Feast for the Soul | Finding Fullness at Jesus' Table (Mark 6:34-44)

As Thanksgiving approaches, we’re reminded of abundance and sharing, but what happens when the needs around us feel bigger than what we have to give? In this episode, we explore Jesus’ command to his disciples, “You give them something to eat,” as they faced a hungry crowd with just five loaves and two fish. It seemed impossible—yet Jesus turned their scarcity into abundance. This Thanksgiving, we’ll reflect on how Jesus equips us to share his blessings, turning our “not enough” into more than enough to fill the physical and spiritual needs of those around us. Join us to discover how gratitude, generosity, and trust in the Giver of all good things transform the way we give this season.

Transcript

“You give them something to eat.” Um, Jesus? How are we supposed to do that? Look where we are! We are in the middle of scenic nowhere! There isn’t even a McDonald’s we can drop $5000 on to feed these people! Even if we could, the Dollar Menu is gone, they’d each only get a couple fries. Even if we could spend ⅔ of the money we make in a year, it still wouldn’t be enough. Lord, what you’re asking us to do is literally impossible! How can you expect us to pull this off? Not only do we not have a place to get food, we’re exhausted! We’ve been running with you and this gigantic crowd. Our social energy bar is past 0%. Just say the word, and they will go home where they can have a real meal. There’s nothing more we can do for them, Jesus. They’ve been following us all day, let’s do both of us a favor and let them get home before it’s too dark. 

The disciples were a little frazzled...or maybe more than a little. Just imagine this for a second. You’re looking at a crowd of likely 10,000-plus people and Jesus tells you to get them something to eat. And he doesn’t say it sarcastically or jokingly, he’s actually serious. It’s impossible! How could the disciples feed these people? How could they satisfy a crowd that could fill at least ¼ of Camden Yards? Simple answer: By their logic, they couldn’t. It wasn’t their problem. After all, these people chose to follow Jesus all day. They should’ve packed a supper. Not our problem, send them away and let them figure it out on their own. Let someone else deal with this problem. Let someone else give them something to eat. Even if we wanted to help, we are in no position to do so!

Can you blame the disciples for thinking the way that they did? I certainly can’t! They didn’t have the ability or the resources to help. So, maybe it was right for them to suggest that the people look somewhere else for sustenance. Here’s the issue with that theory: Jesus was the one who told them aka the disciples to give them something to eat. And his disciples are not limited to those twelve men of 28 AD.

 Can you picture a scene in your life story where someone in need stood right in front of you? Maybe it was family, a friend, or even a total stranger, a person who obviously needed help whether they admitted it to you or not, you saw right through them. You knew they had a gaping hole needing to be filled, but you saw the impossible nature of trying to fill it. 

Let’s start by thinking through where we are as a church family. We’re behind in our church budget, can we support our community and church family without going deeper into the red? Do we really have the right people with the right skills in our church to do what God has asked us to do, to care for body and soul? How, Jesus, can you expect us to fill needs in our community? 

Going deeper and more personally, when you and I feel like we’re barely making it month to month, or already feeling overwhelmed with our own family, work, and personal issues, how can you and I help someone else? You and I so often feel like WE are the ones needing attention. So when God puts people right in front of us specifically for us, for you, for me to serve, all we can see are the impossibilities. You and I look within and we feel inadequate, ill-equipped, lacking resources, and so we push off that neighbor’s need to someone else. Someone who could do far more than we ever could, right? But just like those disciples, Jesus, doesn’t shift the responsibility to anyone else. After we complain and dismiss, he keeps looking right into our eyes, and says the same command: “You, YOU, give them something to eat.” 

How? How? How? It’s like hitting “repeat” on your music app, this refrain keeps playing with nothing to change the track.

This is where the disciples were at too. This is where the Israelites were at in our Old Testament Reading. This is where the Corinthians were at in our second reading. How would the “how” questions be answered? Jesus had a potential fact-finding expedition planned so the disciples could discover it on their own. He tells them to go through the crowd and see how much food was available. Again, this a crowd of tens of thousands, and the disciples, frantically hoping that there is enough food to go around, find all of five loaves and two fish. Whatever hope they had that this food crisis had a solution, all hope was gone. Can you hear their internal conversations? Why would Jesus have us do this? He knows the answer after all? He knew there wouldn’t be enough! Is he trying to overwhelm us? Jesus had them look into the cold eyes of reality, and he wanted them to see something more. 

Why do you think Jesus has you stare into the cold eyes of reality? Why does he have you search and see that what you have just seems like it lacks so much?  How can you be responsible to feed the people in your life in the ways they need physically, emotionally, and spiritually? When you see a friend breaking down over the loss of their mom, how can you fill that void? When you see your child hurt and emotionally cut to the core by a bully at school, how can you help? When you see a homeless person on the side of the road, how can you be there for them?

Jesus shows us just how well he knows the answer. Before he does anything. He tells the disciples to tell the people where to sit. He arranges the crowd orderly, almost as if a banquet is about to begin. When this crowd of thousands is neatly seated, Jesus gives thanks for the bread and the fish, and starts giving them to the disciples turned waiters, to give to the crowd.

Imagine how big those disciples’ eyes got when they kept coming back for more fish and bread and it just keeps coming. It seems to be limitless?! HOW?! How is Jesus doing this? We’re not talking crumbs, we’re talking whole loaves, whole fish, how? How? How? The disciples were doing it! They were giving the people something to eat just like Jesus asked them, but the source of the food was far from anything they could have imagined.

They kept looking at the impossible, rather than turning to the God who constantly makes the impossible reality. The God who can even lead you and me to look past the impossible too.

When we can’t see the “how,” Jesus doesn’t give up on us. He doesn’t throw his hands up in the air, frustrated that we still can’t grasp how he has power over all things. He doesn’t guilt-trip us for not trusting in his love that fills all our needs. He doesn’t call us useless. Instead, in our frustration and feelings of inadequacy, he fills our needs often without us even realizing it's happening. He gives us our daily bread, and often far beyond just the essentials. In his grace and self-sacrificing love for you, when you feel overwhelmed and unfit for the task of serving him, he prepares a banquet for you. You open his letters to you in the Bible, and he feeds you. He builds you up with the reminder that you are a part of his royal family with Spirit-given gifts that are worth more than all the wealth in the world combined. When you have no idea how to make ends meet, or how you can help a friend who is struggling, or how our church will have the budget to do everything he calls us to do, the Lord leads us past the impossible to put all our focus on him. We can’t control the circumstances, but we can control our perception of them. 

The thing about Jesus, he doesn’t give you scraps. He gives you a feast. Think about all we have here at Christ! Think about all he’s given you personally! When you feel unfit to be his ambassador to family, our community, or even your own self-talk, when you feel inadequate and ill-equipped to show and share his love, just read Mark 6! 

Look at how Jesus nonchalantly does the impossible! Notice how he uses his disciples to be the ones to distribute his miraculous gifts and realize that he is using you too to be the waiter and waitress for the people in your world, in your life, to satisfy their deepest longings, both physical and spiritual. You have what it takes! You do have something to give! Because you have the Greatest Someone who made you the most important person in God’s eyes. 

So when Jesus tells you, “You give them something to eat” what will you give them?

You give them everything. Because the resources and abilities at your disposal are limitless. Not because you or I am some sort of Superman or Superwoman, but because the Giver of Life itself has given us everything. When you see a person in need of physical help, all of sudden you realize that money given is always money well-spent. When you see the opportunities bursting at the seams for our church to lead more people to the Bread of Life, all of a sudden your schedule opens up and your heart longs to reach out to those hearts that have yet to be touched by Jesus. You give them something to eat! The members of our church family that we haven’t seen in years are thirsting and hungering for community and Christ our shepherd, you have what it takes to feed them. Your Good Shepherd’s compassion flows through you and even when you face the impossible, he’s right there with just the right answer. 

I wonder what raced through the disciples’ minds as they gathered those 12 baskets of food after the banquet had ended. How humbling it must have been to see Jesus in action like that! I hope you know Jesus is in action through you too. Not only does he fill all your deepest longings, he sends the Holy Spirit to inspire you to take what you have and share with loved ones and even complete strangers. As we contemplate the people around us, like that crowd that didn’t even ask to be fed, the people who don’t realize what they’re missing, who don’t see the needs they need to be met, when Jesus calls to you, “You give them something to eat.” You’ll be ready with just the right amount. So go, give them something to eat! Just don’t forget to keep running back to Jesus, because he has so much more to give you. Amen.