February 21: Trusting His provision.
HIS PLENTY.
They all ate and were satisfied.--Mark 6:42
I was a church youth leader when our group decided to participate in a large community event of serving a holiday meal for homeless people in downtown Los Angeles. Thousands of people ate until they were completely full, and still there were plenty of leftovers, which is very unusual for there are more than forty thousand unsheltered homeless individuals in this city. Oh, that this abundance could be theirs every day!
There is a fascinating section found in Mark 6-8, and we will spend a few days in it. It relates to the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand. The narrative starts with Jesus teaching a large crowd in a desolate place, and it gets quite late; it is time to eat (Mark 6:34, 35). The disciples could only find five loaves of bread and two fish (verse 38), and they brought these to Jesus. The crowd sat down in groups of fifties and hundreds, as the people had in the wilderness with Moses (Exodus 18:21). Jesus then multiplied the bread. There are four verbs that the reader will re-encounter later in the bread plot: Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks the loaves, and gives them to the disciples, who gave the bread to the crowd. "They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces....There were five thousand men who ate the loaves" (verses 42-44). The cultural setting of this event is found in the words and numbers used. The numbers five and twelve were representative of the Jewish culture: five was the number of the books in the Law (Torah), and there were twelve tribes in Israel. In this story, there are five loaves of bread, five thousand men fed, and twelve full baskets left, one per tribe. Even the Greek word used for baskets is kophinos, associated with the Jews. God's people were fed, satisfied, and had leftovers. But there was more to this enacted teaching, which we will study in the next few days. For now, let's notice that God has no lack of resources, whether for our daily needs or for our eternal salvation. He has no limitations, and His grace is plentiful! He can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)!
My Response:______________________________________________________
HIS PLENTY.
They all ate and were satisfied.--Mark 6:42
I was a church youth leader when our group decided to participate in a large community event of serving a holiday meal for homeless people in downtown Los Angeles. Thousands of people ate until they were completely full, and still there were plenty of leftovers, which is very unusual for there are more than forty thousand unsheltered homeless individuals in this city. Oh, that this abundance could be theirs every day!
There is a fascinating section found in Mark 6-8, and we will spend a few days in it. It relates to the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand. The narrative starts with Jesus teaching a large crowd in a desolate place, and it gets quite late; it is time to eat (Mark 6:34, 35). The disciples could only find five loaves of bread and two fish (verse 38), and they brought these to Jesus. The crowd sat down in groups of fifties and hundreds, as the people had in the wilderness with Moses (Exodus 18:21). Jesus then multiplied the bread. There are four verbs that the reader will re-encounter later in the bread plot: Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks the loaves, and gives them to the disciples, who gave the bread to the crowd. "They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces....There were five thousand men who ate the loaves" (verses 42-44). The cultural setting of this event is found in the words and numbers used. The numbers five and twelve were representative of the Jewish culture: five was the number of the books in the Law (Torah), and there were twelve tribes in Israel. In this story, there are five loaves of bread, five thousand men fed, and twelve full baskets left, one per tribe. Even the Greek word used for baskets is kophinos, associated with the Jews. God's people were fed, satisfied, and had leftovers. But there was more to this enacted teaching, which we will study in the next few days. For now, let's notice that God has no lack of resources, whether for our daily needs or for our eternal salvation. He has no limitations, and His grace is plentiful! He can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)!
My Response:______________________________________________________
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