Crackers and Dead Fish

Crackers and Dead Fish 2022 05 22

Mark 6:34 – 44

I’m not wealthy. I have a hard time making ends meet, myself. So, what difference can I make?  What have I to give?  Why even bother trying?

Mark 6:34 – 44

Jesus’ disciples were just like most people – like us! They weren’t wealthy. They didn’t have any more than enough to live on, and many less than enough. Jesus taught his disciples that we are not asked to give out of our abundance, but out of His abundance! Our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills and every beast of the forest is His! Let’s look at this lesson from God our Creator and Saviour, Jesus Christ…

1. Jesus and his disciples crossed the lake to a deserted place to get some rest and privacy.
   1. They were so busy they not only couldn’t get any rest, but they couldn’t even stop to eat
   2. People saw them go and raced around the shore to meet them.
   3. In John 6:4 we find that it was the time of the Passover, so there were a LOT of people
2. Jesus was moved with compassion: these were people who had no decent teachers and preachers
   1. He was tired, but He put others first
   2. He was worn out, but He put the spiritual needs of others ahead of His physical needs
   3. The disciples said: Send them away; they are not our responsibility
   4. But Jesus told the disciples to look after the people’s needs!

• Jesus didn’t first ask what they had; He simply told them to give!
  1. The disciples asked if they should spend a year’s wages on food. Philip is recorded in John 6:7 as saying even that much wouldn’t feed everyone, anyway.
     1. The disciples said it was impossible for them to feed the multitude
     2. They forgot who they were talking to! He is the man, Jesus Christ, but He is also God our Creator, who made everything!
     3. They forgot about the many miracles they had already seen
     4. They were slow to learn – kind of like us, right?
  2. When the disciples asked where they should get the food, Jesus asked them what they already had
     1. The question was not intended to see if they had enough
     2. The question was to draw attention to what they did have, not their abundance (or lack thereof).
  3. They found a young man who had, as we read in John 6:9, “five barley loaves, and two small fishes.”
     1. This was enough for a small meal; it may have been the boy’s lunch, it may have been his family’s meal for the day, it may have been that the lad was a helper carrying the disciple’s meager provisions – it wasn’t very much food:
        1. A barley loaf was a small, flat, cracker-like biscuit or a small round loaf (as in Judges 7:13) One commentary says, “Eastern loaves were thin and small, like good-sized crackers, and around the Sea of Galilee, the salting and preserving of small fish was an especial industry.” TFG 377
        2. The fish were most likely small, dried or pickled, sardine-like fish, a very common food in that area
     2. Jesus commanded them to sit in organized companies
        1. Eating together in a group ought to be an organized event, not survival of the fittest!
           1. Doing things in an orderly fashion helps everyone
           2. It is a picture of the spiritual life.
              1. Disorganized, careless feasts can lead to chaos and hungry people!
              2. A frenetic, disorganized spiritual life leads to spiritual chaos and hunger: you need to set a carefully organized quiet time to read your Bible and pray every day, and you need attend church, Bible study, and prayer meetings.
           3. He organized them in ranks of fifties and hundreds, so that it was simple and accurate to get a rough head count.
        2. Looked up and blessed: Jesus did not simply pass out the food; He first thanked God (John 6:11) and asked the blessing on the food; He prayed to God the Father, who is in heaven, thanked Him, and asked Him to bless the food
           1. Jesus set a very important example for you: Pray before you eat!  Grabbing your food and stuffing it into your mouth as soon as it hits the table, which is SO common at the tables of the lost, is not only rude, but also sickening and ungodly!  God gave it to you, whatever it is: thank Him for it!  More than that, ask Him to bless your food!  You fret and worry about your food supply, germs, etc., yet you might dare to sit down and consume it without first asking the God who is in control of ALL germs and the food VALUE of what you’re eating to BLESS it!
           2. Look at what happened next, when Jesus blessed the food
              1. Jesus took this tiny amount of food and multiplied it enough to feed everyone
              2. God supplies our needs
              3. God supplies both our spiritual and our physical needs
                 1. (Why would you eat anything spiritual or physical without first giving thanks to the One who provided it, and without asking His blessing on it to multiply its effect and usefulness?)
                 2. Why would you risk physical or spiritual sickness by taking anything in without praying first and asking God’s blessing on it?

• Why would you not want the best in your body, mind, and spirit, that you can only get when God multiplies its goodness? Pray before you take in any food, whether it is physical or spiritual food!

1. 12 baskets full: The article here rendered “baskets” was part of the luggage taken by Jews on a journey—to carry, it is said, both their provisions and straw to sleep on, that they might not have to depend on Gentiles, and so run the risk of ceremonial pollution. (Jamieson, Fauset and Brown)
   1. Little was given, but God multiplied it and used it in an amazing way!
   2. 5000 men, and also women and children on top of that number were fed from those five crackers and two little dead fish! (The full number could easily have been around 25,000!!)
   3. 12 LARGE baskets came back to replace what was given!
   4. You cannot out-give God!!

Think about it

Jesus had already done many miracles, yet His disciples still didn’t get it.  Do YOU get it?  Jesus Christ is the Son of God!  He is God, the Son, our Creator.  The Bible says He is “Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6 Little is much when you give it to God!  A small handful of crackers and some very small dead fish became the supper for perhaps 25,000 people in the hands of God!

If you think you haven’t got enough to give to God, think again.  He will take whatever you give Him and use it for His glory.  He doesn’t need ANYTHING from you, but He wants to use what you have to show you how wonderful He is!

God gave the greatest gift of all.  He gave His own Son, Jesus Christ, to take your place on the cross.  The Bible says that you are a sinner, but praise God!  His GRACE is GREATER than all your sins!  Romans 5:19 – 21 says “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

If you’ve never understood that you are a sinner who needs the grace of God to be saved, now is the time.  He offers it to all who will take it.  He tells you to accept the fact that you can’t meet God’s standards yourself, and trust Jesus Christ to do it for you!  He died for your sins, so you don’t have to!  That’s grace!  It’s free!  It’s the gift of God!  Trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour, right now, and He will free you from all your sin and guilt and give you eternal life, right now.

If you have already trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, then you have received God’s great and marvelous gift of grace that cleanses you from every sin.  The Bible says in Ephesians 2:4 – 9, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

If you’ve put your faith in Jesus Christ, you have eternal life, right now!  John 6:40 says, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

God’s grace is a great, great gift!  You can never begin to match it, but God is not calling you to do that!  God is calling you to give what you have of your strength, talents, and goods, so that He can use them to save many millions more who are poised on the edge of an eternity in the lake of fire without Him!  You have no idea what God will do with your gift, or how far it will go!  Furthermore, this account of a few dry crackers and dead fish proves we have no idea what or how much will come back when you give!  Never ask what you can give; give what you have and trust God that He knows what to do with it.

Remember that little is much when you give it to God!  A small handful of crackers and some very small dead fish became the supper for 5,000 men and their families in the hands of God!  The disciples didn’t get it at the time, but you can see it, today.  The power of God is not limited by what you can see, or what the laws of nature in our universe dictate.  Nothing is impossible with God.  Trust Him and He will look after you in ways you haven’t even begun to imagine!  “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us:  that we should be called the sons of God!”  When you accepted God’s gift of grace, your Saviour, Jesus Christ, God your Creator, made you His own child!  He loves you SO much!  Amen, what a Father!  Amen, what a gift!