Mark 6:35-37 (NIV): 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. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
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?”
The disciples really were a considerate and caring group of men. So when Jesus teaching the crowd of more than 5000 people continued on and on, as the sun got lower and lower in the sky, they became concerned that they would suddenly be faced with 5000 hungry people and no way to feed them. Finally they approached Jesus to remind Him of how late it was getting: “Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” It was all perfectly reasonable.
But Jesus’ answer floored them: “You give them something to eat.” Silence fell as they all processed what He had just said. Could they possibly have heard Him right? US give all of these people something to eat? We don’t have food for ourselves. How are we supposed to feed more than 5000 people?!
When they expressed these thoughts to Jesus, He quickly realized that this was turning into teachable moment. These disciples had a view of God and of themselves that was several degrees too small. Plus, they were really bad at connecting the dots! They had just returned from a mission trip, spreading the good news that God’s kingdom was becoming a reality right before the eyes of the people. They had been empowered to do miracles, heal people, and cast out demons. And they had been sent out without food, extra clothes, money, or even a purse to carry money in (cf. Mark 6:6-13), putting themselves completely in the care of God. And they had experienced God’s provision in every way. Not one of them came back to report to Jesus how they had gone cold, or hungry, or thirsty, or without a place to stay. Not one of them came back with a story of how God had been unable to provide for their basic needs, or had been unable to work through them a mighty miracle that had needed doing.
But here they were, barely 24 hours back with Jesus, and they seemed to have completely forgotten all of that. They no longer believed that God could work powerfully through them, so they turned to Jesus. They saw the magnitude of the need all around them, and didn’t even believe that HE could meet it with the miraculous power that coursed through Him.
But Jesus knew that God, His Father, could meet this impossible need without breaking a sweat. After all, what was creating food to feed more than 5000 people compared to creating a whole universe from nothing! All it needed was faith, which Jesus had, and which His disciples lacked right then. All it needed was moving forward to do what the Father had determined to do. “You give them something to eat” was the invitation to be vitally involved in what God was doing right then; to continue learning how to be an effective instrument of God’s power in this situation. But the apostles just didn’t get it.
Father, it is so easy to see ourselves as powerless in the face of many of the situations we find ourselves faced with each day. We pray frantic prayers, asking You to do something. But we refuse to consider the possibility that You would answer, “YOU do something. YOU fix the situation. YOU speak the needed words of healing or freedom.” Of course, like the disciples, we could do none of those things in our own strength and power. But, also like them, we can do anything You command us to do, because it would then be Your limitless power flowing through us to accomplish it. Help us, Lord, any time You tell us to do something, to say something, to fix something, to never doubt, to never question, but to simply step forward in absolute faith that whatever You command, You can do through us. Amen.