Jesus Makes Much of Our Little

Mark 6:30-44
Gregory Perry | Sunday, May 17, 2020
Copyright © 2020, Gregory Perry

There are over forty miracles of Jesus recorded in the gospels. But aside from the resurrection of Christ, the only miracle recorded in all four gospels is Jesus’ miracle of multiplication in the feeding of the five thousand. This morning we will look carefully at Mark’s account of this famous miracle, and we will hear what God is speaking to us today through what Christ did nearly twenty centuries ago in a field on the outskirts of Bethsaida in Galilee.

On this occasion, Jesus and his disciples had a plan, but their plan was then disrupted by a problem, until Jesus himself solved the problem. So our three points will simply be plan, problem, and solution. Let us first look at the plan. This is especially from verses 30–34.

The Plan (vv. 30–34)

The original plan was for the disciples to have some time alone with Jesus and get some rest. So verses 30 and 31 say, “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’”

Knowing the original plan is important for us in understanding why the disciples were so eager to send the crowd away. It was not just their good-hearted concern over lack of food for the crowd. It was also the fact that their time for rest and relaxation was being severely disrupted. We can frown upon the disciples for their lack of compassion on the crowd. But I am sure that we can also relate to being frustrated when what we deem to be our much-needed rest and relaxation time is disrupted.

Notice the detail here recorded only in Mark:  Jesus and the disciples did not even have a chance to eat. In other words, they were hungry. Perhaps, understandably, the disciples were not all that eager to share what little food they had. Verse 32 tells us, “They went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” This idea was sanctioned and likely even first suggested by Jesus. This tells us that it is a good idea, once in a while, to take a break. It is fine to get away once in a while, to get refreshed and to be re-energized.

That being said, the point of this passage is that our “need” for a break is not the first priority. After all, we are to put the needs of others before our own. So verse 33 tells us how their mini-vacation plan was spoiled: “But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.” The clamoring crowd saw Jesus and arrived at where he and his disciples were going before they even got there. You see here the eagerness of the crowd to see Jesus. It reminds you of Luke 19, where we read of Zacchaeus rushing ahead and climbing a sycamore tree, all for the purpose of beholding Jesus.

We learn from the John 6 account that most of this crowd eventually falls away. But our impression here is of a spiritually hungry crowd that longs to be with Jesus. They want to hear his teaching and behold his wonders. They want to follow him wherever he goes. And this brings us to verse 34, where we behold the important response of Jesus to this untimely crowd. The text says, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”

Instead of being annoyed at this disturbance, Jesus has compassion on the crowd. Jesus, in his true human nature, was most tired and most in need in rest. But out of loving compassion, he made time for this earnest crowd. The Greek word for “compassion” here literally means “moved in the inward parts,” which denotes the seat of our affections. To have compassion is to feel along with someone. Jesus truly felt the pain of the people who flocked to see him.

Compassion is a trait repeatedly attributed to God throughout the Bible. We see this even as far back as when the Lord first reveals himself to Moses as he passes by, the first way that God describes himself. In Exodus 34:6–7, God says of himself, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”  There are also many psalms that speak about the Lord’s compassion. One example is in Psalm 116, where we read in verse 5, “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.” His compassion is at the root of his willingness to forgive sinners. In fact, his compassion is what moved him to send his one and only Son into this world to die for our sins.

Jesus suffered our death penalty so that we could be forgiven in him. So Psalm 51:1 says, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.” You see, “on account of your compassion, forgive me, blot out my transgressions.” The Lord particularly has compassion on his covenant people, his adopted children. In Psalm 103:13 we read, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”  But God’s compassion goes even beyond that. God’s compassion, in fact, even extends to all creation. We see this in Psalm 145:8–9: “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”

The theme of God’s compassion is also carried over into the New Testament. We read in James 5:11, “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” And Jesus, of course, is the perfect picture of human compassion. Nine times in the gospels we read of Jesus being “moved with compassion” on account of people’s suffering. And the compassion compels him to do work for their good.  In this account of the feeding of the five thousand, we see that Jesus felt sorry for the crowd because he saw their desperate need. He saw their desperate need even better than they saw their need. They were like sheep without a shepherd. Like straying and lost sheep, they lacked order, discipline, and leadership. They needed someone to lead them in the straight and narrow road. They were hungry and thirsty for spiritual nourishment. All they had to teach them were false shepherds who failed to nourish them.

Jesus is the good shepherd, whom Ezekiel prophesied about in Ezekiel 34. God says, “I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd” (Ezek. 34:22–23). Jesus is the compassionate good shepherd who makes his sheep lie down in green pastures. He leads them beside quiet water and he restores their souls.  They needed someone to lead them in the way of righteousness, but they did not have anyone to do it. Neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees were equipped or willing to lead them in this way. This lack of true shepherds is not just a historical problem. This is a serious problem even on the Christian landscape today—the lack of good, faithful, compassionate shepherds.

Jesus was full of compassion, and we are called to be conformed to his image. We too are called to be compassionate. We are to “feel along with” our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to mourn with those who mourn. As it says in Ephesians 4:32, Paul commands, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.” Compassion led God to forgive us our sins. So too our compassion should make us able to forgive those who have wronged us. Jesus displayed compassion on the cross when he prayed regarding his persecutors: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And Stephen, the first martyr in the church, in the book of Acts imitated Christ’s compassion by praying for those who are stoning him. He says, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

Peter also exhorts us to imitate the compassion of our Lord. In 1 Peter 3:8, Peter says, “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.” He says that because it takes humility to be compassionate. A self-centered, self-focused person will always lack compassion. It takes compassion to think outside of yourself, or to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. But the proud, self-absorbed person can simply never do that.

Notice, too, that the compassion of Jesus led him to action. The text said that he had compassion on the crowd, so he began teaching them many things. In the famous parable in Luke 10 that Jesus tells, maybe the priest and the Levite in some ways felt bad for the man who was robbed and beaten and left for dead on the side of the road to Jericho. Maybe, but I know this: It was only the good Samaritan who had compassion enough to actually do something about it. Jesus says that the Samaritan took pity on him and then went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. That is compassion in action.

Having compassion for our brothers is not just feeling bad for them when they are going through a trial. No, it means reaching out a helping hand and seeing how we can encourage and strengthen them in their time of trouble. And having compassion for lost unbelievers does not just mean feeling pity for them when we think of the eternal torment that surely awaits those who are outside of Christ. No, moved with compassion, we must take action. True compassion will lead us to evangelize and to invite people to come to church so that they could hear the gospel in order that they may believe and be themselves saved.

The Problem (vv. 35–38)

Second, let us look at the problem. The disciples then come to Christ and describe for him the problem. Our pastor has always told us as leaders to not just come to him and describe the problem, but also to have a solution. That is not what these disciples did. They just came and described the problem.

In verse 35 we read, “By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. ‘This is a remote place,’ they said, ‘and it’s already very late.’” What the disciples are saying here is certainly true. It is indeed remote and late. But they were not approaching the situation with eyes of faith. Their hearts were in the wrong place. They were tired and hungry, and they just wanted the people to go away. They display this lack of compassion elsewhere, like in Matthew 15, when they told Jesus to send away the Syro-Phoenician woman, or in Matthew 19, when they attempted to drive the little children away from Jesus.

The disciples were not coming to Jesus looking for him to solve this problem. They were looking for reasons to tell the people to leave, rather than looking for ways to allow them to stay. So they continue in verse 36, saying to Jesus, “Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” Notice that this is actually an order that they are giving to Jesus. The word for “send” (apoluson) is in the imperative mood. It is a command. The disciples are commanding Jesus to send the people away.

They have lost their proper perspective. The disciples seem to forget who is the Lord. They forgot who it is that has the authority to command. And we too tend to lose perspective. We also need to remember this when we go to God with our own set of demands. Jesus is Lord, and he is not here to do our bidding. We often call Jesus “Lord,” and rightly so. But then, like these disciples, we begin trying to give him the orders. And we see that the disciples do not want to be responsible for taking care of these people’s problem. Their solution is that the people can go themselves and buy their own food. But this not the attitude that Jesus wants his disciples to have. He wants them to feel the onus of these people’s needs and see how they can meet those needs. Jesus responds to his disciples in verse 37: “You give them something to eat.” Notice, he puts the onus squarely on them. “Don’t just describe the problem,” he is saying, “but solve it.”

The “you” here is emphatic. Jesus could have just said, “Give them something to eat.” But in the Greek, it specifically says, “You give them something to eat.” In other words, he is calling them to do it at a potentially great personal cost. Jesus could have just said, “I will take care of it. I will feed them,” and he essentially does that. But he is instructing them, and he wants his disciples to learn to take responsibility to feed his sheep. Those the Lord calls, equips, and sends are given the responsibility of feeding Christ’s sheep. He calls them to be undershepherds. Recall in John 21 in the account of Jesus’ restoration of Peter, the risen Lord three times exhorts Peter and the apostles to feed his sheep. He did not say, “Be sure the sheep feed themselves.” That is not what he said. No, he said, “Feed my lambs”; “Take care of my sheep”; “Feed my sheep.”

Notice that Jesus is now the one giving the orders. “Give” (dote) is a command. The disciples had tried to order him around, but he will not submit to our orders. The Lord does the commanding, and we are the ones obligated to obey his orders. The disciples failed this test by trying to argue why this simply cannot be done. The text says, “They said to him, ‘That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?’” (v. 37). They give him the reasons why what Jesus was telling them to do cannot be done. And we can see why. Their reasons are true. I am sure it does take eight months’ wages to pay for all the food for the people to eat. But this reasoning excludes the true and living God. They fail to take into account the important fact that God incarnate is in their midst.

We too are often guilty of such godless logic. The truth is, if Christ said it, then it can and will be done. When he gives us the command, he will give us the grace and ability to do it. As Pastor Mathew pointed out in his sermon on this miracle, if the Lord fed two million Israelites with manna in the desert for forty years, then surely he could feed the five thousand for one meal. It is an argument from the greater to the lesser.

Remember the example of Abraham’s divine logic, spoken of in Hebrews 11. God promised that he would bless the offspring of Isaac. But then he commanded Abraham to put his beloved son Isaac to death. But Isaac did not at this point have any children. How could God’s promise be fulfilled if he puts Isaac to death? It makes no sense. But then we are told how Abraham reasoned by faith. He used divine logic. He reasoned in the light of the reality of God. Hebrews 11:19 says, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.” We need to also have this reasoning, where we are beginning to reason with the mind of Christ that we are given.

In verse 38, Jesus asks, “How many loaves do you have?” Anticipating their objection that they will not have enough, he proceeds to command them before they can answer, “Go and see. Go, do research.” From this we will learn that Jesus graciously uses what we have, even what little we have. Of course, even what we have has been given to us by God. It is all of grace. The disciples wanted to focus on what they did not have. They did not have enough bread to feed the vast multitude. But Jesus is pointing us to focus instead on what we have, and then come and bring it to Jesus.

The doubting disciples went searching and came back with their detailed findings. They found out that they only have five loaves and two fish. From the account in John 6, we learn that an unnamed boy had offered these five loaves and two fish to the disciples. Now, these five loaves were more like small barley rolls that were for the poorest of the poor. They were bread rolls made from the cheapest and coarsest ingredients. The word used here for “fish” likely indicates little salt fish—not some great giant catfish, but some little salt fish that were about the size of sardines and were used for relish for these dry rolls. Five loaves and two fish—that is all. A far insufficient amount of food to feed such an enormous multitude.

We sense a certain exasperated smugness here among the disciples. They had proved their point. They had told Jesus that they would not have enough. But all they proved was their own lack of faith. Never look to prove God and his word wrong. Always look to prove him right and true. We know the hymn,

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take him at his word;

just to rest upon his promise just to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him! How I’ve proved him o’er and o’er!

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O  for grace to trust him more!

The Solution (vv. 39–44)

Jesus solves the problem by performing a miracle of multiplication. The first thing Jesus does in verses 39 and 40 is to give instruction for the crowd to be ordered. The text says, “Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.” In directing them to sit in groups of hundreds and fifties, you can picture there being at least fifty groups of about a hundred people each. You see how giant this crowd is. What Jesus is doing here is bringing order to the chaos. This reminds us of God’s work of creation at the beginning, when the Lord brought order to the formless and empty cosmos. He is a God of order, and he brought order out of the chaos. When God comes into someone’s life, he always brings order.

Notice that the people, in fact, do what Jesus directs them to do. He told them to sit down in groups, so they sat down in groups. That is called the obedience of faith. (GWP) They showed their faith by doing what he directed. If we say that we believe in Jesus, and yet we do not do what he says, then we lie and his truth is not in us. We always show our faith by what we do.

We next read in verse 41, “Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.” Notice that before he broke the loaves, Jesus gave thanks to the Father. Jesus is teaching us by his example the importance of thanking God for what we already have. You see, he is not thanking God after the five thousand have been fed, after the multiplication has been made. He is not thanking God for the abundance of food that he will later have. No, he begins by thanking God for what little they already have. He thanks God for just the five loaves and the two fish.

Instead of wasting time complaining about what we do not have and coveting what someone else has, we must learn to thank God for what he has already given us. Spoiled children tend to take for granted what their parents have already given them. They are already looking for the next thing. God does not like spoiled, ungrateful children. Besides, when we thank God for what he has already given us, he will almost surely give us more. Think about it. Even we delight in giving more to those who are thankful for what we have given them. This is all the more true of God. He delights to give more to the thankful.

To feed the great multitude, Jesus did not need to use their loaves and fish. He could have just created food to give them out of nothing, ex nihilo. After all, he is God. But Jesus graciously uses what we have. Jesus makes much of our little. That is what he does. He makes much of our little.

And Jesus includes his disciples in the distribution. He uses them to give food to the people. To do his work, he surely does not need us. But he includes us. Jesus calls us and equips us to be his fellow workers and to be his witnesses, and he gives us the privilege of participating in his great work of building God’s kingdom here on earth. In his commentary on this passage, R. Kent Hughes says, “We understand that God wants to use us to bring the Bread of Life to a needy world. He can do perfectly well without us if he chooses to do so. He did not need the little boy’s bread. He did not need to use his disciples to distribute it.” He could have done it all himself. “But wonder of wonder, he delights in including us in his work!”[1]

Verse 42 goes on to say, “They all ate and were satisfied.” Everyone there ate to the point of being full. All appetites were satiated. The Lord Jesus always fills his people. His provision for his people is always complete, total, and satisfying. Paul says that we have been given fullness in Christ. We see that in Colossians 2:10: “We have been given fullness in Christ.” Paul says again in Ephesians 1:22–23, “And God placed all things under [Christ’s] feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

He is the good shepherd who provides in full for his sheep. That is why we read in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” In the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed and they will be filled. In Christ, our souls will be satisfied as with the richest of foods. The unbelievers in the world are empty. Their hearts are restless. But God’s people are filled. They are ever-satisfied in Christ.

We then read in verse 43, “The disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.” People often make the point here that you can learn from this not to waste food, and certainly that is true. But that is not really the main point here. The point especially being made here is to see the abundance of the Lord’s provision for his people. The Lord does not just give us enough; he gives us above and beyond what we could ask or imagine.

There is always an abundance to God’s providence for us, an abundance for his giving. Jude 2 says, “Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.” In Romans 5:17 Paul says, “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” He gives us an abundant provision of grace. The Lord fills us to overflowing. Psalm 23 talks about how we are satisfied and shall not be in want. Then it goes on to verse 5, which says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” There is an abundance to God’s provision for his people.

Feeding the five thousand is a miracle of multiplication. Unbelieving scholars who try to explain this miracle away (as they do all the miracles of Jesus) are just not being honest with the text. There is no indication in any of the gospel accounts of people denying themselves by passing on food, or adding their own food to the pile as it was passed around. This is the empty drivel that you will hear from unbelieving scholars. No, the obvious explanation of what happened is that Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and miraculously multiplied them so they became more than sufficient to feed the whole multitude.

This is a specific miraculous event, which he repeats in the feeding of the four thousand later on. But it is also reflective of a general principle that we see throughout the Scripture. The Scripture principle is this: God does much with our little. What we give to God, he will multiply.

God seems to delight in doing much with our little. The more he does with less, the more he receives the glory. There are many examples of this throughout the Scriptures, but just to name a couple of classic examples, let us first look at Gideon (Judg. 6–7). Gideon was facing a vast army of Midianites, likely about 135,000 soldiers in that Midianite army. Gideon boldly proposed to take his thirty-two thousand fighting men and confront the army that was four times greater than theirs. That takes faith. That is doing much with little. But God said, “No.” He said that Gideon had too many men. He eventually had Gideon whittle his army down to 300. Instead of being four times as large, the army they faced was now about 450 times as large. God then proceeds to defeat the whole Midianite army through Gideon’s 300 men, who really did not do much—not much more than act as witnesses to God’s great victory. God does much with our little.

Look at David and Goliath, another classic example (1 Sam. 17). God uses an armorless shepherd boy with a sling to fell the giant unbeatable champion. Notice how Goliath is described. He is not just large; he also has armor everywhere. He is described being “over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and a coat of scale armor. . . . on his legs, he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him” (1 Sam. 17:4–7). Then who comes along but little David. When little David offers to fight Goliath, King Saul responds, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him. You are only a boy. And he has been a fighting man from his youth.” But the armorless shepherd boy, little David, approaches the giant warrior and proclaims, “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (1 Sam. 17:47). And little David proceeds to fell the armed giant.

God does much with our little. So in light of this truth that Christ does much with our little, I want to give us five points of application.

Application

1. Know what you have. Just as Christ called the disciples to go and see what food they had, so we too should examine what gifts and abilities and resources that we have. Now, when you go and look at your resources, and if you are impressed with who you are and impressed with what you have, then you have a miscalculated and tragically inflated view of yourself. No, you should look at what you have and you should probably come away from it being unimpressed by what you have. You should see that what you have is little.
2. Be thankful for the little that you have. Instead of focusing on what you lack and complaining about what you do not have, you should give thanks to God for what he has already given you. What you have has been given to you by God, and what you do not have has been kept from you by God for a good reason. Trust in his wisdom above your own in giving you what you have and in withholding from you what you do not have. A wise parent chooses what to give his children and then chooses what not to give the children. He does it for their good.
3. Take what you have to Jesus. Bring your five loaves and two fish. It is a call to prayer. Prayer is bringing your little to God and asking him to make much of it. With little, you can do little. But with your little, if you give it to God, he can do much with your little, and he delights in doing much with your little. A man is weak, but a man of prayer is strong. The man of prayer is still a weak man in himself, but he is helped now by the almighty, prayer-hearing God. We need to pray and watch God do much with our little.
4. Expect Jesus to make much of your little. In other words, when you pray, pray in faith. Remember the famous quote from the great missionary William Carey. He said, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” If we give ourselves and what we have wholly over to the Lord, there is no telling what he can do in us and what he can do through us. So let us give our little to God, and then expect him to do great things.
5. At the end of it all, give God the glory for making much of your little. Do not engage in revisionist history by overblowing and exaggerating your little role in what God has done through you. No, do not steal praise from God. Do not dare do it. Instead, say, “Soli Deo gloria!” (to God alone be the glory), for it was he and he alone—the Almighty God, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort—who made much of our little.

[1] R. Kent Hughes, Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior, 2 vol. in one/ESV edition, Preaching the Word series (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015).