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A DISCIPLE TRUSTS IN JESUS- by Darren Choo
Mark 6:30-44; Psalm 32
10 February 2008

Introduction
The story was told of two boys who were good friends and loved to explore caves. One day, they came across the entrance of a huge cave and decided to “bravely go where no man has gone before”.

Now as the two boys moved inside slowly and with extreme caution, their eyes and ears were opened in case they may actually encounter a furious bear. As they ventured deeper and deeper into the cave, suddenly, out from the distance darkness, they saw what looked like two glowing eyes and what followed was a loud roar, sending a terrible echo off the walls of the cave. It was a bear! Without thinking twice, both of the boys immediately turned to make a dash back to the entrance. As they were running for their lives, one of the boys suddenly did something rather strange – he stopped to untie his hiking boots. And from his backpack, he took out a pair of running shoes and started to put them on. His friend meanwhile saw what he was doing, started yelling, “Come on man, let’s get out of here! Why in the world are you changing shoes? We don’t have much of a chance outrunning the bear anyway!”

As the first boy got up and started to run, he turned and replied to his friend, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. All I have to do is outrun you!”

Who need enemies when we have such friends like this? It’s sad when people we trust treat us this way. We may think that we know enough of that person’s character to trust in him, but then when the going gets tough and they ditch you behind, that’s when we know the real painful truth. Though we may have friends that disappoint and even hurt us at times, there is one that will never and in whom as disciples we can place our trust; we know Him, His name is Jesus. And I’m sure Jesus won’t leave us behind to face the bear alone; He’s capable of dealing with the beast on His own.

As disciples, we can trust in Jesus because the Word of God tells us so as seen in our two readings for today. In writing Psalm 32, King David was confessing to God his sins of adultery, murder and deception. In doing so, he was putting His trust that God will forgive him, remove his burden of transgression and cancel his debts. This is clearly how David felt in V5 where he declares aloud that “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

Similarly, as we look to the Gospel text on “The feeding of the 5000”, we encounter yet another example from Scriptures that affirms that we can trust in Jesus.
“The feeding of the 5000” is a familiar story where I’m sure we have heard it being preached and taught countless times before. To some, this may be your favorite story in the Bible and perhaps it is even a favorite with all 4 Gospel writers, which probably explains why Matthew, Mark, Luke and John choose to record down this event. But as we study deeper into this text, we discover that it is a lesson for us as disciples that we can trust in the Master in any difficult situations. Let me draw attention to three spiritual truths from this passage.

Jesus Sees Our Needs
For a start, this miracle reveals that Jesus sees our needs. The background of this text informs us that there was a great crowd (V34) … coming and going (V31).

Now this crowd that was following Jesus was not like His 12 who wanted to be His true disciples. Their reason for following Jesus was simply due to the mighty works (6:5) that they performed previously. In other words, this particular group was merely following another crowd, more out of curiosity, like when we go to a hawker center and not knowing what is good, we see a crowd lining up and follow the queue. They heard a lot about Jesus and wanted to know who this mysterious and deep man really was.

We can’t fault them for being curious, after all, God had remained silent for the last 400 years and to suddenly, out of the blue, encounter a man performing great signs and wonders was a new phenomena experience. It was therefore natural that a crowd would flock after Him to see what the excitement was all about, to determine if He was really the coming Messiah.

Interestingly though, it appears that Jesus doesn’t seem interested in them, for in v31 He commanded His disciples to come away by yourself to a desolate place and rest for a while.

Now, we may be tempted to think or believe that God doesn’t see or even care for our needs. We may even rationalize that Jesus is too busy or more interested with others and thus have no time for any of us. Or we may feel that we are too small or insignificant in God’s sight and not worthy to be taken notice of. But look closely into this passage again, and we find that this is entirely untrue. According to v34, Mark records that the moment Jesus saw the great crowd, He had compassion on them. In other words, when Jesus lifted His eyes, He saw their very need at once – both physical and spiritual.

Spiritually, Jesus recognized that they were like sheep without a shepherd. Physically, Jesus saw that the long distanced traveling and walking had definitely taken its toil on the people, such that they were not only tired but hungry as well. Jesus not only saw this but understood what they were going through. This is why in V37, He told His disciples to feed them, to give them something to eat.

The point is simply this: If Jesus didn’t care, He would have not bothered to instruct His disciples to provide food and would instead continue with what He was doing with the disciples. But Jesus did care. We have a God who is big enough to see and know all our very needs. Proverbs 15:3 reminds us that … The eyes of the Lord are in every place ….

The first practical revelation that I want to draw to you is this: We have a God whom we can draw near to because He is compassionate enough to see and understand our needs. Let us be encouraged that our needs are never far from His thoughts.

Jesus Provides for Our Needs
But God doesn’t just see and understands our needs and do nothing about it, like what both the priest and Levite did in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). What good is God if He just sees our plight and does nothing? Listen - God provides for our needs.

However, to meet the hunger needs of such a vast crowd is not only a challenging project but an equally difficult prospect as well. Indeed how do we feed 5000 people… in the wilderness… where there is no food? I don’t think that there is any caterer in the world willing to do this. Though humanly it may seem impossible but with God all things are possible (Matt 19:26). Instead of looking to God for support, we at times like the disciples are guilty of turning elsewhere, and in doing so end up reaping fruitless results. Often, we engage in one of these three ways. The first is to …

a) Look Away (V35-36)
This was the disciples’ initial plan. Looking in V35-36, they reason with Jesus that this is a desolate place and the hour is now late, and so it is appropriate to
send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.

In taking this easy option of looking away, what the disciples were doing is to ignore the problem and we know that it doesn’t help solve the situation in any way for the simple fact that the problem still remains. Many times we foolishly react to situations in this negative way, for example denying that we are suffering from a critical illness or that we have an area of weakness.

To solve it, we must face them and deal with it honestly. Jesus knew that this solution of looking away was not a feasible one as their needs were not met and the crowd might faint along the way if they were sent home without any food.
b) Look to Own Resources (V37b)
Or perhaps we may respond by looking at our own resources and see if the problem can be eliminated. What can I do? What do I have to help ease the situation? This was exactly the next solution the disciples opted.

In V37, they pondered among themselves and asked ”Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them to eat? After doing a brief calculation, they concluded that it would take an equivalent of 200 days wages just to buy a little bread to feed the crowd.

This second solution is fine provided the resources are present, but often as we know, this is not so. There are occasions were we cannot solve the problems on our own as we do not have the adequate resources or the know-how. If both looking away and looking at own resources doesn’t help solve the problem, then maybe we need to consider option number 3: Look elsewhere or …

c) Look at Other Resources
According to John’s version (6:8-9) of this same account, this seems to be Andrew’s solution for we are informed that it was he who found a boy who had 5 loaves and 2 fish (v9). We don’t know how Andrew found the little boy but he did and more importantly, brought him to Jesus.

In Andrew’s example here, we learn to trust in Jesus in what little we have. Though he found the resources to be limited, Andrew didn’t stopped there, he didn’t give up or feel depressed, he still presented it to His master trusting that He will provide.

d) Look to God
And Provide God did. The final and best solution is to look to God to help us in our needs. In addressing to the people’s tiredness, Jesus got them to sit down (v39), then taking the little boy’s lunch, He looked up to the heavens (V41)/looked to God, gave thanks, distributed the food and fed the hungry mass.

The result? Mark records that the crowd was not only fed but they were satisfied (v42). I like the description presented here. It is like to going to a buffet, eating your money’s worth and coming out as a satisfied customer knowing that there’s more on the table! This is the second spiritual truth we gain in this passage: God is our provider; and when you look to God with your needs, He provides.

Jesus Provides Abundantly
But there’s more, this miracle further reveals that Jesus not only provides, but He provides in abundance! The overabundance of providence by God is seen in when Jesus asked His disciples to gather up the leftovers.
How many did they ended up with? Again as we refer back to Scriptures, V43 tells us that from 5 loaves and 2 fishes, the disciples collected now 12 baskets full of leftovers! The disciples’ role of gathering up the remains provides a compelling testimony of the superabundance of Jesus’ provision for His people. This vast surplus is a sign to encourage us that the resources of God are far more than enough for human needs. We can trust that Jesus not only provides but provides for our needs abundantly. This is the third and final revelation which declares that God is our Jehovah Jireh who will provide for us in abundance.

Conclusion
Let me close with another illustration.

A man was walking along a cliff when he accidentally slipped and fell. Fortunately, he managed to grab hold of a hanging branch. As he hung onto the branch he shouted for help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and helped him. After awhile, he heard a voice calling him. He looked around but couldn’t see anyone but the voice kept calling his name. Finally he answered, “Who are you?” And the voice replied back, “It is God.” And God continued, “I will help you if you trust me; just let go of the branch and I will catch you.” The man thought for a moment, he looked up and saw no one; he looked down and saw how high he was and then he shouted, “Help! Is anyone else up there?!”

We claim to trust God but when the time comes, do we do so? One of the great things about being a Christian and having Christ is that we can trust in Him as the story of the feeding of the multitude reminds us.

Perhaps today, like the crowd, you are tired. You are tired with the struggles in your own Christian walk; you are tired because your spiritual life seems to be like a roller coaster having ups and (more) downs. Or perhaps you are facing a crisis now. Everything you do is a failure and the world seems to be against you.

Maybe you are not tired. Maybe like the crowd you are hungry – hungry for God’s Word and yet not getting any breakthrough. You diligently read the Bible yet don’t seem to feel the presence of God. Some I know even struggle and end up falling asleep. But hear the truth of God’s Word today. God sees and understand all your needs – be it tiredness or hunger and as we trust in Him, He will provide for your needs and provide it abundantly.
As in the next section (V45-52), when Jesus calms the storm, the storms that are troubling us in our lives will be also calm as we put our trust in the Lord, as He not only provide but protects us as well. Would you therefore today as disciples, be challenged to trust in Him, draw near to Him and receive from Him? In the comforting words of Jesus in John 14:1, He tells His disciples ”Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me.”

Reflective Questions
1. How do you define what it means to trust (believe) in something or someone?


2. From what you know about Jesus’ life, what would have convinced you that you could truly trust in Him?


3a. What do you think would have been the greatest difficulty in being a disciple of Jesus?


3b. What do you think would be the greatest joy in being a disciple?


4. Make a list of what we can learn about God in the feeding of the 5000.


5. Think back of a time when you have trusted in God and He did not fail you. Share the experience with your group.

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