And Jesus Had Compassion

    Crowds just couldn't help gathering around Jesus as He taught and
ministered their sick.  At the same time His disciples were sent out
on a training mission to learn to do the same all over Israel.  When
the news of the death of John the Baptist reached them, they
reassembled to share what they had learned and to rest up.  They
desperately needed this rest as their were so many coming and going,
that they didn't even have the chance to eat.

    They used their boat to try and get away from them, but the crowds
followed along the bank and gathered again when they landed.  As Jesus
looked out over the crowd, He was moved with compassion for them as
they were "like sheep, not having a shepherd.  So He began to teach
them many things."

    This account is found in Mark 6:32-44 and we find that at the same
time that Jesus was moved with compassion for the crowds, His
disciples were in a different frame of mind.  They were tired and
hungry and just wished that the people would go away.  In verse 35 &
36 they said to Jesus, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour
is late.  Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding
country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing
to eat."
    At first, it would seem that the disciples were concerned about
the welfare of the people.  But at second glance, we see that their
concern was more about themselves.  Their request to Jesus was just a
ruse to get Him to quit teaching.  Jesus, however, didn't fall for it
because He responded by telling them that they should feed the crowd.

    When Jesus said this, they couldn't believe their ears.  It would
take two hundred denarii to buy enough food to feed this crowd.  A
denarii was what the average man earned for a day's work and so two
hundred denarii was nearly a years wages.  Surely Jesus couldn't be
serious.  After all there were five thousand men there not counting
all of the women and children.  No way!  Unreasonable!

    But Jesus was not to be undone by their lack of faith.  He told
the people to sit down on the grass in groups of fifties and hundreds. 
When they found that they had five loaves of bread and two fish, he
gave thanks to God and broke it.  As He continued to break it, the
food multiplied so that everyone had enough to eat and at the end of
the dinner, they gathered up twelve baskets of leftovers.

    Once again, the disciples had failed to reckon on the endless
supply of concern and compassion that Jesus has for those who come to
Him.  It wasn't that they didn't know that He could do it, but rather
the difficulty that they were having in putting their eyes on Jesus
rather than on themselves.  It works for us today just the same as it
did for them.


Frank Cooke