Luke 9:10 - 17
10 On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. 12 Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” 13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 And they did so, and had them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. v10 - Why did Jesus have the disciples withdraw from everyone?
2. v11 - Why did Jesus welcome the crowds when He was trying to be alone with the disciples?
3. v13 - Why did Jesus make such an unreasonable request of the disciples?
4. v17 - Why did they bother to pick up the leftovers?
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2018/05/mark-630-44-30-apostles-around-jesus.html says:
ReplyDeleteJesus had more to do than any of us, yet He never seemed to do it in a way that severed the life-giving connection with His Father, or interfered with His ability to show love when it was called for. He regularly withdrew from the rat race in order to pray. Even when His disciples returned, flushed with success from a busy time of ministry, He told them, “Come away…and rest a while,” because as Mark records, “Many people were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” Constant hurry is the mark of an un-prioritized life-a sure sign that second and third things have become first things. Not only did God command us to rest every seventh day, He told Jewish farmers to let their fields rest every seventh year so they’d produce better harvests. The problem is we want microwave maturity…to exchange wisdom for information and depth for breadth-but it doesn’t work. Depth comes slowly. Following Jesus can’t be done at a sprint; you can’t go faster than the One who’s leading.
----
fight against rest include (1) trying to find one's identity in accomplishments rather than finding one's identity in Christ, (2) trying to impress people for personal acceptance, (3) working competitively rather than collaboratively, (4) driving oneself too hard because of perfectionist tendencies, (5) committing to too much and so being obligated to work beyond natural limits, or (6) lacking trust in God because one feels he or she must control the outcomes and be extra prepared for every assignment.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: "We are so afraid of silence that we chase ourselves from one event to the next in order not to have to spend a moment alone with ourselves, in order not to have to look at ourselves in the mirror". As we spend time in solitude, we see that to which God is calling us, more clearly recognizing needed places of spiritual growth as He prepares and strengthens us for further ministry. As we spend time with Him in solitude, we practice abiding in the Vine and rooting ourselves in Him (John 15).
-----
Upon arriving, when Jesus saw the crowds, He forgot all about His needs, the needs of the disciples, and began to minister to them. Which is another good point – sometimes, even when we need rest, we sacrifice for the needs of others. He was trying to get away, but when He saw the crowds, something happened – He felt compassion. And that compassion moved Him to action. You see, when Jesus saw people, He had a knee-jerk reaction – compassion. It just happened – because He saw them for what they were, sheep without a shepherd. The only hope they had is the Shepherd. This should be our response to lost, hopeless, helpless people. Not annoyance, irritation, condemnation, but compassion, and a desire to introduce them to Jesus.
By the way, let me suggest something. Compassion is not something you can just muster up. You must pray for the heart of God. When Jesus saw people, He saw their lost condition, their needs, and was moved. God is the only one who can give you a heart of compassion. It must be the work of the Spirit in your life. And let me tell you something else – compassion produces passion – a passion to do something about the conditions around you. Jesus saw people, He was moved with compassion, and did something. Don’t say you have compassion for people around you unless that compassion produces a passion to do something.
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2018/05/mark-630-44-30-apostles-around-jesus.html continued:
ReplyDelete---
Jesus wanted to test Philip, and frankly the rest of the disciples. Philip surveyed the crowd, did a quick calculation, and said, not gonna happen.
The people had a need, and the disciples’ response was get rid of them, send them away, the need is too great. We can’t do it.
This time, Jesus looks them squarely in the eye, with steel in His own eyes and firmness in His voice, and says, “You give them something to eat.” You is in the emphatic – You do it.
To pass the test, they were supposed to say, “This is gonna be good – we don’t know what you’re gonna do Jesus, but you’ve never let us down before – what do you want us to do?”
Instead, they said, get rid of ‘em, there’s nothing we, or You, can do. They were standing right in front of God, who had proven His power over and over, and when faced with a problem, they looked, not to Him, but to their own resources and said, we’re in trouble. We don’t have enough money, we don’t have enough food – this is a serious problem.
“We’ve only got five loaves and two fish,” what did Jesus say? “Bring them to Me.” Don’t miss that – bring what little you have to Me. Jesus took the little they had, which He knew all along – remember, it was a test – and performed an unbelievable miracle. He took the little they had, blessed it, broke it, and multiplied it. And I believe He’s waiting to do the same thing in our lives. He’s wanting us to look to Him instead of our own puny resources to make it through the demands and challenges of life.
And He wants you to serve – He wants you to give away what you’ve got, and trust Him for what you need. Notice how many baskets they took up? Twelve. Why? Because there were twelve disciples. They were hungry, too. They had rowed all night, worked all day. You give it away – you serve – and let me take care of you. There’s more than enough where that came from to meet your needs. Don’t worry about whether you’ll have enough to take care of yourself. I will take care of you.
----
Thus 200 denarius equal about seven months’ pay. It is also quoted by France quoting Gundry as capable of buying some 2400 loaves of bread.
the loaves were barley, the cheapest, coarsest sort of bread available. The bread were likely small flat loaves about capable of feeding one man for a day. The fish were likely more like sardines, used to spice up the plain rolls. Plainly inadequate to feed five thousand people or more. Luckily, as John’s account tells us, Jesus already knew what He would do.
The use of the specific numbering of groups of one hundred and of fifties is often viewed as an echo of Ex 18:25, and 1 Qsa 2:11-22 of the Dead Sea Scrolls sees this numbering as a specific blueprint for the messianic banquet.
Most scholars imagine Jesus used the traditional Jewish blessing here: “Blessed are you, Lord our God, king of the universe, who brings bread from the earth”.
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2018/05/mark-630-44-30-apostles-around-jesus.html continued:
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents:
1. What priority should we put our own rest compared with meeting the needs around us?
The answer is that we should be listening to the Holy Spirit and do what He says. We get in trouble when we take the burden of whether people are happy onto ourselves. My opinion is that when we are in ministry, we need to keep our focus on Jesus and what He is commanding at the moment - giving the success of it and whether people are pleased with us to God. When we take upon ourselves what belongs to God - then we get overwhelmed and stressed. Jesus says that His burden for us is light. We can live in celebration of what He has done for us no matter how big the ministry He has involved us in. Living in that celebration will mean getting the rest that we need.
2. Were the disciples concerned about the people or just getting grumpy that their rest is disturbed?
I think that it's pretty clear that they were sick and tired of the crowds (I certainly would be), and wanted to shoo them away. This is the other hand of the point I was making in question 1. It's true that we should not take other people's burdens (that God doesn't want us to take) upon ourselves. On the other hand, we should be engaged in what God is concerned about. In this case engaging in what the Holy Spirit was doing was being compassionate towards the crowds, who were like sheep without a shepherd. If we are walking in the Spirit, we will allow the Spirit to move through us to accomplish the impossible - meet the true needs of people around us, which is impossible for us to do. Watching the Holy Spirit work is exciting and not burdensome. Trying to solve problems that our beyond us is burdensome and not exciting.
3. What was Jesus attempting to teach the disciples?
I think Jesus was attempting to teach them the previous point I was trying to make - that they are helpless to do God's work on their own, but if they look to Jesus, everything will work. They just have to walk with Him and cast the problems onto Him.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteJohn Phillips comments that "the Twelve returned to Jesus full of good news and wonderful tales. The Lord decided that they needed a holiday, to go somewhere where they could be away from the crowds. He chose a desert place called Bethsaida Julias, a small town that Herod Philip had renovated and renamed after Julias, the daughter of Caesar Augustus. The place was outside of Herod's jurisdiction.
Hendriksen notes "that the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, described here in Lk 9:10-17, took place when Passover, probably April of the year a.d. 29, was already approaching, as is clear from John 6:4+. The Great Galilean Ministry, probably extending from about December of a.d. 27 to about April of a.d. 29, was drawing to its close."
POSB - Jesus demonstrated and taught the need for privacy. The twelve returned from their mission and reported what had happened. Jesus had never needed time with them as much as He did now, for He was closing out His Galilean ministry. In fact, there was to be little public ministry hereafter. From this point onward He was to concentrate primarily on His disciples, giving them intensive training.
As MacArthur says the crowd was composed of "thrill seekers, who eagerly followed Jesus as their king (Mk 6:15) who could provide healing and free food. Their superficial, shallow-soil mentality drew a rebuke from Jesus (John 6:26-27+)."
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteLenski helps set the context - At this point we must turn to John 6:5–7+. When Jesus first stepped out of his retirement on the mountain side he put the question to Philip about buying bread for all these people. Jesus did this in advance in order to test out one of his disciples. Already then Jesus knew what he would do when evening would come. But all that Jesus got from Philip was that it would take more money than they had in their treasury to provide even a very little for so many people—not an inkling that Philip remembered Cana or thought of miraculous help on the part of Jesus in any way. Disappointed in Philip, Jesus descends to the multitude, heals the sick, and teaches about the kingdom until evening had actually come—entirely unconcerned about the bodily needs of the people and the passing of the time. The question put to Philip was evidently intended to have him report to the other apostles, and thus that all of them might think about it as the hours wore on. They did that but arrived at nothing.
Steven Cole - The miracle itself is almost passed over. We are never told exactly how Jesus did it. The focus is not on the spectacular nature of the miracle, but on what it teaches those who serve Jesus about how He meets the needs of others through them. Christ will give us His adequacy to meet the needs of people if we yield our inadequacy to Him.
Three things stand out in this story: the needy multitudes; the inadequate disciples; and the adequate Savior.
1. People are needy.
The fact that this many people would go to this effort to be with Jesus shows how needy they were. If you had taken a survey of the crowd, many would have said that their greatest need was for physical healing. There were blind, deaf, lame, diseased and dying people there. By the end of the day, others would have said that their greatest need was for food. There was nothing to eat in that desolate place. But whether anyone recognized it or not, each person’s greatest need was spiritual. Jesus could heal their bodies and fill their stomachs, but that was only a stopgap measure if they perished in their sins. So Jesus taught them about the kingdom of God, how they could rightly be related to Him (Lu 9:11).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary continued:
ReplyDelete2. We are inadequate to meet the overwhelming needs of people.
Did you notice the contrast between Jesus’ attitude toward the multitude and that of the disciples? Jesus welcomed them (Lu 9:11), but the disciples said to Jesus, “Send the multitude away” (Lu 9:12). It may be that the disciples were just being practical about how to meet the needs of the crowd, but given the situation, I think we are warranted to read some exhaustion into their voices. They were spent. They wanted a break.
Then Jesus said something utterly ridiculous: “You give them something to eat” (Lu 9:13).
The manner in which Jesus performed this miracle is significant. He could have called down manna from heaven. Commentators point out that this miracle took place in the wilderness and that the 5,000, seated in companies, recalls Israel camped by tribes in the wilderness under Moses. Calling down manna would have fit the situation. It would have been easier on the twelve. It would have been more efficient. But He didn’t do it that way.
But how did Jesus do it? He used the disciples to distribute the bread and fish to the people. I’m convinced that the Lord did the miracle that way to teach the disciples that His method for meeting the needs of a lost world is through people. Christ meets the needs of people through people. But note carefully the kind of people He uses: Inadequate people!
Jesus uses tired, emotionally drained people.
Jesus uses busy people.
Jesus uses people who lack resources.
But Jesus doesn’t work through people who choose to serve. He works through His servants. Servants don’t volunteer to serve. They don’t tell their masters, “I’ll clean your house and fix dinner tomorrow, but I’m too stressed out or busy today!” Servants serve when they’re tired, emotionally drained, busy, and lacking in adequate resources. Servants serve because they’re under obligation to their master.
How do we do it? By yielding our inadequacy to the Master to use as He pleases.
3. Christ will give us His adequacy when we yield our inadequacy to Him to use as He pleases.
A. We must yield what we have, not what we don’t have.
B. We must yield our inadequacy to Him to use as He pleases.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteJesus blesses.
Without His blessing, we’re wasting our time. If you scrape together 200 denarii and buy enough bread to give everybody a little bit, that is not God’s blessing. But if there is no human way to explain the results in proportion to the gifts or working of those involved, that is God’s blessing. It’s not that we’re sloppy about our work and expect God to cover for our laziness and incompetence. We ought to work hard and be skilled in what we do for the Lord. But to have God’s blessing is not to expect results in proportion to my talents and labor, but in proportion to God’s abundance. So often we’re just like the disciples. We see the need and start calculating with what we don’t have.
Jesus breaks.
Blessing and brokenness go together. You won’t find God’s blessing apart from God’s breaking. You can see it in the lives of every person God has used. Most of us aren’t too weak to serve the Lord. We’re too strong, or at least we think we are. The Lord does not want our adequacy; He wants our inadequacy so that He can supply the adequacy. He puts His treasure in our weak, earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power is clearly from Him, not from us (2Co 4:7). His strength is made perfect in our weakness when we yield ourselves to Him and allow Him to bless, break, multiply and distribute our few loaves and fishes to meet the needs of others.
Jesus satisfies.
How many baskets full? Twelve! A basket full for each disciple! But the disciples had to serve the hungry multitude first; only after that did they each collect their basket full. Sometimes we think, “If I give my time and energy and money to serve the Lord, what’s in it for me?” As Jesus goes on to explain (Lu 9:24), “Whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”
The bread in this miracle is symbolic of Christ. He said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (Jn 6:35). The Lord is teaching us that if we will surrender ourselves to Him to use as He pleases in meeting the needs of others, then He will satisfy us with a full measure of Himself.
We hear a lot about “burnout” in our day. While we need adequate rest and time off, we can test our labors for the Lord by this: If we’re burned out, there’s a good chance we’ve been trying to meet human needs with our inadequate abilities and resources. But if we come away tired, yes, but with the satisfaction of the fulness of Christ left over in our souls, then the Lord’s blessing was on us.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteLuke 9:13 But He said to them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.
God’s way of provision always begins with what we already have. He wants us to use what we already have wisely. Don’t foolishly pray for more from God if you don’t use what He already has given you in a godly way. (Guzik)
Keener - It would have taken two hundred days of an average person’s wages (around seven months of hard labor) to feed the great multitude that had assembled.
Luke 9:16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people.
Looking up to heaven - Jesus was doing what every Jewish father did at a meal. And what is Jesus showing His disciples (and us)? He is showing that even He as the Son of Man looked to His Father to meet needs, and we should follow His example.
The common physical position for Jewish prayer was standing with the arms and head raised and eyes open.
Lane - “Jesus faithfully followed the accepted form: he took the bread in his hands, pronounced the blessing, broke the bread into pieces and distributed it. The only deviation from normal practice was that while praying Jesus looked toward heaven rather than downward, as prescribed.”
Constable says that "The Jews had a tradition that when Messiah came He would feed the people with bread from heaven as Moses had done (Deut. 18:15) (Quoting Plummer). This miracle proved Jesus’ ability to provide for Israel as her King. It probably reminded the spiritually perceptive in the crowd of the messianic banquet that the Old Testament predicted Messiah would provide (Ps. 132:15; cf. Matt. 6:11)."
MacDonald - The disciples picture helpless Christians, with seemingly limited resources, but unwilling to share what they have. The Lord's command, "You give them something to eat" is simply a restatement of the great commission.
Gathered fragments remind us that:
1. Another Day of Need Will Surely Come
2. The Blessings of God Should Not Be Wasted
3. Grateful Hearts Make Full Use of God’s Blessings (John Mayshack)
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. v10 - Why did Jesus have the disciples withdraw from everyone?
A couple of reasons: Renewal after work is of God. We need it. Also, they were being harassed so much they couldn't even eat. Jesus usually doesn't stick around when the crowds gather around - one reason being because they kept getting their own ideas (like making Him king).
2. v11 - Why did Jesus welcome the crowds when He was trying to be alone with the disciples?
This crowd separated themselves from the rest by following Jesus all that way. Jesus had compassion on them because they were poor in spirit and hungry for Him. I also speculate that they couldn't cause as much trouble out in the wilderness.
3. v13 - Why did Jesus make such an unreasonable request of the disciples?
After all the miracles, it wasn't unreasonable. He was trying to get the disciples to rely on God's provision and stop depending on themselves. He was trying to raise their vision to above the everyday circumstance to the level of the kingdom of God.
4. v17 - Why did they bother to pick up the leftovers?
At least 2 reasons: 1. I think it was a continuation of a lesson of how God provides. Now the disciples had enough for a couple of meals. They didn't need to worry about their next meal. 2. It emphasized how great this miracle was. It provided a concrete example of what Jesus actually did.
Excellent selection of commentary. I too am filled with this miraculous meal!
ReplyDelete