How Does Jesus Feed the 5,000? – A Good Shepherd’s Care for His Sheep

Big Idea: Jesus compassionately feeds his “sheep” through the limited resources of his disciples.

Introduction: The Shepherd of the Sheep

This morning we’ll be continuing our preaching series through the gospel of Mark. In this part of the Bible, the events of Jesus’s life are laid out in order to show us and convince us of who Jesus is, by understanding what he said and what he did. And it’s been clear – even though Jesus has been teaching the crowds, he’s more than just a great moral teacher. Even though he’s been healing people and casting out demons, he isn’t just a technician who heals people or fixes our life problems. But instead, Jesus is God in human flesh.

And this explains how Jesus has been wielding such power and authority. This explains why Jesus has been heralded as the one who uniquely brings forgiveness from our sins, who governs the forces of nature, and who delivers from evil and death. It’s because Jesus is the Son of God, and it’s only through him that true, lasting life with God is possible.

And in our text today, the vast capacity of Jesus’s power is demonstrated again. The text today is very honest about the mortal frailty and moral failures we have as human beings. And yet Mark vividly demonstrates how Jesus works with and through his people in spite of those things. So please turn with me to Mark, Chapter 6 (if you’re not there already). If you’re using one of our church Bibles, you can find our text on page 790. I’ll be reading verses 30 through 44. But let’s pray before we hear from God’s Word:

[Pray and Read Text]

The Sufficiency that Comes from Jesus

Back when I was college student, I worked in a research lab for a Crop and Soil Science Professor. And around Thanksgiving or Christmas time he invited me, and the grad students and technicians in his lab, to come over to his house to celebrate the holiday together. So when the night came, I got in the old family van that I had on campus, I brought a pumpkin roll to share, and I started driving to the Professor’s house. I realized, though, when I was about halfway there, that I couldn’t quite remember what the full house number was. But I figured – there will be cars out front – I should be able to figure it out. Of course, in the dark, it ended up being harder than I expected. And as I stopped at a house with cars out front, I was rather unsure of myself. I figured I’d go up and try the door and hope for the best. But just as I decided this, two things happened. The first thing that happened was I saw someone through the window who I didn’t recognize at all. It became clear right away I was at the wrong house. And the second thing that happened, in the meantime, is I closed the car door. And I locked my keys in the car.

And so I started to panic. What am I going to do. I reached in my pockets to see if there was any possibility that I might have a spare key in my pocket, but all that I had was a few pens, and a paperclip. But as I considered the rather insignificant tools that I had in my hand, I had the idea – maybe, just maybe, there might be some way for the malleable plastic of the pen caps to function as the teeth of the key, and the paperclip might possibly be able to press back the small metal plate over the key hole. And so I assembled these very unimpressive items in my hand, and I prayed, God please, help me. And I think you can tell where this story is going. As I slid these things into the keyhole, and turned – it unlocked the van. I had hardly anything at all to work with – and yet in God’s incredible kindness to me, he made my pen caps and paper clip enough.

And in our text this morning, Jesus gives us another picture of this. He shows how great his mercy is, and also how great his might is, in the way that he works through our limited abilities and assets to produce great outcomes. And with the Lord’s help this morning, I want to point out from the text four activities of Jesus that display the richness of his mercy and might toward us. Four activities. First, Jesus refreshes his workers. Second, Jesus nurtures the neglected. Third, Jesus multiplies our modest contributions. And then fourth and finally, Jesus satisfies with a superabundance. These will be my four main points as we work through the text.

Jesus Refreshes His Workers

And we see Jesus’s first activity, how he refreshes his workers, in verses 30 and 31. In verse 30, we’re told that “the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.” Now, you may remember, a few weeks ago we read that Jesus had sent out his twelve closest followers. And they were sent out to do the same work Jesus had been doing – to teach, and to perform supernatural signs that would confirm the legitimacy of what they were saying. And the text calls these men apostles here because they had been sent out by Jesus. Literally that’s what the word apostle means – it refers to someone who’s distinctly sent out as some sort of agent or ambassador.

But of course, here in our text, those who were sent out by Jesus, are now coming back to him, to give a report on their work. And even though we aren’t given much detail – from what we can tell, the report is generally positive. There’s no indication that they were coming back with a sense of embarrassment or failure. But our text says that they told Jesus about “all that they had done and taught.” After what was probably weeks of travel, they were coming back after a job well done. They had covered a lot of ground. With the special authority they had from Jesus, they’d been announcing the good news of the kingdom. And they’d been performing miracles and mighty works to confirm their message. The disciples told him everything.

And as they finish up their report, about all that they’ve done – notice how Jesus responds in verse 31. “And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile.’” Jesus tells them it’s time to rest.

And when Jesus says this, it’s not because people have stopped having needs. It’s not because there’s no one asking Jesus and his disciples for help. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Verse 31 says that there were many people, coming and going, all the time. There was always work to be done. There was always someone there asking a question, or trying to get help – there wasn’t even downtime to sit down and eat something. I think there are probably some mothers in the room who know exactly what this is like.

And yet, even though there’s a constant demand for help, Jesus instructs his disciples to rest: “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” And by giving these instructions, Jesus helps us to rightly understand the role of rest and refreshment in the Christian life.

For one thing, we see that Jesus underscores the importance of rest. Rest is a necessity, because as human beings, we have physical and cognitive limitations. We’re finite, created beings, and we all have some sort of limit or breaking point. And so rest is important for us. If we’re going to have the strength to keep working and serving for the long-term, we need opportunities to be refreshed and recharged.

This is one of the reasons why serious athletes will incorporate strategic rest days into their weekly fitness routine. They call it periodization. They intentionally rest, and stretch, and get good sleep after several days of intense training so that their muscles and such have time to be repaired and restored.

And Jesus identifies that his disciples need rest. They’ve just been toiling and traveling for weeks and weeks. And so when they rejoin him, even with the crowds pressing in – Jesus perceives that his disciples are weary and worn down, and he makes space for them to get the refreshment they need. He instructs them to rest.

But the second thing that Jesus does, with this instruction, is he affirms the appropriateness of rest. I think that there are a number of Christians who sometimes feel guilty for taking any amount of rest at all. They might have the sense that in order to be a faithful follower of Jesus, there can’t be any downtime. They might be inclined to think that taking any amount of time for rest and refreshment is selfish and wasteful.

And yet, Jesus not only reluctantly permits his disciples to rest here – but he commands it. In fact, this might remind you of the way that God commands his people to set aside one day out of seven for worship and rest in the Ten Commandments. It isn’t right for human beings to be so busy, and so preoccupied with other things, that they fail to make time for worship and rest. It’s not only appropriate for our spiritual health. It’s essential. Of course, laziness can be dangerous for our spiritual health, too. Jesus isn’t saying that we should be negligent or mediocre in our weekly work responsibilities. He’s simply saying that his people also need to know the importance of rest.

And there’s one more thing Jesus teaches about rest here. He urges us into an atmosphere of rest. Jesus recognizes that not all places or contexts are equally restful. And so he tells his followers: “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile.” I think sometimes we imagine that the rest we need is to plan a vacation to Washington D.C. or to Gatlinburg, or to some sort of destination that has a lot of things to see or do. But if you’ve ever gone on vacations like that – my guess is that sometimes you come back from the vacation feeling just as exhausted as you were when you left! Notice, here, Jesus isn’t choosing a get-away for his disciples that has a lot of activities and amusements. But he intentionally urges them to go to a desolate place – a place without screens and smartphones – a place without work-emails and household to-do lists. He urges them into an atmosphere where true, spiritual rest is actually possible.

Practically this is helpful for us think about – because sometimes we have a skewed idea of what it means to rest – we don’t give much thought to the type of rest that we actually need. It’s easy to plop down and watch TV, or to think that scrolling through Instagram is restful. But oftentimes having extended time away – to just think about God and his Word, to pray, to have thoughtful conversations with brothers and sisters in the faith about life – those things are far more important than we often realize. And this is why Jesus urges his disciples into an atmosphere of rest like this, that’s focused on spiritual refreshment and not just on entertainment or inactivity.

Jesus Nurtures the Neglected

But in addition to Jesus giving refreshment to his workers like this – we also see in our text how Jesus nurtures the neglected. This is the second main point that we see in our text. Because when Jesus and his disciples get into the boat and cross the Sea of Galilee to get to a desolate place on the other side, the crowds notice. Verse 33 tells us: “Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.” And so by the time Jesus’s boat lands, the desolate place is filled with masses of rather desperate people.

Now, if you were in Jesus’s sandals at that point, my guess is that you would probably be rather frustrated. The whole point of crossing the sea was to get away from these people! This was supposed to be a get-away! And even though it’s not clearly stated by Mark, here, when Matthew explains this same event of Jesus’s life, he makes it clear that Jesus has just learned of John the Baptist’s death – which we read about a couple weeks ago. So Jesus is still processing and grieving over John’s death. This was maybe a secondary reason why Jesus asked his disciples to take time away in a desolate place. And yet now, after just a few hours of respite on the boat, Jesus and his disciples are faced with the crowds again.

But even though you might expect Jesus to be frustrated – even though you might expect that he’d tell his disciples to turn around to leave them all behind, that’s not what Jesus does here. Instead, as Jesus considers these thousands of people who have literally run into the wilderness because of their urgent neediness to hear from Jesus, to be with him, to receive his blessing – as Jesus looks at these people, he doesn’t see them as inconveniences or obstacles. He doesn’t despise them. But verse 34 tells us that when he went ashore and saw this great crowd, “…he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

As these people come to Jesus, he responds with genuine concern and love. And we’re told that it’s because these people are like sheep without a shepherd. Now, at first it might seem like this is just a colorful analogy, and nothing more. It might seem like Jesus is imagining that these people are similar to a wandering gaggle of fluffy white animals, who have wandered away from their normal stomping grounds.

But as Jesus evaluates the condition of these people, and perceives that these people are like sheep without a shepherd – this little comment is actually more meaningful than that. Because in the Old Testament, it was common to refer God’s people as sheep, and the leaders of God’s people as shepherds. And on multiple occasions, the prophets of the Old Testament cried out against bad shepherds and false shepherds who were neglecting and abusing the sheep.

The Lord speaks through the prophet Ezekiel, for example, to confront false prophets and wicked kings who were distorting truth and perverting justice. And in Ezekiel 34:12, after condemning the actions of these unfaithful shepherds, the LORD God promises that he’ll resolve the issue. But it’s a little puzzling. Because he first promises that he himself will seek out his sheep, and rescue them. And yet later in that same passage, in verse 23, the Lord promises, “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”

Well, here in our text, Mark wants us to see that the people of Israel have still suffered from poor leadership. They’ve still been like sheep without a good shepherd. But what Mark is pointing out to us is that Jesus is the Shepherd-Leader that the people have been waiting for. Jesus is the divine LORD of heaven who has come down in human flesh, in the family tree of David, to be the Good Shepherd of the sheep.

And you’ll see what Jesus does, as the good shepherd, to start feeding his sheep at the end of verse 34. He begins “to teach them many things.” Anyone in the crowd who had been hungering and thirsting for righteousness could now come to Jesus and be filled. They could now have the real nourishment that leads to eternal life. Because the good shepherd of the sheep had come to feed them.

Jesus Multiplies Our Modest Contributions

But, of course, Jesus doesn’t just compassionately feed this crowd with his teaching. But we also end up seeing in these verses that Jesus actually gives them a physical meal, despite the fact that – humanly speaking – there wasn’t enough food to go around. And this brings to the third key thing we see about Jesus in our text – that Jesus multiplies our modest contributions.

As Jesus teaches, and the day gets late, the disciples begin to get self-conscious that many of the people who are there – they need to get home. They need to get supper and sleep. And so they pull Jesus aside in verses 35 and 36 to remind Jesus – this is a desolate place. We need to send these people away so that they can go buy something to eat!

But Jesus responds in an unexpected way. He tells his disciples, “You give them something to eat.” And the disciples are a bit put out by this. Because they’re fully aware that they can’t do that. It would be like asking a two-year-old to build a supercomputer.

You can just imagine the disciples sitting there, trying to calculate what it would take – what it would cost to cater a basic meal for 5,000 men, plus thousands of women and children in addition. And the disciples tell Jesus “we don’t have the resources for that!” In verse 37, they ask, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” Two hundred denarii – that was their currency – that would been equal to the earnings of someone working two hundred work days. We’re talking tens of thousands of dollars here. The disciples weren’t carrying that type of money around. In fact, they had just come back from a mission where Jesus had explicitly told them not to bring money bags and extra provisions!

But Jesus tells them to go and see how many loaves they have – what do they have to work with – “Go and see.” And after the disciples investigate, they find that they really don’t have much. All they have on hand is five loaves of bread, and two fish. That’s all.

And at this point of the story, this is where the disciples probably expected that Jesus would say, “Okay, you’re right. I guess we don’t have enough to work with. We’ll just need to send the people home.” But that’s not what Jesus says. Instead, he tells everyone to sit down to prepare for a meal. And as they sit down in groups, Jesus takes the fives loaves and two fish, he blesses them, he breaks them into pieces – and do you see what Jesus does to feed his sheep? He puts these pieces of food back into the hands of his disciples, and he sends them out to set them before the people.

And the reason why this is so significant, is because it shows us what Jesus’s game plan is for feeding his sheep. Even though Jesus is the ultimate shepherd who feeds his sheep, he carries out this work by raising up little shepherds, to act on his behalf. He doesn’t just clap his hands, and fill everybody’s laps with a box of fried chicken – even though he could. But instead, Jesus asks his disciples to bring what they have – to offer up their dry little loaves of bread and their two fish. And as the disciples bring these very modest resources – as they entrust the little that they have into Jesus’s hands, he multiplies it. They come with such small gifts. But Jesus makes them sufficient for his good work.

Now, this is most directly an encouragement to church leaders today – to pastors and elders. And that’s because they have a role under Jesus that’s similar to the role that the disciples had here. Because Church leaders labor as little shepherds under the Good Shepherd, Jesus. And even though pastors and elders are just ordinary men, with very modest resources – even today, Jesus takes our prayers, and our sermons, and our one-on-one counseling conversations – and Jesus does things with all of it that we wouldn’t ever be able to do on our own. This is how Jesus feeds his sheep. Not through mighty, impressive people who are mature and perfect in every way – but by multiplying the small contributions of small creatures like us.

And so, of course, this isn’t just an encouragement to elders – it’s an encouragement to everyone in the church. Because you and I – we might not think that we have much to contribute, to serve and sharpen other people. And we’re right. We really don’t bring much. The abilities we have are meager – and the skillset we have on hand isn’t adequate to produce spiritual fruit. But by faith, when we lean on Jesus and labor for Jesus with the little bit of nothing we have, Jesus has a way of mysteriously and miraculously blessing it, and increasing it. He brings forth a feast from our feeble little basket of bread slices and fish sticks.

And so for every Christian – when you feel unready and unequipped to do spiritual good to the people around you – don’t be defeated by that feeling. You might feel like all you have is a paper clip and a couple pen caps. But your weakness doesn’t disqualify you from being a useful servant for Jesus. Instead of fixating on what you don’t have, Jesus simply urges you and I, to bring the crumbs and crusts that we do have. And as we toil and trust him with these things – Jesus will make sure his sheep get fed.

For people who are arrogant – who think they don’t need Jesus’s help to be a mentor or ministry worker – this text rightly humbles us, and reminds us how limited we are. But for other people – for those who are overcome with feelings of inadequacy and emptiness, there’s a wonderful reminder here that the sufficiency to feed the sheep comes from Jesus – it’s guaranteed by the fullness of Jesus. That’s the hope we have in our work.

Jesus Satisfies His Sheep with a Superabundance

In fact, in the last couple verses of our text, here, we see one more thing about Jesus’s care for his people – how he satisfies with a superabundance. (He satisfies with a superabundance.) Look at verse 42. After Jesus divided up the bread and fish and worked through his disciples to pass on this food to the crowd – we’re told that “they all ate and were satisfied.” Notice – they all ate – it’s not that people in the crowd were fasting. And the food they ate wasn’t food that they had been hiding under their clothes, that they decided to pull out as soon as they saw Jesus passing out food. But the whole crowd really was supernaturally, miraculously, fed from what Jesus supplied.

And there was no attempt to restrain portions for people. The disciples didn’t ask people to tighten their belts, to be content with a few crumbs, and to suck it up. But the pieces of bread and fish were handed out liberally. And the people were able to eat their fill. Everyone’s appetite was fully satisfied. That’s what the text indicates here.

And so, of course, this shows us something of Jesus’s commitment to feed his sheep. Remember, in another place, Jesus is the one who said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because they will be filled – they will be satisfied. It’s the same Greek word that describes how the people are satisfied with the bread, here. We should have confidence – Jesus really does fill everyone who trusts in him. Every sheep who comes under the care of the Good Shepherd – they won’t ultimately be left disappointed, or empty. But Jesus alone is able to bring true satisfaction, and security, and salvation.

But in our text you’ll notice – Jesus not only provides the exact amount of food needed to feed the crowd. But he produces extra. Verse 43 explains that there were 12 baskets filled with leftovers. He supplies even more kindness and richness than the crowd needs or deserves, even. And isn’t this so true in the way that Jesus has provided for us? Many of us, as individuals and has households – we’ve seen God’s kindness in a wide variety of ways. Whether the provision has been spiritual blessings, of godly parents, good study Bibles and great Christian friends, or whether the provision has been material of blessings like a nice house, a stable government, a steady job, a healthy body – Jesus often cares for his sheep in ways that go above and beyond anything we deserve.

It’s so sad to me, how so many people have a distorted view of God, and they assume that God is all about restricting, that he’s all about taking away freedoms and happiness and pleasure. But, in fact, the Bible makes it clear that the only things that God forbids are the things that will ultimately destroy our happiness – that will rob us of satisfaction. Jesus satisfies with a superabundance, by providing for his sheep through the trials of this broken world, and promising for us eternal, infinite joy in the kingdom that’s coming.

And as Jesus provides these twelve extra baskets of leftovers, there’s also a special symbolism here. Because the Jewish people were made up of twelve tribes. And so by providing twelve full baskets of leftovers, Jesus is showing his special care to abundantly meet the needs of all God’s people.

I think that sometimes, when there’s a lot of conflict at home, or disappointment with your work situation, or seasonal depression, or when aches and diseases aren’t getting better – at least, not as fast you think they should – there’s a temptation to feel like Jesus is coming up short. Because, we might think, Jesus has given good health to Fred over there. Jesus has given that person a happy family, and money, and nice things. Why not me? Right, it can be so tempting to compare ourselves to other people, and to think that Jesus has somehow neglected us – that Jesus owes us more, beyond what he’s already given.

But when Jesus sets out to satisfy his people, he doesn’t forget anyone. He’s not like us, where you and I might wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, because we forgot to pay a utility bill, or because we forgot to call a good friend last week to say happy birthday. No, Jesus isn’t like us. He doesn’t forget, or fall short in what he provides. But from his own fullness, Jesus satisfies and fills his people – not necessarily with temporary treasures like bank accounts or days of sunshine – but he satisfies and fills us by giving us himself, and all the everlasting treasures that come with him.

He gave himself to us, and for us, by going to the cross, to suffer the penalty for our sins. He’s given his Spirit, to give his people new birth, and to guide us into new life. And by having Jesus, we receive forgiveness, and favor with heaven, and a place in God’s own family. By having Jesus, our enslavement to sinful desires is ended, and we’re no longer like a boat without an anchor, blown about by selfish desires and worldly influences. By having Jesus, we’re given the ability to grow in Christlike conviction and character. All fear of death is trampled down, and cast away. And the gates of paradise are opened to us, where we can once again eat from the tree of life and walk with God without any shame or separation or sin. This is coming. It’s closer now than ever before.

Jesus satisfies. Many of us already know something of how well he does this already – but we’ve only tasted the first little droplet. The best is yet to come. The superabundance of his blessing is better than anything else in this world we could want. And if Jesus is your shepherd, he won’t forget you. Jesus feeds his sheep. You can count on it. Let’s pray: