Anchor My Faith

The Need for Food

Scripture: Mark 6:35-38; John 6:5-7

In the narrative covered in the previous lesson I intentionally left out John 6:4 because it was an included time marker and did not directly relate to the material being covered. That verse is: ^{Jn 6:4} “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.” This Passover being referenced here is the second one of three mentioned in the gospel of John. The first is found at John 2:13 and the third at John 11:55. This Passover is the only one that finds Jesus in Galilee.

As Jesus continued to teach, his twelve disciples became concern about the people’s need to eat and came to him with a suggestion. ^{Mk 6:35} “And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. ³⁶ Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”’

I wonder if the disciples really were concerned about the people’s need to eat or if they wanted them to leave so they could get some rest. Without knowing their motive, we will move on and consider what they said to Jesus. They described their location as a desolate place; a place away from everything, considered even more remote than the surrounding countryside. Surely, there is nothing to eat at that location and since the hour is late, the disciples reason that the people should leave while there is still daylight and travel to where they can find food.

Jesus considers what they said and ^{Mk 6:37} “[he] answered them, “You give them something to eat.”’ I can imagine the disciples looking at the crowd of about five thousand men, besides women and children, and thinking of how much food it would take to feed them, where they could go to buy the needed food, and then transport it there in time to serve a meal, and realized they had a problem bigger than they could handle themselves. Their idea of sending the people away to get their own food seems much more reasonable.

Jesus then tests them with a question: ^{Jn 6:5} “Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” ⁶ (He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.)” If the disciples were to go and buy food, Jesus wanted them to think where they could go to find enough food and what it would cost them. I believe Jesus wanted them to confirm their thoughts of his assignment to feed them was beyond their means.

^{Jn 6:7} “Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” ^{Mk 6:37} “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”’ Apparently, the disciples had only two hundred denarii with them and realized that would not buy enough food for the crowd, but they wanted to know if they should go and buy that much and then give each a little.

^{Mk 6:38} “[Jesus] said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”’ If you were a disciple, what would you be thinking about that question and command? How would you feel about going among a possible 20,000 people (including a wife and two children) to see what food there was among them? Had the disciples already been looking around to see what the food supply was among them? Were the people possibly suggesting that Jesus stop teaching, so they could go and get something to eat? These are all things we don’t know but can think about to help us identify with the conditions there.

The disciples’ response to Jesus will have to wait until the next lesson.

Conclusion

What should one do when in a remote location and have a need to meet? How does one or how should one assess the situation? If meeting the need seems impossible, what should one do? If you were a disciple during this lesson, would you have any reason to think that possibly Jesus could feed them? Do you possibly doubt that Jesus can meet your seemly impossible need today? A simple text, like that covered in this lesson, should not be passed over but considered why it was made part of scripture.