DISCUSSION ON MARK 6 : 30 - 44

(A discussion between five friends about an incident recorded in the Bible i.e in the Gospel of Mark chapter 6 verses 30 to 44) Roshan : Welcome to all for this discussion on Mark 6:30-44 All : Hi Roshan : If you have your Bible please turn the pages to the portion where Mark 6:30-44. Rohit will read it aloud for us. Others please listen & follow carefully. Rohit : Feeding the Five Thousand Mark Chapter 6 Verses 30 to 44(NKJV)
30

Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. 31 And He said to them, Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.
33

But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him. 34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. 35 When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. 36 Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat.
37

But He answered and said to them, You give them something to eat. And they said to Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?

38

But He said to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see.

And when they found out they said, Five, and two fish.
39

Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. 41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. 42 So they all ate and were filled. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men. Roshan : Before we continue, let us just say a small prayer. Our Loving Heavenly Father, we pray that you would open our eyes to see the wonders in your word. Please speak to us. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen I think all of you would have understood the story that we read. Please spend a few minutes reading silently. Rohit :This incident is also recorded in Mathew 14:13-21, Luke 9:11-21 & John 6:1-14. This is the only miracle that Jesus did which is recorded in all the four gospels. In this incident Jesus blessed five loaves & two fishes, he broke it and gave it and 5000 men besides women and children ate it and were satisfied. Roshan : Each of the gospel writers has something to say about this miracle feeding that perhaps the others might have omitted in their telling of the story. When they are all put together, an interesting story begins to unfold before us. Preeti : I find this incident unbelievable. It is like a magic show by Jesus. Rahim : When you go to watch a magic show by somebody like a P C Sarkar, you know for sure that what happens there is an illusion. Your eyes are fooled to believe that something has disappeared when it actually hasnt.

Rohit : The audience in a magic show do not participate directly in the magic, at the most one or two volunteers may play some role. But in this incident everybody ate the bread that Jesus gave and were satisfied. Pooja : The participants in a magic show know the purpose of their visit. They are there to appreciate the skills of the magician and be entertained by him. But in this incident nobody knew that Jesus is going to feed them. Preeti : Any rational person will not accept this incident. It is a violation of the scientific law Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Rohit : How is it a violation of scientific law? Preeti : There were 5000 men, assuming there were an identical number of women and children respectively and that each adult ate 10 loaves and 4 fishes while each child ate 5 loaves and 2 fishes then by doing math we can arrive at the conclusion that 5 loaves become 1 lakh 25 thousand loaves and 2 fishes became 50 thousand fishes. Rahim : I understand what she is trying to say. We can produce the above quantity of bread easily in a bread factory provided we readily have the stock for equivalent quantity of ingredients namely wheat flour, oil etc. If 100 gms of Wheat flour is required for making 5 loaves then 25000Kgs of wheat flour would be required for such a big crowd. You obviously cannot make 1.25 lakhs of bread with 100 gms of flour. Similarly you would require 50000 fishes for cooking and supplying to the crowd. This is definitely a supernatural event involving instantaneous creation of matter. Roshan : God, the creator is not bound by the natural laws that he made. What is supernatural for us is natural for Him. Rohit : If you believe that Jesus is God then there is no need to doubt his ability to perform such miraculous signs.

Roshan : Let us continue with our discussion of the incident. The apostles in v30 refers to the twelve disciples of Jesus. In Mark 6:7 we find that Jesus sent out his disciples two by two after delegating his power to them and asking them to do what he had done earlier. They are now coming back and reporting to Jesus what they had done. Rohit : If they had gone two by two then there must have been six team reports. Because of the work that they had done they became so busy that they did not have time to even eat. Roshan : Jesus was so considerate of their need for physical rest that he takes them to a deserted place in a boat. Pooja : I think what he was doing must have been similar to the vacations that we take during summer/winter holidays to a hill resort or some tourist destination. Rohit : I think the place where Jesus & his disciples went would not have been a desert but a scenic vacation spot with lot of green grass(v39). Roshan : If you read this incident in the gospel of John then you can find that this event took place during Passover time which corresponds to March/April of the English Calendar. Pooja : Where did this event take place? Roshan : If you read Mark 6:45 or this incident as recorded in the gospel of Luke 9:10 then you can find that this event took place in the outskirts of Bethsaida. Can you locate this venue on the map shown below

Israel during Bible Times

Courtesy of Son Light Publishers Inc.

Roshan : What happened when they reached the spot where they had planned to take rest? Rahim : They found a huge crowd there which was waiting for them. They have reached by foot ahead of Jesus. These people have no consideration for the privacy of Jesus and his disciples. Rohit : They intruded into Jesus privacy but He was not irked by their behaviour but rather he felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd and he taught them many things. Roshan : If you read the account of this incident in the gospel of Mathew & Luke then you will find that he healed the sick. Pooja : I did not understand the phrase like sheep without a shepherd.

Roshan : Tell me, who is a shepherd and what does he do?. Preeti :A Shepherd is one who takes care of the sheep. He will be responsible for feeding the sheep, giving it water, protecting it from danger, cleaning it etc. Roshan : What do you think will happen to a sheep without a shepherd? Rohit : I think a sheep without a shepherd will die maybe it will be killed by a wild animal or a thief or may die because of some disease or even improper nourishment. Roshan : Jesus is the good shepherd who cares for us and meets all our needs, be it emotional, physical or spiritual. What happened next? Rohit : As Jesus was teaching and healing, the hours just flew, the multitudes did not even realize that it was quite late and that they did not have lunch. The disciples were smart enough to realize this or maybe they felt hungry so they come to Jesus and request him close the meeting and disperse the crowd so that they can go and buy food for themselves in the nearby towns and villages. Roshan : Jesus realized that since they have to make their journey back to their towns by foot they may faint on the way if they are not provided food hence he told the disciples to give them food. What was their response? Rahim : The disciples do a simple calculation of the cost that would be required for buying that quantity of bread. Their response seems to be cynical. Rohit : They probably were saying in their minds Jesus it is ridiculous on your part to make such an impractical suggestion Roshan : They knew that Jesus had the authority to heal the sick and deliver the demon possessed but it never occurred to them that Jesus can miraculously create food for everyone to eat. Jesus asks them to find out what is available with them. From the account in Johns gospel (6:9)we can know that the 5 loaves and 2 fishes actually is a lads tiffin.

Preeti : How much is the two hundred denarii? Rohit : Denarius is the Roman Silver Coin. One Denarius was the normal wage of a daily labourer per day. Roshan : Most probably Two hundred denarii may have been the amount that the disciples may have had in hand. That amount was inadequate to buy bread for all. Further the nearby city cannot produce such huge quantities of bread in a short notice. What happened next? Pooja : Jesus commands them to sit on the green grass. They sat down in ranks of hundreds & fifties which would not only make it easily to serve food but also easy to count the number of people who had the food. Roshan : Jesus blessed the five bread loaves and two fishes, broke it into twelve pieces and gave it to the disciples to serve to the people. Rahim : When did the miraculous multiplication happen? Rohit : The passage doesnt say any thing about it. Roshan : I think the multiplication must have been progressive may be they had enough for 50 people. By the time they had served one row then there was more for serving to the next 50. But what is important that everybody ate to their hearts content. How much was the balance after everybody had completely finished eating Preeti : They gathered twelve baskets full of bread & fish. Rohit : One basket for each cynical disciple to carry. Roshan : Tell me what have you learnt from this passage? Pooja : I am amazed to know the compassion of Jesus. He could have refused to engage with them. But he not only healed them and taught them but also fed them. Will Jesus care for me like the good shepherd does for the sheep?

Roshan : Yes, definitely but we are all like the sheep which is lost, we need to be found by the good shepherd and come under his care. During the discussion on the story of the compassionate father and his two sons, we talked about what we should do to be found. Rahim : I learnt that when there is a huge gap between what I have and what is needed, I should look to Jesus for his intervention. Rohit : When I am facing a huge problem or a challenge too big for me to handle, I should hand it over to Jesus. He already knows what should be done and will guide me correctly. Preeti : I was skeptical after initially reading this passage but after discussing and meditating about this incident I feel it is far better to trust Jesus than to trust my abilities. Roshan : The word compassion used in this passage literally means that Jesus feels the pain that we go through and understands our situation but we need to go to him and ask for his help in Faith. When we do this, we are sure to find miraculous answers to our prayers. May I request Rohit to pray for all of us? Rohit : Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you because you are our good Shepherd. We repent of all our sins and seek your forgiveness. We pray that you would give each one of us the opportunity to be born again and come under your care. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen Roshan : May all of us experience Gods love reaching out to meet all our needs. May the Good Shepherd take care of all you. Bye to all. See you soon.