So, I am willing to bet that everyone in this room, at least every adult, has heard at least one and probably multiple sermons on the feeding of the 5000. If you were to ask random people on the street, Christian or not, to name one of Jesus’ miracles, the most popular answer would probably be walking on water, but the feeding of the 5000 would likely be a close second. By the way, both of those miracles are part of chapter 6, and they actually go together! If you grew up going to Church or if you are even a semi-regular attender – no judgment! – you know this story, you’ve heard it probably a dozen times or more. But I am also willing to bet that you don’t how it fits into the whole story of Jesus’ life and ministry, particularly as Mark tells it in his Gospel. The real miracle isn’t the feeding of 5000 – which is pretty amazing – no the real miracle is what Jesus doesn’t do after he feeds the 5000. You are going to have to wait and see what that is!
So, we just heard vss. 6b-13 and then vss. 30-46. And your bibles have headings in them like “The Mission of the 12,” “The Death of John Baptist” – that’s the part we skipped!, “The feeding of the 5000,” etc. Here is something you may not know – those headings are added by an editor, so are the chapters and verses by the way – chapters weren’t added until the 11th century and verses until late in the 16th after the Reformation! Chapters and verses help when we have different copies of the Bible after the printing press was invented. And headings help us identify different sections. But originally each biblical book is one long story, they are not broken up into sections, and chapters, and verses, we break it up into subsections to make it easier to read and usually this helpful. This is why, for example, we have a new section that begins in the middle of verse 6. But all these divisions can give us the impression that these divisions stand alone rather than being part of one big story.
In this first section, we read that Jesus has launched a new stage of his ministry. Rather than him going around teaching with the disciples, he sends them out 2×2. Instead of one voice proclaiming the Gospel there are now seven – Jesus himself and 6 teams of 2 disciples. He is no longer preaching as a sole voice with the disciples as his assistants, now he has ordained them to go out and proclaim the kingdom. He sends them in groups of two, so they have support, they are not totally on their own. And Jesus gives them authority, he grants them the power he has over unclean spirits, and they anointed the sick with oil and cured them. They are called – like us – to follow after Jesus and do what they see him doing. And note how he sends them out: They do not go with material power, with resources; instead, they go in a state of poverty, with nothing but a staff (A shepherd’s staff for protection from wild animals, and for support when the ground gets rough, etc.), the clothes on their backs, and the sandals on their feet. They are dependent on those to whom they minister. And if they receive no support, if their proclamation of the Kingdom is not received, they are to shake the dust off and move on. This is important, because one of the main messages of this chapter is that the Kingdom of God is not about seeking and solidifying power, but about giving power up to serve others. It is also the case that any good Jewish boy or girl hearing this story in the first century would immediately think of the Exodus story. When Israel flees Egypt on the night of the first Passover, God commands them to take only a cloak, a belt, sandals, and a staff. Just as it was God who took care of Israel in the wilderness – they have nothing of their own to fall back on – so will God protect Jesus and the disciples, and so will he take care of us. If you want to check this go read Exodus 12.11. God desires his people to lean on him, not on our own power, be it our smarts, our money, our resources. Jesus continues this Old Testament theme.
II
When we get to verse 30, we see that the disciples have come back from the mission of preaching and teaching and healing that Jesus sent them on: The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. So why did they come back? This is where Mark has weaved another storyline in – the story of the death of John the Baptist in vss. 14-29. Why did the disciples come back? Because Herod killed John the Baptist. Mark weaves this story in, going back in time to John’s arrest and imprisonment and his terribly unjust death. Herod gets falling down drunk, has his stepdaughter do a tasteless sexual dance before his guests, and then offers her up to half his kingdom. Herod’s wife, his brother’s ex, hates John because he constantly preached against their marriage as a form of incest, and so she asks for John’s head.
Now who was John the Baptist? I am going to break the standard rules of preaching, put on my professor hat, and give you a pop quiz – who was John the Baptist to Jesus? How were they related? Who is brave enough to answer?! That’s right, John is Jesus’ cousin
All of this is highly shameful and scandalous. Herod is the king of the Galilean area where Jesus lives, Herod is supposed to be a good Jew and follow Jesus’ law. But he’s an awful tyrant who cares more about pleasing the Romans than caring for his own people. Such a scandalous act of killing a holy man in a drunken state to appease a dancing girl demands a response. Jesus is an elder male in his family, moreover he and John have some connections with their ministries. First century Palestine is an honor-shame culture; think Hatfields and McCoys – a response is required for what Herod has done. Everyone would have expected Jesus to respond.
And we see just this. In verse 31 we read that many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. This phrase is found nowhere else in the Bible. Everyone in Galilee, especially Jesus’ friends and families are coming to his door to see what he is going to do, how are they going to respond. If you look at the quote on the front of the Bulletin, from New Testament scholar James Edwards, revolution is in the air. Herod, the greedy rich king has killed John, the beloved holy man who serves the common people. Now is the time to make Herod pay! Now is the time perhaps to overthrow him!
Jesus needs time and space to think, so he asks his closest friends to come away with him into the wilderness where they can be alone, where he can pray, and then discuss with his disciples what should be done. So, they get in a boat and sail across the sea of Galilee. When they get there the crowd is already there. The crowd that followed Jesus around hurries on foot to the other side to meet him. And they’ve picked up more supporters. Everyone wants part of the action too. They all want part of the response to Herod. They are all riled up and ready to explode! It’s a powder keg – political revolution time.
Jesus, who just wants time to himself, has compassion on the crowd: we read in vs. 34: he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. Jesus cannot leave them like this, so he sits down to teach them about the Kingdom of God and what sort of life is required of true followers of Jesus. Mark does not tell us what Jesus taught them, but it was probably along the lines of the Sermon on the Mount, no violence, no revenge, no power that pays back – but love, and love not only of neighbors, but of enemies.
He teaches a long time. It’s late in the day. People are hungry. Jesus himself is tired and hungry. So, he asks the disciples to feed the crowd. And we all know the story. They tell him there are too many people, it would be ridiculously expensive to buy food for all these people. Then a young boy comes with his loaves and fishes and Jesus multiples them.
Two things to note here: 1) the 5000 refers to able-bodied men. There were likely close to 10,000 people present with women, children, and the elderly. 2) Notice that the disciples gathered 12 baskets of scraps – one for each of them – they forget about Jesus in their excitement. One of the major features of Mark’s Gospel is that the disciples are constantly failing – they let Jesus down over and over again, and they don’t seem to get it at all until after Jesus dies and is resurrected. When we read Mark, we should put ourselves in the shoes of the disciples – because we, like them, constantly mess it up. Mark wrote his Gospel such that we the readers are supposed to identify with the disciples.
III
What follows next is that Jesus sends the disciples away. He tells them to get in the boat and go back home. And he finishes instructing the crowd and then goes up on the Mountain to pray by himself. This is followed by his walking on water and saving them from the storm, a story which is an allusion to Psalm 23 and the still waters and also the crossing of the Red Sea – we don’t have time to get into all that, I’d need at least another half an hour and you’d not be happy with me (perhaps another sermon or better yet, come to an adult ed class this fall!)
Why does Jesus send the disciples away? Because they too are all riled up. They are excited. Why? Well remember the disciples – like everyone else – expect Jesus to do something in response to Herod. And they know better than anyone else what Jesus is capable of doing! Moreover, what did they just see Jesus do? He just feed 10,000 people. 5,000 of them are able-bodied men. These people were already followers of Jesus, after witnessing the miracle of the loaves and fishes they are likely even more devoted!
Have you figured it out yet? Have you figured out the real miracle?! Jesus has an army of 5000 men – this is a huge army in the ancient world. In the Spring of 66 AD, at the start of the first war between Rome and the Jews, the Romans had 3000 guards stationed in the area. At the time then that the feeding of the 5000 occurred, likely sometime between 31-32 AD, an Army of 5000 was perhaps the largest army in the area. And not only does he have the largest army, but he also needs no supply lines. He can feed his army by snapping his fingers. He can arm them with a word – Let there be swords! And the whole countryside, all the people, are sympathetic to Jesus. To put it simply, Herod. Is. Toast.
Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God. That one-day God Almighty would come down to Earth and establish his Kingdom here and put an end to all the unjust and wicked kingdoms of this world. And Jesus now has the power to relatively easily get the process started. He can take Herod and his kingdom in Galilee. Next, he can take Jerusalem. Then Samaria. Then the far reaches of planet Earth. Forget Alexander the Great. Jesus of Nazareth is set to conquer the world!
But this is not the way of the Kingdom of God, not the way of Jesus. Mark does not record in detail the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, but in both Matthew and Luke we read that after John baptizes Jesus, Jesus goes out into the wilderness and is tempted by Satan. One thing that Satan does is to take Jesus up to the mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and he tells him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Notice that in vs. 46 Jesus goes up to the Mountain to pray. I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to imagine Jesus up on the mountain looking around and recalling Satan’s offer. Rather than having to die on the cross – there is probably not a more painful way to die – rather than having all his friends and family abandon him, rather than having to go through the experience of feeling that he has been abandoned even by God the Father, he can take the world for himself now. And this time he doesn’t even have to bow to Satan. This time he can do it on his own, with the power that he has. He can punish Herod. He can avenge John’s pointless, shameful death. He can defeat Rome which has conquered beloved Israel. It’s all there, literally at his fingertips, literally on his lips. He need only speak the word and the whole world will be under his command – the kingdom of God will be here.
And the disciples know it. They are whipping the crowd up into excitement. They are likely out there recruiting the 5000 men. But what does Jesus do? He puts a stop to it all. He sends the disciples away to prevent them from riling up the crowd. Then he calms the crowd and teaches them that this is not the way of the Kingdom of God. And he sends them home. He disbands his unbeatable, eternally supplied army and departs. He goes to pray. And then he goes to get his wayward disciples who are stuck in a storm out on the Sea of Galilee. He saves them all, just as God saved Israel from Egypt.
IV
The takeaway, the moral of the story, should be clear. The Kingdom of God that Jesus teaches is not achieved by power – God does not conquer the world by force, by coercion. In Matthew Chapter 20 the disciples are arguing over which of them is the greatest and who will get to sit at Jesus’ right hand in the Kingdom. Jesus responds to them by saying: “You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26 It will not be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Jesus leads by example. Rather than overpowering and destroying his enemies, he seeks to serve them, he calls them, as he calls us, to follow him and to imitate, to live a life of discipleship in which we give up our power and privilege and serve those who have less, those who are poor and oppressed. This is what it looks like to follow Jesus and be a worker in his Kingdom. Jesus’ instruction to us is the same as to the audience who heard the parable of the Good Samaritan – Go and do likewise. Amen.
