Feed My
Sheep (or, Honored to Serve)
Mark
6:30-44
Introduction: Pediatrician David Cerqueira
shares a story of how a little girl showed his church the honor of serving God:
One Sunday my wife had
prepared a lesson on being useful. She taught the children that everyone can be
useful—that usefulness is serving God, and that doing so is worthy of honor.
The kids quietly soaked up my wife's words, and as the lesson ended, there was
a short moment of silence. [A little girl named] Sarah spoke up. "Teacher,
what can I do? I don't know how do to many useful things."
Not anticipating that
kind of response, my wife quickly looked around and spotted an empty flower
vase on the windowsill. "Sarah, you can bring in a flower and put it in
the vase. That would be a useful thing."
Sarah frowned.
"But that's not important."
"It is," replied
my wife, "if you are helping someone."
Sure enough, the next Sunday Sarah brought in a dandelion and
placed it in the vase. In fact, she continued to do so each week. Without
reminders or help, she made sure the vase was filled with a bright yellow flower,
Sunday after Sunday. When my wife told our pastor about Sarah's faithfulness,
he placed the vase upstairs in the main sanctuary next to the pulpit. That
Sunday he gave a sermon on the honor of serving others, using Sarah's vase as
an example. The congregation was touched by the message, and the week started
on a good note... [SN:
More later].
Jesus Himself came as a Servant. What a contrast between this scene in
Mark’s Gospel and the previous account of the death of John the Baptist!
Both scenes involved banquets. Both involved “kings.” Herod’s party and
almost every aspect of the story reveal the depravity of the human heart.
Jesus’ ministry to his disciples, and to the multitude, reveals the fruit
of the Spirit and the grace of God. Jesus offers life to those who will
receive it. Herod brings death to a servant of God. Remember that Jesus
knows how this story will unfold, He came to lay down His life for His sheep.
He is preparing His disciples to continue the mission in His name after His
departure. At the heart of this scene Jesus turns to his doubting disciples saying,
“You give them something to eat!” Recall the words of Jesus to
Peter: “If you love me, feed my sheep.” In this context the
disciples had just returned from an itinerate ministry of preaching, healing,
and casting out demons. They still didn’t grasp what Jesus could do through
them if they would only trust Him. He
saved us on purpose, for a purpose. The disciples didn’t understand that Jesus
came to give His life as a ransom for us. We are called to follow Him.
The BIG Idea: Jesus alone can meet our deepest
need. Yet He calls us to trust Him, and to follow His example, serving others
with compassion. That will be our focus as we consider: 1) Jesus’ concern for
His disciples; 2) His compassion on the multitude; and
3) His conviction of the doubtful: provoking faith in
some, revealing unbelief in others.
I. Jesus shows his concern for
the disciples. He knew
them and was concerned for them, and He knows us and is concerned for us. He
cares for his sheep (30-32).
30 The apostles returned to Jesus
and told him all that they had done and taught.
31 And he said to them, “Come
away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were
coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And
they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.
Last week we ended with verse 30, “The apostles
returned to Jesus and told Him all that they had done and taught.” They
were “apostles,” sent with authority as the representatives of Jesus.
The cultural idea was akin to our word “ambassador,” someone who is authorized
to speak on behalf of another. Jesus would later say to his disciples, “He
who receives you receives Me” (Matt 10:40). That is part of what
Jesus is doing, preparing these men to go out in His name and continue the
mission after His departure. Their “short-term mission trip” in the
previous context was a part of that training. The miracles that He continued to
do during this next phase of his ministry, as well as His teaching, both public
and private, would reveal the Truth, and would also continue their spiritual
formation. But after their exciting and likely exhausting mission, the Lord is
concerned that they needed some time for rest and reflection (31,32).
There is always more to do, but we can learn from the example and the teaching
of Jesus that we all need times of rest, times when we can get away from our
daily routine and reflect on what God is doing. In ministry, you need to understand
the Sabbath principle, we need rest. For years we have taken a day off on
Friday most weeks. Usually we are out doing our shopping for the week and other
appointments and errands. It is a change of pace that might sound tiring, but it’s
actually refreshing. We see in the Gospels that Jesus would at times withdraw,
and go up on a mountain to pray. He sees the need for the disciples to do the
same.
Do
you have any margin in your schedule? Again, Jesus made time to retreat
from the activity of the daily ministry, spending time alone with Father. If we
think we have more going on than Jesus did, or that we are more indispensable
because of the demands of modern life, we’ve got a problem! Jesus told the
disciples to “…come away by yourselves and rest awhile…” He did it
Himself and he taught it. It’s God’s design that we include rest, and even
solitude, in our lives. Jesus knew the disciples, and he was concerned
for them. And He knows us and cares about us. The Big Idea is
that *Jesus alone can meet our deepest need. Even so He calls us to trust Him,
and to follow His example, serving others with compassion.
II. Jesus demonstrates His Compassion
on the multitude. They
were like sheep without a Shepherd (33-34; cf. Ps 23; Ps 80).
33 Now many saw them going and
recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there
ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great
crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a
shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
The people seemed “hungry” for more of Jesus (33). The crowds of people
were desperate to be with Him! There was something about Him, and they wanted
to hear and see more. Their need touches the Master. The background of
the shepherd/sheep imagery is pervasive in the OT. The prophet Ezekiel,
for example, writes…
2 "Son of man, prophesy
against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the
shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been
feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You
eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones,
but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have
not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound
up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and
with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So
they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for
all the wild beasts. 6 My sheep were scattered; they
wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered
over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them... (Ezekiel 34:2-6).
Through Ezekiel the Lord was rebuking the leaders of Israel for not
“shepherding the sheep.” In contrast, Jesus, the Shepherd of the sheep,
is moved with compassion for the people (34a). They were like sheep
without a shepherd, and the Good Shepherd, the true Shepherd of Israel, felt
compassion for them. Do you see the heart of Jesus in his response to the
multitude? Like lost sheep they were wandering, “harassed and helpless,”
and He loved them and felt pity on them. He modeled the heart of a Shepherd,
one who feeds, and leads, and protects the sheep. Their need touched
his heart. Do we feel the same way about the people around us, the people
in our sphere of influence? Do we have compassion on the
unsaved in our lives? They too are lost. Jesus is teaching his disciples,
showing them by example, that our mission is to go to the lost sheep around us
and point them to “green pastures,” to the “Bread of Life.” First…
“…He began to teach them many things…” He spoke to their
deepest need… spiritual food… He began to teach them! What? We can
glean some insights from other Gospels. Mark emphasizes the call to repentance
and to the coming kingdom. Perhaps some reflected on God’s provision for
the nation in the wilderness, and the promise that the Messiah would bring
bread from heaven (see John 6). That fits with what we see in John’s account
when some of the people, in response to the miracle, want to make Him king by
force. Mark tells us that before “lunch,” He fed the people spiritually, “teaching
them many things.” I think this is a good reminder that it is good and
necessary to meet the physical and material needs of people if we are able. Ministries
of compassion are important. But Jesus first “taught
them,” He shared the Word of Life with needy souls. We need to be sensitive to
the material needs of our neighbors and our community. But let’s not forget
there is a deeper need. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every
word that comes from the mouth of God. *Jesus alone can meet
our deepest need. Still, He calls us to trust Him, and to follow His
example, serving others with compassion.
III. Jesus’ action brings Conviction
to the doubtful: provoking faith in some, revealing unbelief in others. He revealed His messianic identity
through the feeding (35-43).
The
disciples needed to better understand His power. They were learning,
but they had a way to go. It almost seems sarcastic for the disciples to bring
such a meager lunch to Jesus in the face of such a need. 5000 men, plus women
and children! Let’s be conservative and assume some of the men were there
alone, and estimate at least 10,000 mouths to feed. But little is
much when God is in it! The disciples were perhaps tired. Where
was the “rest” Jesus had promised? What happened to their retreat? They
describe a problem created by the crowd…
35 And when it grew late, his
disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is
now late. 36 Send them away to go into the
surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to
eat."
The crowds needed to eat physical
food as well as spiritual. Miraculous feeding is something that was known
in the past in Israel. The provision of manna in the wilderness spoke of God
sustaining His people (Exod 16; Num 11). During the time of the prophet Elisha
the Lord had miraculously multiplied bread…
42 A man came from Baal-shalishah,
bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and
fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, "Give to the men, that
they may eat." 43 But his servant said,
"How can I set this before a hundred men?" So he repeated, "Give
them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and
have some left.'" 44 So he set it before them.
And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the LORD… (2 Kings 4:42-44).
A hundred men fed with 20 loaves was miraculous. And they had some left! But
how far could 5 loaves go among 5, 10, or even 20 thousand people? Little
is much when God is in it! Those with “eyes to see” would get a
glimpse of the Kingdom.
41 And taking the five loaves and
the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves
and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two
fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were
satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full
of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who
ate the loaves were five thousand men.
One of the blessings that Jesus may have spoken as He prayed said, “Blessed
are you, Adonai our God, King of the world, who causes to come forth bread from
the earth…” (Alfred Edersheim, Messiah, 684). Notice that Jesus
prays and then gives the loaves and fish to the disciples who distributed it to
the multitude. Not only were they all satisfied, but each of the disciples
picked up a full basket of leftovers! How many of the people realized that a
miracle was happening? Certainly, the disciples did. But many in the crowd
probably didn’t know, only that they were getting a free lunch! Elisha fed a
hundred men with 20 little loaves, a miracle. But now one greater than Elisha
or Elijah was on the scene!
Do
you see how Jesus was not only feeding the crowd, but He was deepening the
faith of the disciples, revealing himself to them, fleshing out the answer to
the question, “Who is this Jesus?” By the way, some will say that this
wasn’t really a miracle of multiplication, but that the crowd was moved by the
generosity of a boy giving up his lunch, and that the people began to
spontaneously share what they had with one another. Like a big pot-luck
luncheon. That is clearly not what the gospels say (and all
four include this miracle story). The God who made the universe out of nothing,
who preserved a nation in the wilderness for 40 years, can multiply a little
lunch to feed a stadium sized crowd of people!
What is God saying to me in
this passage? Jesus
alone can meet our deepest need. Yet, He
calls us to trust Him, and to follow His example, serving others with
compassion.
What would God have me to do in
response to this passage? The
little girl who put the dandelion in the vase each week was honored to serve…
The story goes on…
[Dr. Cerqueira continues]
During that same week I got a call from Sarah's mother. She worried that
Sarah seemed to have less energy than usual and that she didn't have an
appetite. Offering her some reassurances, I made room in my schedule to see
Sarah the following day. After Sarah had a battery of tests and days of
examinations, I sat numbly in my office, Sarah's paperwork on my lap. The
results were tragic. [She had leukemia.]
On the way home, I stopped to see Sarah's
parents so that I could personally give them the sad news. Sarah's genetics and
the leukemia that was attacking her small body were a horrible mix. Sitting at
their kitchen table, I did my best to explain to Sarah's parents that nothing
could be done to save her life. I don't think I have ever had a more difficult
conversation than the one that night. …
Time pressed on. Sarah became confined to bed
and to the visits that many people gave her. She lost her smile. She lost most
of her weight. And then it came: another telephone call. Sarah's mother asked
me to come see her. I dropped everything and ran to the house. There she was, a
small bundle that barely moved. After a short examination, I knew that Sarah
would soon be leaving this world. I urged her parents to spend as much time as
possible with her.
That was a Friday
afternoon. On Sunday morning church started as usual. The singing, the
sermon—it all seemed meaningless when I thought of Sarah. I felt enveloped in
sadness. At the end of the sermon, the pastor suddenly stopped speaking. His
eyes wide, he stared at the back of the church with utter amazement. Everyone
turned to see what he was looking at. It was Sarah! Her parents had brought her
for one last visit. She was bundled in a blanket, a dandelion in one little
hand.
She didn't sit in the
back row. Instead she slowly walked to the front of the church where her vase was
still perched by the pulpit. She put her flower in the vase and a piece of
paper beside it. Then she returned to her parents. Seeing little Sarah place
her flower in the vase for the last time moved everyone. At the end of the
service, people gathered around Sarah and her parents, trying to offer as much
love and support as possible. I could hardly bear to watch. Four days later,
Sarah died…
I wasn't expecting it,
but our pastor asked to see me after the funeral. We stood at the cemetery near
our cars as people walked past us. In a low voice he said, "Dave, I've got
something you ought to see." He pulled out of his pocket the piece of
paper that Sarah had left by the vase. Holding it out to me, he said,
"You'd better keep this; it may help you in your line of work."
I opened the folded paper to read, in pink crayon, what Sarah had
written: “Dear God, This vase has been the biggest honor of my life—Sarah”
1. Do we have the attitude of
a servant? We are called to serve God by serving people. And, as Sarah put
it, that is the biggest honor of all. God showed us His love. We are urged to, “Have
this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” Jesus took the
form of a servant.
2. Do we love God? Jesus asked
Peter: “Peter, do you love me? ...Feed my sheep.”
3. Will we choose to love others?
Ask the Lord to give you His heart for the people around you. Show compassion…
and care enough to tell them what great things the Lord has done for you. After
all, only He can meet our deepest need. Amen.
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