Multiplication

Mark 6:41-44

      Have you ever noticed when things get really bad, really life-threatening, that people often look up and question? They raise their heads, sometimes their fists, and ask why. Even people who deny God’s existence often do this instinctually. You can see it in videos of the grieving family members from missing flights or from sunken passenger ferries. They fall to their knees and look up. Their words are often question or blame filled. They want answers and they look up.

      Jesus looks up. His disciples have presented Him with a problem. There are 5000 mouths to feed and their solution will cost them a fortune. Or it will mean that they don’t meet the need and everyone must fend for themselves. Either way their solution involves known resources and everyday solutions. But Jesus looks up.

      So why does Jesus look up? I think He does it to signal to those who are watching that the solution is not an earthly one. He holds their earthly solution in His hands, the five loaves and two fish, which can’t possibly feed all these people. But this is what His disciples have gathered. They have brought what they have to Him. And Jesus looks up.

      And when He looks up He speaks. He speaks so that the people around Him can hear what He expresses to the Father. He expressed thanks. This seems like a funny thing to do. I can imagine thanking the LORD for the semi tractor trailer that pulled up at that moment with the news that their refrigerator unit had just died and that all the food needed to be given away before it spoiled. That would deserve a Hallelujah. Or the local restaurant owner who liked Jesus and wanted at that moment to express it by sending over 5000 boxed lunches free of charge. Praise the Lord!

      But to look up and be thankful for five loaves of bread and two fish, that doesn’t seem worthy of thanks. At least it doesn’t to me. There isn’t much of substance there. To be thankful for so little seems counterintuitive. And yet, this is exactly when Jesus gives thanks.

      And the bread and fish are broken, distributed and everyone, all 5000, are fed and satisfied. And the leftovers are more than the beginning quantity. They didn’t just break even in the deal. They have one basket for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The LORD has not abandoned His people. When Jesus looks up and gives thanks so that all can see, He is showing us the way to live. When we live a life of thankfulness, it is a life filled with provision.

      Where do you look when you need help? Is your first instinct to look up to the LORD? Or do you look within yourself or to other earthly resources? Are you thankful for the amount you have, or are you always looking to get more?

Stretch

Mark 2:1-12

      Jesus had two primary missions in His life. The first was the preaching of the message of God. God had intervened in history in a very personal way, in the person of Jesus. The second mission was to bring reconciliation between God and humanity through his own sacrifice on the Cross. Without both of these elements, the proclamation of the Truth and His reconciling death and resurrection, Jesus’ mission would have been incomplete.

      Jesus is continuing His itinerate preaching ministry. He has returned again to Capernaum, his home base for much of His life. The word has gotten out. Jesus is different. His words have power. He heals people. Things happen when He shows up.

      And so, the house where He is speaking fills up. Houses in those days were typically much smaller than ours today. The largest rooms would have only been about 18 feet wide at its largest point. There could be several rooms, but most were single room dwellings. Only the richest had multiple large rooms. There would have been window openings to let in air in this hot climate, and perhaps a couple door openings, one to the street side, and one to a rear courtyard, perhaps where a few animals would be kept.

      Picture the room packed, shoulder to shoulder, uncomfortably packed, people leaning in the window openings, trying to listen in and be part of the action. The area around the house contained a large crowd, an overflow area. People are straining toward the house, trying to listen and look.

      Do you have this picture in your mind? When was the last time you had this type of yearning to hear God’s Word taught? When was the last time you strained to get into God’s presence?

      The song writer in Psalm 42 records this kind of longing. He likens his longing for God to that of a thirsty deer longing for water to drink. This longing is a deep, thirst which can only be truly satisfied when we are intimately connected to God through Jesus Christ. Rice might satisfy your stomach’ hunger for a time, but you can’t live on rice alone. You need vegetables, protein, liquid, and of course chocolate! Well, maybe not the chocolate, but I had to try to get it in somehow.

      In the same way our soul will not be truly satisfied until we drink deeply and repeatedly from the LORD. A music concert might raise your endorphins; an inspiring speaker might lift your gaze for a few hours, but Jesus will satisfy in a way like no other. God’s Word will bring satisfaction.

Thoughtful

Proverbs 14:8

If you have ever been around wise people, they seem to have one thing in common: they don’t make hasty decisions. They seem to think about life and the direction they want to take. They consider the consequences of their actions carefully. They gather information and weigh the options.

It is not that they can’t make rapid decisions, but that their decisions don’t seem rushed. They have a pool of wise decisions options always at their fingertips. They know what wise decisions look like because they have experienced so many themselves. They can rapidly eliminate foolish options.

By contrast the fool has seen so many bad decisions that they look normal. When a good option comes to mind, if it does come to mind, it seems so different that it just wouldn’t get chosen. They don’t know what wisdom looks like. It is a foreign language, an unknown commodity.

We are so similar in so many ways. We like the familiar. We generally don’t like to risk, to venture into the unknown, unless of course we choose to step out. Then we go at it with gusto! We jump out of airplanes, hang glide, jet sky, snow board, run marathons, and a thousand other things that push the adrenaline into our systems.

Fools like being fooled, especially when they are doing it to themselves! Wise folks don’t like any shade of folly. In fact, wise people don’t even want tints of truth or falsehood. Wise people want full fidelity. We want wisdom. We want it all the time.

There is also the difference in the pace at which decisions are made. Fools seem to rush into things. They often don’t take time to consider the consequences. Impulse buyers fall into this category. So do people who always need the latest gadgets, even though the ones they have now work perfectly fine.

One other thing about fools: they are seldom satisfied. Because they don’t think about their decisions, they flit from one thing to another hoping the next thing will bring them satisfaction. And of course it doesn’t.