A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Mark 6:30-44, “Satisfies,” for Sunday, September, 24, 2023. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION: One way to begin this lesson would be to ask your group to share:

??? Can anyone share a time when God provided for you/someone you know in an unusual way???

(For example: After Cheryl & I had graduated from seminary, I did not immediately get a church; we ended up having to wait a year. During that time it was hard making ends meet, with only a part-time job, and a new baby! One month we had just paid the electric bill and had only about $5 left to our name — and the rent was due in a couple of days. We got a letter in the mail from Cheryl’s best friend in high school, and without any prompting from us, she had felt led to send us some money — and it was just the amount of our rent for the month! It was one of the more amazing provisions the Lord ever gave us.)

You can share that story if you feel led to, and/or you/your group can share others. Then after you do, you can share that in today’s lesson we’re going to see how Jesus provided for a crowd of people in a miraculous way as well.

CONTEXT

In the first part of Mark 6, Jesus sends His 12 disciples out, two by two, to minister. Then Mark tells the story of how John the Baptist was killed by Herod. This brings us to todays focus passage: :30-44

OUTLINE:

I. The Principle of Rest (:30-32)

II.  The Caring Ministry of Jesus (:33-34)

III. The Responsibility of the Disciples (:35-37)

IV. The Miraculous Provision (:37-44)

I.  THE PRINCIPLE OF REST

Verse 30 says: “The apostles (whom Jesus had sent out two by two in :7) gathered together with Jesus, and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.” So this was a “post-ministry meeting” — how did things go during the mission? What did you do? What did you teach? Etc 

THEN notice :31: “And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.’ (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)

**Significantly, this is already the THIRD TIME in our new study of Mark, that the CROWDS and BUSY-NESS of Jesus and the disciples are mentioned:

— We saw in 1:33 that “the whole city had gathered at the door” after He healed Peter’s mother-in-law.

— Then last week in 3:20 it said: “the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.”

—And now here we see it again in 6:31, “many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat”! 

??? Have you ever been so busy that you didn’t even have time to eat???

(I usually like to find time to eat! But I’ve had a few times when it was so busy I didn’t have much time to eat. That’s how they were: really busy!)

So Jesus knew they needed time to REST. This principle of rest is an important one — but often overlooked in our “busy, American culture.”

In America, it’s almost “shameful” to get rest. Everyone is supposed to be “busy – busy- busy”!  But we need rest.

I think that’s one of the reasons that one of the 10 Commandments — the most basic statement of morality — includes a day of rest! God knew that we needed it, and He put it in the 10 Commandments. He did not design us to go 24/7, 365 days a year. He designed us to need rest, and we do ourselves harm when we don’t get it.

(I actually shared a message with our church this summer, from this very passage in Mark 6, called “Come Away & Rest.” (You can access the text of that message on my website at shawnethomas.com.) You could spend a lot of time on this point – some of your class members may need this. 

To summarize that message, it says we need: Daily rest (time with God every day; and a good night’s sleep!);  we need a weekly rest (why God gave us the Sabbath);  we need occasional longer periods of rest (we call them “vacations” — but sometimes we don’t really get “rest”!) — and then we will rest eternally in heaven. 

But rest is SO important.

I am not a fan of Stephen King’s novels but his book on writing was very interesting. One time he had been working almost non-stop on a book project, but he was just stuck, so he said:  “I started taking long walks … Boredom can be a very good thing for someone in a creative jam. I spent those walks being bored and thinking about my gigantic boondoggle of a manuscript. … And then one day when I was thinking of nothing at all, the answer came to me.”  (Stephen King, On Writing, p. 203)

I just read a book called Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, that talks about how when we are resting, and just “thinking of nothing,” like Stephen King was talking about, that our brain actually has time to make connections between things — which is why so many times when we are “thinking of nothing” we get the answers to things. The problem for so many of us, is that we never give ourselves time to think of nothing! We don’t get any rest, and give our minds time to make the connections we need. 

Sometimes rest is the best thing for us — it will help us get more done in the long run. Jesus knew His disciples, who had been out of mission, needed to come away and get some rest. 

One exercise I plan to do with this verse is PARSE it; really take it apart phrase by phrase and see all the elements in it (it’s similar to 1:35, where we looked at all the elements of Jesus’ time in prayer with the Father). 

(??? You might ask your group to point out what they see here, or you can just point them out and write them on the board.)   

He said:

— “Come away”

— “by yourselves”

— “to a secluded place”

— “and REST”

— “for a while”

??? You could ask your group: “What do you think is important about each of these elements of rest?”?? (Then you/they can talk about each of these:

— “come away” — you need to get away from that place where you are so busy

— “by yourselves” — you need to get away from all the people who are keeping you busy

— “to a secluded place” — away from the stress and busy-ness where you can recuperate

— “and REST” — you are not going to do more work, or be too busy, but REST.

— “for a WHILE” — you need some TIME to rest. The amount of time may vary; but you need “a while” to do it!)

Each of these things is important: “Come away – by yourselves – to a secluded place – and rest – for a while.” It’s an important principle of rest. Many people in our churches and classes really need this word from the Lord! 

II.  THE CARING/MINISTRY OF JESUS (:33-34)

We see Jesus do 3 things here:

— He SAW a large crowd

— He FELT COMPASSION for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd

— He began to TEACH them many things.

We see this in Jesus’ ministry a number of times in the gospels:

??? EXERCISE: You might have these verses printed on slips of paper, and give them to volunteers to read at this point in the lesson:

(OR you can just reference them one by one)

— Matthew 9:36 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

— Matthew 14:14 “When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.”

— Mark 6:34 “When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He began to teach them many things.”

— Luke 7:13 “When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said: “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

— Luke 10:33-34  “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”

— Luke 15:20  “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

We see these 3 things over and over in the Gospels:  Jesus (and others) SAW a need; FELT COMPASSION; and then DID SOMETHING about it.  This a pattern we see in the ministry of Jesus, that we can imitate in our lives too: 

— SEE a need.

— FEEL compassion.

— DO something about it.

You might point out: the process of caring can break down at any of 3 places here:

— You can not SEE the need. Just don’t notice it.

— You can see the need but not FEEL compassion for the person.

— You can see and even feel for them, but not actually DO anything about it!!  

For EXAMPLE: in that the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, where did these men’s caring “break down”? We don’t know for sure.

It seems they “saw” — but did they see and not FEEL compassion?

Or did they see — and maybe even feel compassion — but just not DO anything about it?

??? What might have been their thought processes here??? (What have been YOUR thought processes in some similar situations? What excuses have YOU given in some situations like this???

(I don’t have time; I’m on my way to do some OTHER ministry; “that’s not my gift”!  It might be dangerous!  You/your group can think of others …)

??? What could JESUS’ excuse have been here???

He/His disciples needed rest; they didn’t need to be helping them. But He didn’t take the excuse. He “saw, felt compassion, and did something” — He “began to teach them many things” (and eventually fed them as well).

Let’s be like Him: let’s not make excuses, but rather ask God to help us SEE needs of people around us; FEEL COMPASSION for them; and then DO something about it!

And WE are the ones He wants to “do something about it” — as we see in this next section:

III.  THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DISCIPLES:

Verse 35 says: “When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, ‘This place is quite desolate and it is already quite late; (:36) send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

What was Jesus’ answer to this in :37? “YOU give them something to eat!”

Don’t “slough off” the responsibility for people’s well-being to someone else. YOU take responsibility for it. I think this is one of the biggest failures that we have as Christians: we don’t take personal responsibility for ministering to people.

One of the best books on evangelism I have read is called Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus, by J. Mack Stiles. In it he writes of a time when he was speaking to a church about evangelism, and he said someone asked him the question: “Many Vietnamese are moving into the community around our church; what is the church going to do to reach out to them?”  

He said this was not, in itself, a bad question. But the implications are often: What is the pastor going to do about it; what are the deacons going to do about it; what is the “church organization” going to do about it, instead of what should I MYSELF do about it!

???What would Jesus’ answer to her be??? “YOU do something about it!”

This is what Stiles said. He said the church doesn’t need a “program.” Instead, think about how YOU can reach out to them. Research the Vietnamese culture, so you know something about them. Then pray for them, and introduce yourself to them, invite them to lunch, find a need they have and meet it — then invite them to just study the Bible with you one on one. Then after all this, invite them to church — and if you do all this, they will undoubtedly come! And when you do, they will hear the gospel and be saved. 

But the point is, it’s not the pastor’s responsibility, the deacons’ responsibility, or “the church’s” responsibility — it is YOUR responsibility. 

YOU are the one who sees this need; YOU do something about it. “YOU give them something to eat!”

This is such a good word. Often when we see a need we think the pastor should do something; or the deacons should do something; or the younger people with more energy should do it; or the older people with more time or wisdom should do it — anybody but ME! But Jesus’ word to us here is YOU do something about it! I’ve shown the need to YOU. YOU are the one I want to do something about it.

There’s a woman in our church, an elementary principal, who saw a need to reach younger ladies in our church. So she began praying, and after getting the go-ahead from me, she began a Bible study in her home for young ladies 18-30ish. She now has 12 young ladies meeting every week in her home, doing a Jen Wilkin Bible study! She saw the need, felt strongly about it, and DID something — and God is blessing and using that! She didn’t say: “the pastor/church need to do something” — SHE did something about it! And how fulfilling it is, to know that God is using you to impact a dozen young ladies’ lives like that!  

We should all ask ourselves: What need have I seen that I am burdened about, and maybe I have been thinking, “Who should do something about this?” Maybe we should be asking God, what do you want ME to do about it?  May God help each of us to “see, feel compassion — and take personal responsibility to “do something” about the needs He shows us.  

IV. The Miraculous Provision (:37-44)

So after Jesus told them, “YOU give them something to eat” — What excuses did they give??? (:37b) “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” 

(A denarius was the basic worker’s daily wage. So they were basically saying: “You want us to spend 6 months salary to feed all these people?” That’s what it would have taken.) 

So in :38 He asks them: “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, ‘five, and two fish.’”

??? Why do you think He asked them to see what they had???

(Perhaps because it demonstrated that they didn’t have enough to feed these people on their own. If they’d had a lot more, they might have said, “Boy, we sure did a good job of stretching that food, didn’t we?!”  But as it was, there was NO WAY 5 loaves and 2 fish could have fed even a portion of that crowd — so it made it very obvious that it was indeed a miracle from the Lord.

:39 is an interesting verse to me: “And He commanded them all to sit down (literally “recline,” because that’s how they ate, leaned over to the side, reclining on the ground) by groups on the green grass.”

??? WHY do you think the Bible specifically says here “the green grass”? It is such specific wording. (Is it just to give us a picturesque view of the scene? Was it to indicate the time of year it took place? Something else? It must mean something ….

:40 is significant too: “They sat down (reclined) in groups of hundreds and of fifties.” 

???What does this indicate???

Organization! Jesus had them very organized. I think this is a good word. Sometimes people in church act as if organization were something “from the devil” — but it’s not! Jesus had them organized into groups of hundreds and fifties, to distribute the food in an orderly, well-organized manner. It was NOT going to be a chaotic “cattle call” — with everyone pushing and shoving and grabbing. They were going to sit, and wait for the food to be brought to them.

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 14:40, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” Jesus models that for us here. Organization not a bad thing. 

You might ask you group: ???What are some ways that organization can help in God’s work in a church today???

(Help keep track of people: who’s missing from Sunday School; help us stay on budget; help us know where people can serve (our gifts survey)

You/your group can share many things. All to the point that organization does not have to conflict with spiritual religion. Sometimes we act like organization is not “spiritual,” or spirituality shouldn’t be organized, but that’s not the case with Jesus here at all. He was very organized.

:41 goes on to say: “And He took the 5 loaves and the 2 fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.” 

A couple of things here:

— Only Jesus could have done this. “He blessed the food …”. This is what we need. In so many cases: in our own life, in our family, in our church, in our country: we need Jesus to do what only Jesus can do. Only Jesus could take 5 loaves and 2 fish and feed all those people. And only Jesus can do so many things that we need Him to do, too. Let’s look to HIM to do them. 

??? You might even ask your group: does anybody want to share something that’s too big for you, that you need Jesus to do — maybe in your life, or your family, or your ministry???

(And again, maybe pray for those things right now — or at the end of class. Ask Jesus to do what only Jesus can do!)

— And then HOW did He give the food out? “He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them.” Jesus didn’t give it Himself; He gave to His disciples, and THEY gave it to the people. Again this is organized; He didn’t do it all Himself. He used His people (a good model for pastors and church leaders today!) As well as a good picture of how He works in the world: He uses His people: pastors and evangelists and missionaries and Sunday school teachers and workers of all kinds. He gives to US, and we pass it along to others. That’s how He worked then — and that’s how He works now. Just make sure He is using YOU somehow in the process! Take what the Lord has given you, and pass it along to others.  

But then we see the end of it in :42-44: 

:42 “They all ate and were satisfied, (they didn’t “skimp.” They got all they wanted. Jesus fully provided. And Jesus satisfies!)

(:43) “and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.”  ??? WHY do you think they did that???

(Maybe to be a good steward: don’t waste it! Also to show in a tangible way just how miraculous it: they all knew they had started with only 5 loaves and 2 fish; and they got 12 baskets left over. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MIRACLE ENOUGH — even without feeding the 5000! It just verified and demonstrated how miraculous it was!)

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