The Bread of Life
Mark 6: 35-44

6:35 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. 6:36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 6:37 But he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! And we go and spend that much on bread and give them to eat?" 6:38 "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five-and two fish." 6:39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 6:40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 6:41 Taking the five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 6:42 They all ate and were satisfied, 6:43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 6:44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. (Mark 6: 35-44)

Source of the Miracle - Mercy of Jesus

When you read the today's scripture passage, what did you think? Today's passage describes the occasion Jesus fed and satisfied five thousand men with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Since it is said in the verse 44 that the number of the men who had eaten was five thousand, there must be more than ten thousand people if they counted the women and children. According to the Gospel of John, the one who had the five loaves and two fish was a boy, so there were some children and women among the crowd. Recently, it has become a fad to make a jumbo cake for several hundred people to eat, or a jumbo sushi of several hundred meters in length for the Guinness book of world records. If the five loaves were of a jumbo bread, and the two fish were as big as whales, it would have been possible, but those bread and fish the boy had were too small to feed the crowd. Jesus took the five loaves and gave thanks to God, broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples, and the disciples distributed the food. Usually, for anything, more you divide the smaller the parts. So, there is a proverb saying "The fewer the better for delicacy." When people have something unusually good to eat, they do not want to share with others, thus keeping it secret among the pals.

If the five loaves of bread were broken into ten thousand pieces, the piece does not look like bread but dust. But, the bread increased in quantity as the pieces were distributed by the disciples. And probably more than ten thousand people ate until they were satisfied. And the disciples found twelve basketfuls of the leftover food. This was a miracle done by the son of almighty God. The people did not know the miracle for they were too busy eating, but the disciples who distributed the food were certainly amazed to see the miracle. If we see such a miracle, we are so surprised that we might faint with the shock, and be afraid of Jesus. But Jesus did not do this miracle to surprise the disciples, nor to let them afraid of him. Rather, he did the miracle to teach his disciple some important matters. Then, what did the miracle teach the disciples? First, it was the deep mercy of Jesus toward the people. In verse 34, it is said: "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things." Jesus had compassion on them, and fed them with the spiritual food that was his word. The people were delighted to listen to Jesus for a long time, until it passed the time for supper. Although the people were spiritually full, they got physically hungry. Jesus knew that the people need both spiritual and physical food.

By the way, they eat only twice a day then. They wake up in the morning and started working. Before noon, they ate. And again they worked until the time for supper before it got dark. After the supper, they went to bed upon darkness fell. Only the rich people could eat with some light at night.

When Jesus fed the crowd, the day light was still there. So, as the disciples suggested Jesus, the people could be sent away to go to the nearby villages to buy food. But, it might have been too late to buy food, or some people might not have sufficient money to buy food. Jesus did this miracle out of his compassion on the hungry people. Like other miracles done by Jesus, this miracle shows the deep mercy of Jesus.

Although the miracle happened since Jesus has the power to increase the food supply, his power alone did not make it happen. If the power alone, even the humans are given the power to perform miracles. Many illnesses which were considered deadly in the past are now curable by the progress of modern medicine. As it is told in the Greek mythology, a man flying over the sky was a dream of the ancient people. But, today we can fly over the sky to go to almost anywhere in the world on board an aircraft. Recently in England, the artificial arms and hands which moves like real arms and hands have been developed. With the artificial arms and hands, some handicapped people now can get back to work like other normal people. But, the miracles of science and engineering could not save the people spiritually. If the human knowledge and wisdom do not work with compassion and love, the outcome will never make people happy.

There is the country where the people are starving to death every day in tens of thousand, yet the government is preoccupied to test the missiles.

Unless the science and technology are applied by the people with compassion and love, the application is only for the military purposes or making money, and never for helping the handicapped people. The mankind has developed the societies and welfare systems, but the systems do not work properly unless the people who operate the systems have compassion and love.

If the power alone, the nature has much more power than the mankind has. Both the power of nature and the power of mankind have been given by God, as the Creator. But, the nature has been severely disturbed by the sinful acts of the mankind. As the results of destruction, the nature shows its power in the record-breaking storms and floods all over the world, and the frequent earthquakes, tormenting the great number of people.

The miracles which heal us, support us, nurture us, and satisfy us are from the God's mercy. We can see the mercy of God and the compassion of Jesus clearly in this miracle.

The purpose of Miracle

The second lesson from this miracle is that Jesus was the shepherd sent from God. Do you remember the miracle Jesus did on the sea of Galilee? He pacified the storm by rebuking it. At that time, the disciples asked each other "Who is this? Even the wind and the water obey him!" Those who saw the life of Jesus, and listened to his teachings might ask the same question "Who is this?" On the other hand, there were many people did not learn anything from his life, and did not listen to him. Yet, anybody who saw the miracle must have thought; "Who is this man, having done such a great thing?" The miracle makes our eyes focused on Jesus, and gives the answer to that question, "Who is this?"

By the miracle on the see of Galilee, Jesus revealed himself as the Creator of the world, and the governor. By this miracle, however, Jesus revealed himself as the shepherd. Look at the verse 34 again. It is said: "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things." Then, Jesus fed the people like sheep without a shepherd with the sufficient bread and fish. Also, Jesus led the crowd by teaching them the word of God. By doing that, Jesus showed them that he is the real shepherd, the shepherd for those who believe in God.

Jesus being the shepherd can be observed in his leadership toward the crowd. Before giving the food to them, Jesus directed the disciples to have all the people sit down in groups of hundreds and fifties on the green grass. This is just like the way a shepherd treats his sheep. As you may have seen in a movie, a shepherd feeds his sheep in small groups on the grass. Jesus treated the crowd just like sheep. The crowd might have seen from the long distance like flocks of sheep lead by the shepherd in an orderly fashion. This represents Jesus as our shepherd leading us into the path of righteousness.

Today is the age of no order. This generation despises law and order. The systems, and law and order are considered to be something which takes away our freedom. Certainly, some systems and laws have been discriminatory for races and social ranks. And some systems and traditions have been restrictive to some people, thus preventing them to be more creative. But, the systems and law and order themselves are not bad. Only the people have had tendency to abuse them. Without the systems and law and order, the society will become chaotic and uncontrollable. The people have no place to turn for help and support.

The systems and law and order are for supporting and protecting the people. Our God is of law and order. But the people hated the law and order set by God, and broke the law. As the result, the world have been in confusion, spiritually, morally, economically, and socially. And we have been involved in this confusion with much pain. Jesus saves us from the confusion and places us in God's order. He provides this confused world with God's order. He begins it within our hearts, within our daily lives, and within our families. On the surface, we act as if we have no problem, but many of us are facing problems and confusion within our hearts and minds. If we receive Jesus into our hearts, he will live within us, becoming our king, becoming our shepherd, changing our hearts, and bringing the God's order within us. Then, and only then, our lives will change, our family will change, and even our society will change for better, because of our changes.

In Psalm 23, it is written: "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." This verse was fulfilled by Jesus who has become our shepherd. When you receive Jesus into your heart as the real shepherd, this verse will be realized for you. Please experience the real peace as the sheep enjoyed on the green pastures, by welcoming Jesus into your heart and to your life.

Mystery of the Miracle - Jesus became the Bread

As we have learned so far, Jesus did the miracle out of his compassion on the crowd like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus also did it to show the people that he is the real shepherd to bring up and guide them. But, yet there is another meaning, a hidden meeting in this miracle. In the Gospel of John, after the miracle, Jesus said to his disciples that "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." Here, the bread means "manna" which was supplied by God to feed the Israelis for forty years in the desert. Every morning, God let the "manna" fall from the sky to feed the starving people of Israel wondering in the desert. Likewise, Jesus was sent from God, his Father in heaven to feed his people, and let them live. Just like the "manna" was crashed by the teeth when it entered a mouth, Jesus crashed himself on the cross to let us live. When Jesus took the five loaves of bread and broke them, giving them to the disciples, he also broke himself and crashed himself and gave his life to the crowd. This miracle symbolizes the crucification through which he cashed himself to give us his life.

This morning, we are going to express the mystery of the miracle of bread through the Holy Communion. The crashed bread which we are going to partake symbolizes the crashed body of Jesus on the cross. The grape juice which we are going to drink also symbolizes the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. Jesus gave up his life to save us, and to give us the eternal life. The people at the miracle of bread did not know the mystery yet. But, now we know that the bread Jesus gives from his hands is not just what satisfies our physical needs, but is what quenches our spiritual thirst and satisfies our spiritual hunger. This morning, let us experience with thanks giving what Jesus gave us through the Holy Communion.

In our church, anybody who has been baptized through the confession that Jesus Christ is the own Savior and the Lord, is recommended to join the Holy Communion. The Baptism and the Holy Communion are the two inseparable rituals. So, those who have not been baptized, please do not take the bread and the drink. At our church, we will have the baptism in December. We begin the class for the baptism in October. We would like to invite those who did not participate in the Holy Communion this morning to be baptized and join us in the next Holy Communion.

Before the Holy Communion, let us pray.

Prayer

God, our Father, thank you for the "World Holy Communion Day" today. This morning, at the churches all over the world, the congregations not only hear your messages, but also have the Holy Communion. We thank you for being able to experience your blessing through the Holy Communion, as the visible reminder of salvation by Jesus Christ. Please make us understand the true meanings of the bread and the cup set before us, and let us taste them with deep appreciation for what You have done for us. Please make our faith stronger through this Holy Communion, feeding us with your spiritual food, just as Jesus fed the crowd at the time of the miracle. We pray these in the name of Jesus, the true shepherd who gave his life for our salvation. Amen.

(Preached at SDJCC, October 4, 1998)