelief – Mark 6:33-44
TODAY’S READING SCHEDULE: Isaiah 26-27; Mark 6:30-56 (CEB)
33 Many people saw them leaving and recognized them, so they ran ahead from all the cities and arrived before them. 34 When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.
35 Late in the day, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it’s already late in the day. 36 Send them away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something to eat for themselves.”
37 He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
But they said to him, “Should we go off and buy bread worth almost eight months’ pay[a] and give it to them to eat?”
38 He said to them, “How much bread do you have? Take a look.”
After checking, they said, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.”
39 He directed the disciples to seat all the people in groups as though they were having a banquet on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke the loaves into pieces, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 Everyone ate until they were full. 43 They filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish.44 About five thousand had eaten.
What does this passage mean to me/us
With this familiar story of Jesus of feeding the 5,000 people, we can easily miss the motivation of this miracle.
Mark says, “[Jesus] had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.” He wanted to feed them spiritual food. While the teaching went on, because of heart to teach so much, he also felt compassion to feed their physical needs.
In the moments of Jesus’ ministry, we see how he so often tend to the need of the spirit before the body. However, he tends to both.
Jesus wants to provide for our needs, both in spirit and body, because he has compassion for us because he loves us.
So let’s come to Jesus with confidence that he is willing to provide.
Let’s not only come with our physical needs, but with the hunger of our spirit.
Prayer
Lord, feed us and pour out your spirit on us today. Your compassion fulfills our needs. In Christ name, we pray, AMEN.
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