Making it Home

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

MAKING IT HOME

Mark 8:1-10

8:1 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance."  4 His disciples answered, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" 5 "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they replied. 6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 9 About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

NIV

We have already been through the time he fed five thousand with a couple of fish and a few loaves and considered that Jesus will always be ready to feed us, both in the physical as well as in the spiritual realm, and do it in abundance. So why are we informed of this second time that Jesus has compassion on a crowd that has been with him for three days? We are not told what transpired for those three days. Perhaps this might be the time Matthew records as what we call the Sermon on the Mount, but then that could have been that last time when he fed the five thousand. It seems Mark is not concerned about telling us anything about what happened for those three days, but that Jesus wanted to feed them before sending them home. Certainly, the people would have to go back home, for we would be sure many of them either had jobs to go to, or a family business to run, or some other responsibility in their home town. We are not much different as we have to work and take care of things, so that we cannot simply sit at the feet of Jesus all day, every day, for the rest of our lives, at least in the physical sense, while we can sit at his feet forever, in the spiritual sense. However, Jesus knew these people needed to attend to their daily lives and did not want them to leave hungry. What is interesting is that even after they witnessed Jesus feeding five thousand with a few fish and loaves, they still were thinking about how they would get that much bread in such a remote place. How dull were these men? Had not they remembered the last time? Did they not remembering picking up twelve baskets full of leftovers? But then we too can appear dull at times. We have had the hand of God working so much in our lives and we still forget to look to him first and foremost for everything we need. We try all sorts of ideas, all sorts of sources to find the solution for our needs when all we have to do is go to Jesus. Sure, we are supposed to work for our sustenance, in fact, God told Adam because of his sin, he would have to work by the sweat of his brow all the days of his life to provide food for himself. Yes, we work so that we can eat. But this is more than that. This is Jesus having compassion on us and providing for us so that we do not go hungry and collapse on the way. We can see this spiritual application. If we are not being fed, or feeding upon the bread of life, the word of God until we are satisfied then we surely will go hungry and collapse along the way. We will falter, we will fail to make our way home, to heaven. How can we expect to make it the whole distance if we have not been properly fed enough? We cannot take just a small bite and expect to get home without falling on our faces, collapsing from exhaustion. No, we have to get to our full, and that requires continually being feed by Jesus, so we can make it home.