But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”
Facing the Impossible
When Jesus and the disciples came ashore and found that a huge crowd had been there waiting for them, Jesus looked at them with compassion, seeing that they were like lost sheep who had no shepherd. So He began teaching them (Mark 6:34). After He taught them for a time, it was late. The disciples looked at how vast the crowd was and wanted to send them away hungry and tired and have them find their own food to eat (Mark 6:36), but Jesus, having compassion on them, thought otherwise. Jesus looked at the disciples and told them, “You give them something to eat.” But the disciples said that they would need about 200 denarii to buy bread for such a large crowd of people (Mark 6:37). A denarii is about one day’s wages, so they knew that they didn’t have nearly enough money to buy as much bread as they would need. They were in an impossible situation.
How Many Loaves Do You Have?
Jesus, knowing full well that they didn’t have enough bread or money to feed such a crowd, asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see” (Mark 6:37). However, when they returned, they told Jesus that they had only two fish and five loaves (Mark 6:38), which was not even close to being what they needed. Why would Jesus ask them how many loaves they had? Before that, Jesus told them to “give them something to eat.” Did Jesus want to see their reaction? Did He want to test their faith to see what they would do in an impossible situation? He asked them to do something that they couldn’t possibly do. Jesus already must have known what He was going to do and wanted to see the reaction of the disciples or if they’d trust Him enough to help them do what He had asked them. Jesus may ask us to do something someday that seems impossible for us. He might ask us to do what we have no resources to do it with. He may ask you someday “how many loaves do you have?”
Something out of Nothing
God created the universe out of nothing. Everything that exists came into being because God spoke it into existence (Psalm 33:9). Since we know that God can do whatever He wills to do, no matter what things look like to us, and seeing it in our own human eyes, can we not trust Him to do what seems impossible when there are no apparent resources to do it with? God can multiply what little we have like the widow’s oil and flour that was enough for only one meal but which God used Elijah to go further than was humanly impossible (1 Kings 17:16). This is exactly what Jesus did. After they started with only five loaves and two fish, they were left with such a large amount of food that it had to be loaded into twelve baskets, so what they ended up with, even after over 5000 ate, was almost more than they could handle. God loves to show Himself mighty by doing the impossible.
A Closing Prayer
God, You are glorified in these miracles of life, and You are still multiplying loaves and fish in our lives today through Your hand. Nothing is too hard for You, so please help me to trust You and not my eyes. To You be the glory, and in Jesus’ name I pray.
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