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Have you ever sat down and read Scripture and thought, “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to live like that? Or how about, “Did Jesus really mean what I think He meant?” Have you ever been hesitant to embrace what God teaches on a topic in fear that you will lose something? Sometimes reading and studying the Bible raises more questions than answers. But this is primarily because God rarely runs things the way we would. When we look through the Gospels, we get a front row seat to people questioning the teachings of Jesus. It’s strange and mysterious. It’s uncomfortable. It’s counter-cultural. In some instances, it seems impossible.
Jesus says, “In order to follow me you must be born again.” Completely puzzled, Nicodemus asks, “How can I go back into my mother’s womb?” He says to the woman at the well, “Come to me and I will give you living water.” Her eyes narrow as she ponders the practicality of such a question. “Uh… the well is deep and you don’t even have a bucket.” He asks a lame man if he wants to be healed and instead of answering Jesus, the man starts complaining about his current situation!
Spiritual truth flies over the heads of these people just as it does us in many ways. In Mark 6, Jesus is using a simple example to illustrate a deep spiritual reality, and this time some of his most loyal followers are missing it. The crowd has gathered and it’s getting late. The disciples take note that the people may be getting a little bit “hangry.”
When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?”
Mark 6:35-37 NASB
Mark’s account of this story says “they said to Him” but John’s account tells us it was Phillip and Peter who spoke up.
Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”
John 6:7-9 NASB
Phillip and Peter were thinking of human limitations instead of divine provision. Phillip chimes in with a fairly negative tone stating it would take two hundred denarii just to get bread – which would still only be minimal for this size of crowd. Two hundred denarii would have amounted to nearly 8 months of wages! Peter finds some food but mentions it as an afterthought since the crowd was so large.
Look, I’m not trying to rip on these guys. The point is, we often operate in the same mindset. When God asks the impossible of us, we limit His power by thinking small. Phillip not only pointed out that He needed additional resources to carry out Jesus’ plan, but his response was toward the bare minimum. Peter brought all that he had, but he too was discouraged by the reality that it didn’t seem enough. Jesus said to feed them, but this is all we have.
The truth of the story is that Jesus didn’t need their money or resources. All He wanted was their faith! David Guzik writes, “In fact, God doesn’t need any help – but He often deliberately restrains His work until He has our participation.” As we know, Jesus fed the crowds and He fed them abundantly. The most unique part of the story, however, is that he let the disciples – yes, the men who doubted Him – pass the food around to the people (v. 41). Jesus wanted their participation. He wanted them to reveal His glory by their hands and feet. He wanted to empower them to bring His miracle to others.
Even during moments in life when we doubt God, He is faithful to teach us what He’s capable of. He is waiting for our faith, ready to reveal His glory in ways we never thought possible. So, I circle back to the question that plagues my mind as I ponder what this story means in my own life.