Wasted Evangelism
  • Wasted Blog
  • Wasted Engaged
    • Wasted Evangelism in Action
  • Wasted Evangelism, the Book & more
    • Wasted Evangelism, the Book
    • Lay Commentary on Philippians >
      • Destroying Private Cities Sample Chapter
    • Wasted Evangelism Resources & Links
    • Samples from Wasted Evangelism
  • Learning Wasted Local
    • Wasted Hill Blog
    • CPC in The Hill NewsLetter Updates >
      • Past Newsletter Links
    • FY22 Church Bulletins & Order of Service
    • Hill Sermons & Teaching >
      • Gospel of Luke Sermon Series
      • Mostly Romans & FYs 20-21 Bulletins
      • 2018 Summer: In the Father's House
      • At the Table Series
      • Church and Liturgy
      • Book of Judges
      • Gospel of Matthew Series
      • 1 Peter Series
  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Contact

What the Feeding of the 5,000 means for discipleship (Mark 6:30-44): A fair reading and significance for church

7/24/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
The feeding of the 5,000 in Mark 6 is a miracle story that reveals who Jesus is—most assuredly.  Yet still, Mark’s purpose in writing a gospel for the church community in Rome to be read out loud at the symposium following their supper gatherings (what we might call a church gathering) was to build the church, mature the congregation’s faith, and teach what it means to follow Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord, raised from the dead. More so, Mark’s Gospel, including this feeding of the multitude story, was (and still is) to prepare the church for the persecution, hardship, and the difficulty of being the church while staying faithful to its mission and Lord.
 
The Mark 6 feeding of the five thousand is as much about who the church is as it is about who Jesus is.


While the miracle itself is revealing of who Jesus is and certainly links the reader back to the Old Testament Exodus under Moses (thus, picturing a new exodus under One better than Moses, giving the new mana), this is a discipleship story that has a discipleship point to be made to the readers/listeners.
 
First, three times in the space of five verses the word “desolate” (“desert,” actually, “wilderness” is best) is used in a fourteen-verse story—over a third of this vignette on the feeding the 5,000 focuses on where this event takes place. And, if we count the reference to “green grass” (v. 39) where Jesus had the crowd sit to be served, this story does indeed focus the reader/listener’s attention on the place of this story; thus, giving a clue to its importance on the subject of discipleship--what does it mean to follow Jesus?

Second, the story is mostly about the newly appointed “apostles,” the twelve “sent ones” (6:7-13), who had just returned (v. 30) from the mission Jesus had sent them. The story begins with their return, reporting, and Jesus taking them to some spot—a “desolate place,” a grassy space of wilderness—to eat and rest. “Leisure” (as in “had no leisure even to eat,” v. 31c) is an unfortunate word choice of the ESV, for it gives the impression of fun, earned vacation or a weekend (perhaps), or an extended break from work—here, it simply means a few moments to rest so the disciples can eat.
 
Then, after finding their own “desolate” place to eat, the crowd from nearby towns followed and found “them” (v. 33)—Jesus and the disciples, who had just been going through their towns preaching the kingdom of God. After Jesus spent some time teaching the crowd, the apostles “kindly” mentioned to Jesus that the crowds, who had followed “them” to their desolate place (v. 33), needed to find their own food in some other place (vv. 35-36).
 
While we often focus on Jesus in this story, Mark keeps the “apostles” front and center. Just after the disciples request the crowd be sent away to buy their own food, Jesus instructs them: “You give them something to eat” (v. 37a)
--they were there eating (by-the-way) and obviously had food; something from their own resources. Still complaining, the disciples sarcastically say, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” (v. 37b). (The disciples really wanted to get this crowd to go away!) Paying no mind, Jesus asks them to gather what they had left from their food—“Five [loaves], and two fish” (v. 38c). Then, Jesus instructs the 5,000 to sit in groups of hundreds and fifties (like Moses did) and after blessing this paltry amount of food for such large a crowd, gives the food to the disciples to set before all the people—in other words, to serve the crowd food in that desolate place they had originally found to “get away and eat themselves.”
 
A quick aside: The miracle in this story is very linked to the disciples, for the multiplying of the bread and fish come, not in some surreal miraculous moment, but through the serving of the bread and fish by the disciples—so even here, the story focuses on the disciples.
 
As you can see, while the feeding miracle stands out (and is, of course, important), but the story has the multiplication of the loaves and fish in the serving by the disciples to the people. The content of this story focuses our attention on the disciples—more so, on a discipleship moment.
 
So what’s happening here? Yes, at the very moment the new exodus is revealed, displayed in the feeding of the 5,000, and Jesus is revealed as the ultimate Moses, the disciples first find a spot to eat and are interrupted by the crowd who had followed “them” to this desolate place, and, then, wanted to turn them away when it was time for the crowd to eat.

There is some irony here for sure.
 
As I had mentioned before in a previous Facebook post: I believe, the readers on this side of the text are to hear that Jesus is setting his disciples up for a lesson—a learned experience, a discipleship moment—in what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus.
 
We, his church, Jesus’ disciples are how the bread and the fish multiply. This is revealed in the focus on the disciples and the desolate place in this story. Later, after the resurrection and as the church increased, this can be seen in the multiplying of tables (in supper rooms) of gathered believers starting in Jerusalem and spreading all the way to Rome and eventually filling and overtaking an empire. We can see this revealed in the multiple references to supplying the needs of the poor in the New Testament. And, that the original (not so much, sadly, later in church history, even up to now) gathering of strangers and unequals (i.e., gathered churches) provided a platform and venue for the poor’s needs to get met, including a meal. The Lord’s supper was a supper after all.
 
We learn of discipleship here: following Jesus is going to interrupt a disciple’s life. Needs are going to be met out of His disciples resources. Meeting needs in inconvenient space, space we thought was for our leisure, is a sign that the Kingdom of God has come. 
 
It is proclaiming Jesus—of course use words. But that’s what the disciples did on their short-term mission just prior to this episode. So, the narrative point (Mark’s narrative point) was to move the disciple’s notion of ministry beyond words to illustrating the arrival of the Kingdom in Jesus. Remember, the miracle of multiplying the food was through the serving of the disciples—just at the time they needed rest and needed some leisure time. Ministry and mission, meeting needs and serving—all should be expected to interrupt and invade our leisure space.


If these posts have been helpful or edifying to you, please consider contributing to our church planting and ministry in the Hill community of New Haven, CT. You may donate online through our website or send a donation to our anchor church marked for CPC in The Hill @ 135 Whitney Ave, New Haven, CT 06510 (checks are to be made out to Christ Presbyterian Church or simply CPC; and in the memo please indicate Hill/CA). For more information or to receive our Hill News Updates (see site tab "Learning Wasted Local" above), please contact me, Pastor Chip, through this email address: [email protected].
1 Comment

    Author

    Chip M. Anderson, advocate for biblical social action; pastor of an urban church plant in the Hill neighborhood of New Haven, CT; husband, father, author, former Greek & NT professor; and, 19 years involved with social action.

    Archives

    December 2024
    November 2024
    September 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    October 2023
    September 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All
    13th Amendment
    1 Corinthians 11
    1 Corinthians 12
    1 Corinthians 13
    1 Peter
    1 Peter 1
    1 Peter 2
    1 Peter 3
    1 Peter 4
    2 Chronicles
    2 Chronicles 18
    Abundance
    Acts 10
    Acts 2
    Acts 28
    Acts 6
    Acts 7
    Acts 8
    Affluence
    Affluent People
    Ahab
    Alan Hirsch
    Alan Kreider
    Alan Roxburgh
    Alien
    All Lives Matter
    Alongsiders
    Amos 4
    And Economics
    Andrew Davey
    Apologetics
    Application
    Asbury
    Baptism
    Beatitudes
    Beggars
    Bible Application
    Bible Interpretation
    Biblical Apologetics
    Biblical Social Action
    Black Lives Matter
    Black Missionary
    Blasphemy Of The Holy Spirit
    Bob Ekblad
    Book Of Judges
    Book Review
    Bottom-Demographics
    Brad Brisco
    Brenda Salter McNeil
    Brueggemann
    Building Centered Church
    Building-centered Church
    Call To Ministry
    CCDA
    Celebrity
    Charity
    Child Poverty
    Chinese Church
    Chip M Anderson
    Choosing A Church
    Christendom
    Christian And Missionary Alliance
    Christian Community Development Association
    Christian Faith
    Christianity
    Christian Leadership
    Christians And Politics
    Christine Pohl
    Christmas
    Church
    Church And Culture
    Church And State
    Church Crisis
    Church Growth
    Church Habits
    Church Human Capital
    Church In Uncool Places
    Church Leadership
    Church Life
    Church (local)
    #churchmatters
    Church Matters
    Church Planting
    Church Porn
    Church Shopping
    Church's Public Voice
    City On A Hill
    Col 3
    Colossians 3
    Come Unto Me
    Communion
    Conditions Of Poverty
    Confession
    Connecting To Poverty Fridays
    Connect To Poverty Fridays
    Constantine
    Cosmic Restoration
    Cost Of Doing Church Business
    COVID-19
    Craig Greenfield
    Craig Luekens
    Crown College
    Cruciformed Life
    Dangerous Devotions
    Daniel 4
    Daniel 7
    Danny Meyer
    David Fitch
    Deacon
    Death
    Declaration Of Independence
    Destroying Our Private Cities
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer
    Discipleship
    Domesticating Church Growth
    Dorothy Sayers
    Dualistic Faith
    Early Church
    Easter
    Ecclesiology
    Effects Of Poverty
    Ekklesia
    Elect
    Elements Of Worship
    E. M. Bounds
    Empire
    Ephesians 2
    Ephesians 3
    Ephesians 4
    Ephesians 5
    Ephesians 6
    Epiphany
    Evangelism
    Evangelistic Social Action
    Exegetical Process
    Exile
    Exodus
    Exurban
    Ezekiel 34
    Ezekiel 47
    Ezekiel Temple
    Faith
    Fasting
    Faulty Interpretation
    Feeding The 5000
    Fighting Poverty
    Filling Of The Spirit
    First American Missionary
    Fishers Of Men
    Flesh And Spirit
    Following Jesus
    Food
    Food Scarcity
    Foot Washing
    Forgotten Elect
    For The Least Of These
    Friday's Connecting To Issues Of Poverty
    Fundraising
    Gal 2
    Gal 3
    Gal 4
    Galatians 2:20
    Galatians 3
    Galatians 4
    Game Of Thrones
    Gary Haugen
    Gathered Church
    Gathered-church
    Gender Equality
    Generation Z
    George Liele
    George Whitefield
    G. K. Chesterton
    Global Poor
    God And The Poor
    God's Call
    God's Purpose
    God's Rest
    Good News
    Gordon-Connell Theological Seminary
    Gospel
    Gospel And The Poor
    Gospel Of Mark
    Gospel Of The Kingdom
    Gospels
    Greatest Command
    Habits Of The Heart
    Hauerwas
    Haustafel
    Haystack Prayer Meeting
    Health Of The Church
    Heavenly Places
    Hermeneutics
    Hinterlands
    Holy Kiss
    Homeless
    Homelessness
    Honor
    Horizontalization
    Hospitality
    House Church
    Household
    Household Baptisms
    Household Conversions
    Household-table
    Huffpost Religion
    Hunger
    Ibram X. Kendi
    Idolatry
    Idolatry And Poverty
    Idolatry Of Power
    Incarnational
    In His Midst
    Institute For Faith
    International Justice Mission
    Isaiah 56
    Isaiah 58
    Isaiah 61
    ISIS
    Issues Of Poverty
    Jacques Ellul
    James 5
    James K. A. Smith
    Jehoshaphat
    Jeremiah
    Jeremiah 7
    Jesus
    Jesus And Pilate
    Jesus Christ Of Nazareth
    Jesus' Table
    John 13
    John 18
    John 19
    John 3:16
    John Chrysostom
    John Wesley
    Jonathan Brooks
    Jonathan Edwards
    Joseph's Storehouse
    Journey Of The Magi
    Jr.
    Judas
    Judge
    Justice
    Justo Gonzalez
    Just Spirituality
    Keeping Covenant
    Kelly Johnson
    King
    Kingdom Ethics
    Kingdom Of God
    Lament
    Last Supper
    Leadership
    Lepers
    Lesslie Newbigin
    Letters From Birmingham Jail
    Leveling
    Life Together
    Light Of The World
    Liminal Space
    Lisa Sharon Harper
    Living Bread Ministries
    Lord's Supper
    Lost Sheep
    Lucy Shaw
    Luke 1
    Luke 14
    Luke 15
    Luke 16
    Luke 18
    Luke 2
    Luke 3
    Luke 4
    Luke 5
    Luke 6
    Luke 7
    Luke 8
    Luke-Acts
    Machiavelli
    Mae Elise Cannon
    Making Room
    Manna
    Man On The Street
    Marginal People
    Mark 1
    Mark 11
    Mark 1:1-3
    Mark 12
    Mark 13
    Mark 3
    Mark 3 Commission
    Mark 4
    Mark 6
    Mark Strom
    Mark T. Mulder
    Marriage
    Martin Luther King
    Martin-luther-king-jr
    Martin-luther-king-jr
    Mary's Song
    Matthew 10
    Matthew 11
    Matthew 12
    Matthew 14
    Matthew 2
    Matthew 21
    Matthew 24
    Matthew 25
    Matthew 3
    Matthew 4
    Matthew 4-11
    Matthew 5
    Matthew 6
    Matthew 8
    Matthew 9
    Means Of Grace
    Merciful
    Messy Crowds
    Micah 6:8
    Michael Card
    Michael W. Goheen
    Millennial
    Missiology
    Missional
    Missional Church
    Missional Ecclesiology
    Missions
    MLK
    Modern Missionary Movement
    Mother Teresa
    Movement Day
    Movements Of The Spirit
    Neighbohoods
    Noel Castellanos
    Non Ordinary Church
    Non-ordinary Church
    Not By The Numbers
    Old Testament Prophet
    Onesimus
    Open Air Preaching
    Oppression
    Orphan
    Outcasts
    Outcomes
    Outreach
    Outside Church
    Outsiders
    Over-abundance
    Parable Of The Sower
    Park BBQ
    Passion Week Wasted Thoughts
    Pastoral Call
    Pastor Chip's Stream Of Consciousness
    Patience
    Patient Ferment Of The Early Church
    Paul Johnson
    Paul's Death
    Paul Sparks
    PCA
    Pentecost
    People On The Margins
    Persecution
    Personal
    Personhood
    Peter Greer
    Peter Leithard
    Peter Maurin
    Philemon
    Philippians
    Philippians 2
    Philippians 3
    Philippians 4
    Picture Worth Words Enough
    Politics And Christianity
    Poor
    Poor In Spirit
    Poor Rich Readers
    Poor Vs Non-poor
    Poor Widow
    Poverty
    Poverty Industry
    Poverty Statistics
    Power
    Power (the Powers)
    Prayer
    Preaching
    Presbyterian Church In America
    Privilege
    Prodigal Son
    Prophetic Lament
    Proverbs 31:8-9
    Proverbs 31:8–9
    Public Square
    Public Voice
    Racism
    Randy Nabors
    Reading The Bible
    Reconciliation
    Refugee
    Refugee Services
    Reimagine Church
    Reimaging Church Growth
    Religion And Politics
    Religious Bureaucracies
    Repentance
    Resisting And Rethinking Church
    Rethinking Church
    Revival
    Richard Beck
    Richard John Neuhaus
    Richard Rohr
    Richard Rothstein
    Robert Jaffrey
    Robert Lupton
    Role Of The Local Congregation
    Romans 10
    Romans 12
    Romans 14
    Romans 15
    R T France
    Sabbath
    Sacred Space
    Salt Of The World
    Sanctification
    Satan
    Saturday Sidewalk Church
    Scarcity
    Scattered Church
    Scot McKnight
    Scott Boren
    Sean Benesh
    Second Coming
    Secular
    Seditious Households
    Self-righteousness
    Sermon: No King But Jesus
    Sermon On The Mount
    Sermon On The Plain
    Sexual Sins
    Shake Shack
    Shame
    Shepherds
    Sidewalk Church
    Significance Before Application
    Slavery
    Slaves
    Social Action
    Social Action Outcomes
    Social And Cultural Change
    Social Construction Of Reality
    Social Gospel
    Social Justice
    Social Justice Handbook
    Socio-rhetorical (interpretation)
    Solomon Temple Prayer
    Sons Of God
    Soon-Chan Rah
    Soong Chan Rah
    Soong-Chan Rah
    Søren Kierkegaard
    South Florida
    Spirituality
    Spiritual Journey
    Stangers
    Status Quo
    Strangers
    Street Preaching
    Suburban
    Suburbanization
    Suburbs
    Subversive-jesus
    Symposium
    Synoptic Gospels
    Syria
    Table Etiquette
    Table Fellowship
    Taking Up One's Cross
    Tax Collectors And Sinners
    Teaching Ministry
    TED Talk
    Temple
    Temple Church
    Temple-church
    Thanksgiving
    The Color Of Law
    The Cross
    The Forgotten Ways
    The Gospel
    The Inner Man
    The Margins
    The New Parish
    The Poor And Their Neighborhood
    The Public Good
    Think Deep About Christmas
    Thomas Merton
    Tiers Of Human Hierarchy
    Toxic Charity
    Tyranny
    Tyrion Lannister
    Unclean
    Uncool Places
    Upward Mobility
    Urban
    Urban Christianity
    Urban Reload
    Urban Youth
    US Constitution
    Views On Marriage
    Violence
    Voting
    Walter Brueggemann
    Wasted Book Reviews
    Wasted Books
    Wasted Church
    Wasted Evangelism
    Wasted Evangelism In Action
    Wasted Evangelism Mind
    Wasted Evangelism Organization
    Wasted Evangelism Quote
    Wasted Exegesis
    Wasted Narrative Exegesis
    Wasted Poem
    Wasted Quote
    Wasted Rough Cut
    Wasted Rough Cuts
    Wasted Sermon
    Wasted Sermon Prep
    Wasted Sermon Thoughts
    Wasted Thought
    Ways Of Doing Church
    Weak And Strong
    Wealthy
    Wealthy Christian
    Welcoming Church
    Welcoming The Stranger
    Widow
    Widows
    Widows In Our Courts
    William Booth
    Woke
    Women
    Word From God
    Work
    Worship
    Young People
    Youth
    Z-Gens

    RSS Feed

Pages

Wasted Blog
Engagement
Books & Resources

More Pages

About
The Book
CZ

Even More Pages

Contact
Learning Local in The Hill
Terms of Use
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Wasted Blog
  • Wasted Engaged
    • Wasted Evangelism in Action
  • Wasted Evangelism, the Book & more
    • Wasted Evangelism, the Book
    • Lay Commentary on Philippians >
      • Destroying Private Cities Sample Chapter
    • Wasted Evangelism Resources & Links
    • Samples from Wasted Evangelism
  • Learning Wasted Local
    • Wasted Hill Blog
    • CPC in The Hill NewsLetter Updates >
      • Past Newsletter Links
    • FY22 Church Bulletins & Order of Service
    • Hill Sermons & Teaching >
      • Gospel of Luke Sermon Series
      • Mostly Romans & FYs 20-21 Bulletins
      • 2018 Summer: In the Father's House
      • At the Table Series
      • Church and Liturgy
      • Book of Judges
      • Gospel of Matthew Series
      • 1 Peter Series
  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Contact