Mark 6:38-44 "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five-and two fish." 39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 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. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.” NIV
How many loaves do you have? This is the question that Jesus brings to each one of us. What do you have that Jesus can work with? When He turns to His disciples and tells them that they should feed the large crowd that has gathered He is pushing them beyond both their comfort level and their experience level. He is asking something of them that they have never seen before nor can really comprehend the means that Jesus is about to introduce for meeting the need. As Jesus challenges them with this task He encourages them to “go and see” what they have. In the same way He comes to each of us with callings and tasks that are greater than we could ever undertake on our own and then from that place He says, “go and see” what you have that I can work with.
When the disciples returned from researching what resources were available to them Jesus responds by given them direction, but the direction doesn’t seem to align with the available resources. There are thousands of people and only five loaves of bread and two fish. And yet Jesus encourages the disciples to begin to organize the people as if there were an abundant supply. This principle is a significant dynamic of faith. The word encourages us to prepare for what we expect, not for what we can see! Jesus expected a miracle and so He had His disciples prepare for it so that they would be ready to respond when the Lord poured it out.
Many times Jesus asks us to do the work of preparing the atmosphere without fully disclosing to us the details of how He will move. He looks to us to take what we have and prepare as if it were enough! Abraham prepared his son as an offering and then at the last moment God provided a ram. In 2 Ki. 3:16 he Israelites were told to dig the valley full of ditches when there was no sign of rain. They were told that they would not see wind or rain (the usual means of provision that they were used to), and yet the valley would soon be full of water. The very next morning the Lord sent a flash flood into the valley and the ditches retained sufficient water to meet the needs of the people and their animals. What if the Israelites would have delayed in unbelief? What if they decided to sleep on the prophetic word and if it felt like a good idea in the morning then they would do something. For them it would have been an opportunity for a miracle that passed them by. Their lack of preparation would have made it impossible to capitalize on the miracle that God had performed. He would have still moved but they would not have been able to capitalize upon what was provided for them.
In the story in Mark 6 the process that Jesus uses is a fascinating glimpse into one of the kingdom means of distribution. The disciples are instructed to organize the people into smaller groups, the Lord performs the miracle of multiplication and then the resources are entrusted into the hands of the apostles for distribution to the people. This process is thought provoking because it is replicated in the life of the early church. The Lord multiplies the provision once again but this time it is through the generous giving of the people of God. But in the same way, the people lay their resources at the feet of the apostles for them to choose the proper means of distribution to the people. This pattern seems to be the way of the kingdom of God. Find faithful men, entrust them with the resources that God has poured out and use them to distribute those resources to the ones who are in need.
Jesus takes the resources that are made available to him and blesses them with thanksgiving to the Lord. He then multiplies them and distributes them to the people through the apostolic leadership. This is the kingdom of God. Bless what you have, don’t curse what you don’t have. Thank the Lord for His provision with an expectation that He will meet every need. And then begin in faith as the Lord gives direction! There are two significant conclusions to this story. The first report of these events contains the sentence, “they all ate and were satisfied.” They did not just receive enough to survive; they ate until they were satisfied! Truly only Jesus can satisfy! The second conclusion to this story is that God did not simply provide enough for the moment. This miracle of God’s provision also released enough resources to care for the disciples for some time. Notice that! The Lord met the needs of the people but also released enough resources to carry the workers for a season. The telling of this story in John 6:12 concludes with one additional glimpse into the heart of Jesus as He provides abundantly for the people. Even though there is such a miraculous, abundant supply, Jesus does not take this for granted and become careless. He final instructions to his disciples as He commands them to gather all of the leftover pieces of food is this, “let nothing be wasted!” Even though there has been an abundant overflow Jesus still relates to this supply with carefulness and frugality! He is always a good steward even in times of abundance!
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