Luke 9:10-27
Last week you all heard an excellent message from Luke 9:1-9! The passage we looked at involved Jesus sending out the 12 disciples to go out and tell people about the kingdom of God. Jesus had given them supernatural power to drive out demons and cure people of diseases just as He had. For this period of time, Jesus had in effect turned loose twelve “Jesuses” – people doing what He had done. This caused quite a stir among the towns where they went. Rumors flew. People wondered who all these people could be. What did it all mean? Had John the Baptist risen from the dead? Had Elijah reappeared? Even King Herod became concerned and confused by all the reports, and it says that Herod tried to see Jesus. One result of the 12 going out and doing this is that Jesus became even more famous than He had already been. And so we pick up the story today at the point that the 12 disciples finish their preaching and healing journey.
When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then He took them with Him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed Him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. – Luke 9:10-11
The disciples were excited about what they had seen and experienced, but they were also probably pretty tired. Jesus took them on a retreat of sorts – it says that they “withdrew” – the intention was to get away from the crowds that seemed to always follow Jesus now and get away to rest and learn in a more intimate setting. The parallel passage in Mark gives additional details.
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. – Mark 6:30-32
What were the crowds doing? Probably continually asking questions of Jesus, requesting healings, and just hanging around waiting to hear whatever He said next. And perhaps not just Jesus was the center of attention now, but the disciples too. People may have recognized them from their recent adventures. “Hey, I saw that guy heal someone too!” I can just imagine the noise, the shouts, the ceaseless questions, the pressing in of the crowds – it had to be overwhelming, because Mark says that they didn’t even have a chance to eat.
And so Jesus felt compassion on His disciples and He had them go by boat towards Bethsaida. This was probably a short journey, just a few miles away down the lakeshore. But what happened? Do they get to have their vacation? No. Again, Mark fills us in with a few additional details.
But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things. – Mark 6:33-34
Can you picture this situation? It is like the paparazzi! Can you imagine the conversations? “Look, He is going this way! Follow Him! Where can they land? The only place after this is a deserted shore up a few miles! Let’s go there! Hurry, run! Look, you were right! He is landing here! Tell everyone else to follow!”
And so they landed on a deserted place, except that it wasn’t deserted. It was crowded – probably even more crowded than they were before they left! It would be easy to become frustrated at this point, to lash out, to say, “Don’t you know why we came here? To get away from you all!” Perhaps some of the disciples thought like this. But Jesus didn’t think like this at all.
It says “He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Going back to the Luke passage, it says He welcomed them. Not just put up with them, but greeted them as dear friends.
I am challenged by this picture. Are you? How do you feel; what do you do when you are hoping for some quiet down time perhaps just to rest or take a nap, or to watch some sports on TV, or maybe watch a movie, when some calls or visits and you don’t get the chance to do the relaxing thing you wanted to do? Or what if you are terribly busy, under pressure to get something done, and someone comes to you and asks for advice or help? It is now an overused, dated phrase, but “What would Jesus do?” There is no question what Jesus would do. He would do what we just read He did. He would find time for people. I am challenged by this picture, because this is not how I naturally am.
Why was Jesus like this? Because He had compassion on them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. What are sheep without a shepherd like? Lost. Confused. Worried. Helpless. “Come on you guys; can’t solve your own problems for once? Don’t you understand that I want to get away from you, that I need some rest?” That is not Jesus’ way.
Do you know any sheep without a shepherd? Sure. Every unbeliever is a sheep without a shepherd. They cannot tell Jesus’ voice from all the other voices in the world. Yes, they make terrible decisions, yes, they have bad timing, yes, they are often thinking only of themselves, perhaps, like sheep, they even smell bad! But they are without the Shepherd. You, if you have handed over the reigns of your life to Jesus, have a Shepherd. I am certain that Jesus desires that you, and I, would have compassion on them.
But not only believers are like sheep without a shepherd. So are believers, when they forget about the Shepherd, or forget to turn to Him in their difficulties and trials. Many believers, unfortunately, trust in their Shepherd for salvation, but not in their day-to-day lives. We all do this sometimes. We should have just as much compassion for believers as we do for unbelievers, even though believers should know better. We should know better too!
When we spend time with people, especially when we do it when we are tired or “too busy,” we are being like Jesus. We are doing Jesus’ work. If we see people with Jesus’ eyes, the eyes of compassion, this will be a joy, not a chore.
My first action point today is this:
1. Cultivate compassion towards others. See people as Jesus sees people.
And so returning to our passage in Luke as well as the one in Mark, we see that Jesus began to teach the crowds and also heal them. Time was no object – Jesus gave them His best. Can you imagine what this was like? To spend the whole day with Jesus, hearing Him teach in depth? To see miracle after miracle after miracle of healing? To hear His wisdom, to see firsthand His love, to witness His power? Some day we will! Doesn’t that make you excited? We will really see Him, hear Him, touch Him. We will spend the Day with Him that never ends! But this day was coming to end, rapidly.
Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to Him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here." He replied, "You give them something to eat." They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." (About five thousand men were there.) – Luke 9:12-14a
Jesus’ teaching and helping the crowds went on, and on, and on, until the shadows grew long and stomachs started to growl. There were over 5000 men here, plus, as the parallel passages indicate, plenty of women and children. From a rational, prudent perspective, the thinking of the Twelve was right on target – we need to do something! We have thousands and thousands of people here in the middle of nowhere! They need to go home, or at least to the surrounding villages. Realistically, I doubt that even the surrounding villages could have handled this crowd.
But what does Jesus say? “You give them something to eat.” What?!! Hello!!! This is just a crazy response! But I wonder… Did Jesus have the slightest hint of a smile when He said this? This is pure conjecture, but I wonder. In the parallel passage in Mark, it says:
By this time it was late in the day, so His disciples came to Him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." But He answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to Him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" – Mark 6:35-37
This is actually a pretty nonsensical answer. Where are they going to go to buy this bread? Who would have this much? They are still in the middle of nowhere! It is interesting to consider the problem of feeding a crowd of this size in today’s money. Suppose you could feed people for 50 cents each. (This would be a pretty sparse meal.) At that price, assuming 10,000 people were there, you are looking at $5,000. Even in today’s times, where technology has driven down the cost of food, $5,000 is a lot of money!
So why would Jesus tell them to do something that was impossible? I would say it was to help them to see precisely that it was impossible for them, with a worldly perspective, to even make a little dent in the problem. In John’s gospel it says that Jesus asked them this to test one particular disciple. This disciple is the one who answered “But it will take 8 months wages!” I think it is safe to say that this disciple did not pass the test. I have been grading finals the past few days, and I know all about not passing the test. In the case of the course I teach, you only get three shots. If you fail to pass all three times, it is time to move on to another major. But in Jesus’ class, you can fail as often as it takes to learn the material, as long as you don’t forsake your Teacher. He will eventually get you to the point where you pass!
The disciples’ next response is that they only have 5 loaves and two fish. In Mark 6:36, we learn that Jesus asks them to go see what they have: "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." This question I am sure leads to them hunting around, asking people around them who has food – apparently the disciples themselves don’t have any. And in John 6:9 we get another detail:
Another of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" – John 6:8-9
These mini-loaves were probably intended to be for a single person. Again, I believe Jesus does this to help them understand how truly hopeless their situation is – hopeless from a worldly perspective, that is.
In keeping with the classroom analogy, it is time for some “Jesus math.”
Focusing on the loaves, we have the following question: What is
5 loaves / 10,000 portions * 10,000 people (portions)? 5 loaves, right? Wrong!
But He said to His disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke them. Then He gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. – Luke 9:14b-17
In Mark, we read:
Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. – Mark 6:41
So you can see that this really is a division problem! Jesus divided the loaves and fish, and divided, and divided, and divided… I am not sure this is how it actually happened, but I picture Jesus breaking a bunch of pieces that go into a basket that a disciple takes to one group of 50, and then Jesus breaks more that goes to another group, and another and another… Or perhaps the miracle takes place as each group passes out the food among themselves… Either way, the answer to the Jesus math is that 5 / 10000 * 10000 is more than 10000! That is a factor of 2000 more than it should have been!
Apart from the actual miracle, made even more indisputable by the large amount of leftovers, much more than they even started with, I am struck by several details that I think has application far beyond this miracle:
2. Jesus chooses to work from the meager offerings of His disciples.
Jesus didn’t have to do this! He could have made the bread appear from thin air. He could have made manna. He could have turned the grass into spaghetti, the stones into meatballs, and the dirt into chocolate cake! But He instead chose to work through the little bit the disciples themselves had. This is how God continues to work today – through the small, unimpressive offerings of His people.
Paul repeated the thought that God uses the meager to make great things.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. – I Cor. 1:27
But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – II Cor. 12:9-10
I hope you get the new Jesus math! God delights to use the things the world thinks is insignificant to change the world. If you feel inadequate, or untalented, or small, this idea is for you. We are a small, meager church, but God has done incredible things through us, and He will continue to do incredible things through us. While you think Jesus is dividing, secretly He multiplies.
3. Our role is to distribute what Jesus gives us.
Did you notice that the disciples’ role in this miracle is simply to distribute the bread the fish? They are not responsible for the multiplication – that is Jesus’ job. I believe this is a lesson for us as well. It is not our job to multiply the Kingdom of God – only Jesus can do that.
At the same time, though, notice that all of the disciples had the job of distributor, not just one or two of them. There were twelve baskets of food left over – one basket per disciple.
So how can this apply to us? How can we be distributors? Well first of all we are distributors of the good news, of the gospel. We distribute the gospel, the food that satisfies hunger forever. And we do this by telling people about Jesus, God’s provision for salvation. In Acts, Paul says as he is about to go off to Jerusalem,
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. – Acts 20:24
Paul only wants to be able to finish his task as distributor. Paul also wrote:
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. – Eph. 3:7-8
Again, Paul is only a distributor. He gives only what he has been given. And the same should be true of us. You should understand that as a church body, we are unusual with regards to the level of spiritual maturity of our members. Look around you, and you will know this is true. I say this not to puff you up, but to say that God in His grace has been working powerfully among us, maturing us, giving us large basketfuls of bread, so to speak. We need to be like Paul, servants of the gospel, distributing what wisdom and knowledge Jesus has given us.
In addition to being distributors of the gospel, we should be users, or distributors, as I said last week, of God’s spiritual gifts to us. Peter writes:
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. – I Peter 4:10-11
Did you notice a particular word that has appeared over and over in these last few verses? What is it? Grace. Ultimately, Jesus’ miracle of feeding the 5000 (10,000) was all about grace. Who actually fed all these people? I mean, who actually gave them the food? Not Jesus, but the disciples. But they would have had nothing to give if it weren’t for God’s unmerited, unearned, favor, if it weren’t for Jesus’ gift given by grace.
And if the twelve basketfuls left over teach us anything, they teach us that God doesn’t just give enough grace, He gives more than enough. As we sing, “All of You is more than enough for all of me.” Recall this verse from several weeks ago, straight from Jesus’ mouth:
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. – Luke 6:38
Running over enough to collect twelve basketfuls, many times more than what they had started with. If we will be His distributors, we will not be able to keep up with Him!
Continuing on with the passage:
Once when Jesus was praying in private and His disciples were with Him, He asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life." – Luke 9:18-19
Here we see the beginnings of a very interesting conversation between Jesus and His disciples in private. Actually, the conversation grew out of a conversation between Jesus and God the Father – it says He was praying. I think perhaps this conversation was a result of the prayer – that God made clear to Jesus that now was the time to have this conversation, that the disciples were ready for it.
And so it begins with this somewhat odd question – in essence, “What do other people think of Me?” Now, this is a question many people, especially young people, dwell on far too much. But the purpose of the question is completely different than it is here for Jesus. When we ask this question, we tend to be saying, “Do we fit in? Do people like us? Do they think we are cool, or pretty, or fill-in-the-blank?” But this is not at all what Jesus is up to. The purpose of Jesus’ question is to get them thinking about what they think about Him. By the way, it is a fantastic question to use when sharing the gospel with someone. It serves the same purpose now as it did then. It gets people thinking about Jesus and about what they think about Him. “What sorts of things do people think about Jesus? Who do they think He was?” It is such a great question!
At the time of Jesus, because of all the miraculous things that had been happening, people were wondering if this was the beginning of the messianic age prophesied about in Scripture. The people who said John the Baptist thought maybe He was John resurrected. The ones who said Elijah thought about prophecies like Malachi 4:
"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the Lord Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the Lord Almighty. "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." – Mal. 4:1-6
With this “great and dreadful” day would come the Messiah, the Christ, overthrowing the wicked, secular governments of the world and bringing in a new everlasting era of peace, a kingdom even greater than the kingdom of David.
And other people thought Jesus might be some other resurrected Old Testament prophet. But in all cases, the expectation was similar – perhaps we are entering the Messianic age! Perhaps the Messiah will lead a revolution! Understand that the Jewish nation was at this time only a shadow of its former self. In effect, the scepter had departed from Judah. The Jews were an occupied people. Rome allowed them to have Jewish leaders, but they were subject to Roman law and the leaders were basically puppets of Rome. The desire for the coming Messiah, for deliverance, was strong in many hearts.
"But what about you?" He asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God." – Luke 9:20
And so here we see Jesus’ real reason for the question. What do you think? Again, this is a great question when sharing the gospel. Once you know someone’s answer to this question, you can see whether they know the gospel, and you can see in what ways their understanding is lacking. And you can see their hearts, whether they are curious or closed.
Peter’s answer was, of course, exactly correct. For us it is easy to miss how anyone could come up with any other answer. But the crowds didn’t get it. I don’t think the other disciples got it. Again, we know the end of the story – His death and resurrection, what it all means in the various letters that make up the second half of the New Testament. Peter didn’t have any of this. Peter got it – Jesus wasn’t just some forerunner of the Messianic age – He was the actual Messiah, the Christ of God! Only Messiah could command demons, command nature, the way He had. Only Messiah could teach as He did. And then, probably for the first time, Jesus told them the rest of the story: their expectations about the imminent coming of the Messianic age were wrong!
Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And He said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." – Luke 9:21-22
We will see that Jesus tells them this at least three times before these events actually happen. Why? Because they couldn’t grasp this at all. How could the Christ of God die? That doesn’t make any sense! What about the revolution? Messiah is supposed to overthrow the Roman government, not get murdered by their own Jewish people! There is no way to overstate how shocking and incomprehensible this had to be to the disciples. But this is not all He says. Before they have a chance to even begin to process this (they can’t anyway – it just doesn’t compute), Jesus says this:
Then He said to them all: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. – Luke 9:23-24
This was probably said to the crowds, not just the twelve disciples. What does it mean to take up your cross? Unfortunately, we have a phrase, “That’s my cross to bear,” that dilutes the meaning of this passage. The phrase means something like, “That’s my annoyance I have to put up with.” But that is not at all what Jesus means.
If you have seen Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion,” this is what you should be picturing when you hear Jesus say, “He must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” And understand that Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross, to endure what He endured. He chose to be there. He chose to forgo the temptations and pleasures of this world, because He wanted to please God His Father. Jesus’ shocking statement is that we should be like the man carrying his own cross to the site of his soon-to-come crucifixion. And we are to do this, to be in this position, daily.
And Jesus says we are to remain faithful to Christ despite persecution, even if that persecution leads to death. This is hard for us to understand in America. But in many parts of the rest of the world, this is everyday life. For the disciples, this was to be everyday life. Read Foxes Book of Martyrs and you will see this. Eleven of the twelve disciples died a martyr’s death, along with countless others in the early church.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of Me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." – Luke 9:25-27
These are hard teachings, and I don’t have time to cover them in much depth today. But we will revisit these themes as we go forward in Luke’s gospel. As for the mysterious verse 27, next week you should ask John what this means. Sorry, John! But I do think one reasonable interpretation of this verse will be revealed in the passage next week.
I want to close on the verse “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” Listen. The world is an exciting place to be in. It has probably never been a more exciting place than it is now. When I think of this verse I think of America. We are one of the richest nations on earth. Through the amazing advancements of technology we can travel vast distances as a matter of routine. We don’t have to spend every waking moment providing for our sustenance – indeed, we have hours and hours and hours of leisure time every week. And such leisure! For a few dollars we can watch an entertainment spectacle (a movie) that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce, more than the entire GDP of some countries. Through the Internet, we have the largest and most powerful library in the history of the world at our fingertips. Figuratively speaking, America has gained the whole world.
But what about America’s “very self”? As a people, we are miserable! Abuse, addiction, crime, depression, and suicide are rampant. We live amidst a broken people. And this is not just America, but the whole world. I am focusing on America simply because we live here. But it is not our home.
We are just like Jesus’ disciples in that remote place surrounded by thousands of people “like sheep without a shepherd.” And like Jesus’ disciples, we are being given bread with which to feed them. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel – that “old time story” is the bread of eternal life. I pray that we would stay “on mission” and not become distracted by the pleasures of this world and so forget why we are here. Let us choose to take up our cross and follow Jesus. Let us choose to forfeit the whole world, and gain our very self.
When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then He took them with Him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed Him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. – Luke 9:10-11
The disciples were excited about what they had seen and experienced, but they were also probably pretty tired. Jesus took them on a retreat of sorts – it says that they “withdrew” – the intention was to get away from the crowds that seemed to always follow Jesus now and get away to rest and learn in a more intimate setting. The parallel passage in Mark gives additional details.
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. – Mark 6:30-32
What were the crowds doing? Probably continually asking questions of Jesus, requesting healings, and just hanging around waiting to hear whatever He said next. And perhaps not just Jesus was the center of attention now, but the disciples too. People may have recognized them from their recent adventures. “Hey, I saw that guy heal someone too!” I can just imagine the noise, the shouts, the ceaseless questions, the pressing in of the crowds – it had to be overwhelming, because Mark says that they didn’t even have a chance to eat.
And so Jesus felt compassion on His disciples and He had them go by boat towards Bethsaida. This was probably a short journey, just a few miles away down the lakeshore. But what happened? Do they get to have their vacation? No. Again, Mark fills us in with a few additional details.
But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things. – Mark 6:33-34
Can you picture this situation? It is like the paparazzi! Can you imagine the conversations? “Look, He is going this way! Follow Him! Where can they land? The only place after this is a deserted shore up a few miles! Let’s go there! Hurry, run! Look, you were right! He is landing here! Tell everyone else to follow!”
And so they landed on a deserted place, except that it wasn’t deserted. It was crowded – probably even more crowded than they were before they left! It would be easy to become frustrated at this point, to lash out, to say, “Don’t you know why we came here? To get away from you all!” Perhaps some of the disciples thought like this. But Jesus didn’t think like this at all.
It says “He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Going back to the Luke passage, it says He welcomed them. Not just put up with them, but greeted them as dear friends.
I am challenged by this picture. Are you? How do you feel; what do you do when you are hoping for some quiet down time perhaps just to rest or take a nap, or to watch some sports on TV, or maybe watch a movie, when some calls or visits and you don’t get the chance to do the relaxing thing you wanted to do? Or what if you are terribly busy, under pressure to get something done, and someone comes to you and asks for advice or help? It is now an overused, dated phrase, but “What would Jesus do?” There is no question what Jesus would do. He would do what we just read He did. He would find time for people. I am challenged by this picture, because this is not how I naturally am.
Why was Jesus like this? Because He had compassion on them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. What are sheep without a shepherd like? Lost. Confused. Worried. Helpless. “Come on you guys; can’t solve your own problems for once? Don’t you understand that I want to get away from you, that I need some rest?” That is not Jesus’ way.
Do you know any sheep without a shepherd? Sure. Every unbeliever is a sheep without a shepherd. They cannot tell Jesus’ voice from all the other voices in the world. Yes, they make terrible decisions, yes, they have bad timing, yes, they are often thinking only of themselves, perhaps, like sheep, they even smell bad! But they are without the Shepherd. You, if you have handed over the reigns of your life to Jesus, have a Shepherd. I am certain that Jesus desires that you, and I, would have compassion on them.
But not only believers are like sheep without a shepherd. So are believers, when they forget about the Shepherd, or forget to turn to Him in their difficulties and trials. Many believers, unfortunately, trust in their Shepherd for salvation, but not in their day-to-day lives. We all do this sometimes. We should have just as much compassion for believers as we do for unbelievers, even though believers should know better. We should know better too!
When we spend time with people, especially when we do it when we are tired or “too busy,” we are being like Jesus. We are doing Jesus’ work. If we see people with Jesus’ eyes, the eyes of compassion, this will be a joy, not a chore.
My first action point today is this:
1. Cultivate compassion towards others. See people as Jesus sees people.
And so returning to our passage in Luke as well as the one in Mark, we see that Jesus began to teach the crowds and also heal them. Time was no object – Jesus gave them His best. Can you imagine what this was like? To spend the whole day with Jesus, hearing Him teach in depth? To see miracle after miracle after miracle of healing? To hear His wisdom, to see firsthand His love, to witness His power? Some day we will! Doesn’t that make you excited? We will really see Him, hear Him, touch Him. We will spend the Day with Him that never ends! But this day was coming to end, rapidly.
Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to Him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here." He replied, "You give them something to eat." They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." (About five thousand men were there.) – Luke 9:12-14a
Jesus’ teaching and helping the crowds went on, and on, and on, until the shadows grew long and stomachs started to growl. There were over 5000 men here, plus, as the parallel passages indicate, plenty of women and children. From a rational, prudent perspective, the thinking of the Twelve was right on target – we need to do something! We have thousands and thousands of people here in the middle of nowhere! They need to go home, or at least to the surrounding villages. Realistically, I doubt that even the surrounding villages could have handled this crowd.
But what does Jesus say? “You give them something to eat.” What?!! Hello!!! This is just a crazy response! But I wonder… Did Jesus have the slightest hint of a smile when He said this? This is pure conjecture, but I wonder. In the parallel passage in Mark, it says:
By this time it was late in the day, so His disciples came to Him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." But He answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to Him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" – Mark 6:35-37
This is actually a pretty nonsensical answer. Where are they going to go to buy this bread? Who would have this much? They are still in the middle of nowhere! It is interesting to consider the problem of feeding a crowd of this size in today’s money. Suppose you could feed people for 50 cents each. (This would be a pretty sparse meal.) At that price, assuming 10,000 people were there, you are looking at $5,000. Even in today’s times, where technology has driven down the cost of food, $5,000 is a lot of money!
So why would Jesus tell them to do something that was impossible? I would say it was to help them to see precisely that it was impossible for them, with a worldly perspective, to even make a little dent in the problem. In John’s gospel it says that Jesus asked them this to test one particular disciple. This disciple is the one who answered “But it will take 8 months wages!” I think it is safe to say that this disciple did not pass the test. I have been grading finals the past few days, and I know all about not passing the test. In the case of the course I teach, you only get three shots. If you fail to pass all three times, it is time to move on to another major. But in Jesus’ class, you can fail as often as it takes to learn the material, as long as you don’t forsake your Teacher. He will eventually get you to the point where you pass!
The disciples’ next response is that they only have 5 loaves and two fish. In Mark 6:36, we learn that Jesus asks them to go see what they have: "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." This question I am sure leads to them hunting around, asking people around them who has food – apparently the disciples themselves don’t have any. And in John 6:9 we get another detail:
Another of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" – John 6:8-9
These mini-loaves were probably intended to be for a single person. Again, I believe Jesus does this to help them understand how truly hopeless their situation is – hopeless from a worldly perspective, that is.
In keeping with the classroom analogy, it is time for some “Jesus math.”
Focusing on the loaves, we have the following question: What is
5 loaves / 10,000 portions * 10,000 people (portions)? 5 loaves, right? Wrong!
But He said to His disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke them. Then He gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. – Luke 9:14b-17
In Mark, we read:
Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. – Mark 6:41
So you can see that this really is a division problem! Jesus divided the loaves and fish, and divided, and divided, and divided… I am not sure this is how it actually happened, but I picture Jesus breaking a bunch of pieces that go into a basket that a disciple takes to one group of 50, and then Jesus breaks more that goes to another group, and another and another… Or perhaps the miracle takes place as each group passes out the food among themselves… Either way, the answer to the Jesus math is that 5 / 10000 * 10000 is more than 10000! That is a factor of 2000 more than it should have been!
Apart from the actual miracle, made even more indisputable by the large amount of leftovers, much more than they even started with, I am struck by several details that I think has application far beyond this miracle:
2. Jesus chooses to work from the meager offerings of His disciples.
Jesus didn’t have to do this! He could have made the bread appear from thin air. He could have made manna. He could have turned the grass into spaghetti, the stones into meatballs, and the dirt into chocolate cake! But He instead chose to work through the little bit the disciples themselves had. This is how God continues to work today – through the small, unimpressive offerings of His people.
Paul repeated the thought that God uses the meager to make great things.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. – I Cor. 1:27
But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – II Cor. 12:9-10
I hope you get the new Jesus math! God delights to use the things the world thinks is insignificant to change the world. If you feel inadequate, or untalented, or small, this idea is for you. We are a small, meager church, but God has done incredible things through us, and He will continue to do incredible things through us. While you think Jesus is dividing, secretly He multiplies.
3. Our role is to distribute what Jesus gives us.
Did you notice that the disciples’ role in this miracle is simply to distribute the bread the fish? They are not responsible for the multiplication – that is Jesus’ job. I believe this is a lesson for us as well. It is not our job to multiply the Kingdom of God – only Jesus can do that.
At the same time, though, notice that all of the disciples had the job of distributor, not just one or two of them. There were twelve baskets of food left over – one basket per disciple.
So how can this apply to us? How can we be distributors? Well first of all we are distributors of the good news, of the gospel. We distribute the gospel, the food that satisfies hunger forever. And we do this by telling people about Jesus, God’s provision for salvation. In Acts, Paul says as he is about to go off to Jerusalem,
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. – Acts 20:24
Paul only wants to be able to finish his task as distributor. Paul also wrote:
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. – Eph. 3:7-8
Again, Paul is only a distributor. He gives only what he has been given. And the same should be true of us. You should understand that as a church body, we are unusual with regards to the level of spiritual maturity of our members. Look around you, and you will know this is true. I say this not to puff you up, but to say that God in His grace has been working powerfully among us, maturing us, giving us large basketfuls of bread, so to speak. We need to be like Paul, servants of the gospel, distributing what wisdom and knowledge Jesus has given us.
In addition to being distributors of the gospel, we should be users, or distributors, as I said last week, of God’s spiritual gifts to us. Peter writes:
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. – I Peter 4:10-11
Did you notice a particular word that has appeared over and over in these last few verses? What is it? Grace. Ultimately, Jesus’ miracle of feeding the 5000 (10,000) was all about grace. Who actually fed all these people? I mean, who actually gave them the food? Not Jesus, but the disciples. But they would have had nothing to give if it weren’t for God’s unmerited, unearned, favor, if it weren’t for Jesus’ gift given by grace.
And if the twelve basketfuls left over teach us anything, they teach us that God doesn’t just give enough grace, He gives more than enough. As we sing, “All of You is more than enough for all of me.” Recall this verse from several weeks ago, straight from Jesus’ mouth:
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. – Luke 6:38
Running over enough to collect twelve basketfuls, many times more than what they had started with. If we will be His distributors, we will not be able to keep up with Him!
Continuing on with the passage:
Once when Jesus was praying in private and His disciples were with Him, He asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life." – Luke 9:18-19
Here we see the beginnings of a very interesting conversation between Jesus and His disciples in private. Actually, the conversation grew out of a conversation between Jesus and God the Father – it says He was praying. I think perhaps this conversation was a result of the prayer – that God made clear to Jesus that now was the time to have this conversation, that the disciples were ready for it.
And so it begins with this somewhat odd question – in essence, “What do other people think of Me?” Now, this is a question many people, especially young people, dwell on far too much. But the purpose of the question is completely different than it is here for Jesus. When we ask this question, we tend to be saying, “Do we fit in? Do people like us? Do they think we are cool, or pretty, or fill-in-the-blank?” But this is not at all what Jesus is up to. The purpose of Jesus’ question is to get them thinking about what they think about Him. By the way, it is a fantastic question to use when sharing the gospel with someone. It serves the same purpose now as it did then. It gets people thinking about Jesus and about what they think about Him. “What sorts of things do people think about Jesus? Who do they think He was?” It is such a great question!
At the time of Jesus, because of all the miraculous things that had been happening, people were wondering if this was the beginning of the messianic age prophesied about in Scripture. The people who said John the Baptist thought maybe He was John resurrected. The ones who said Elijah thought about prophecies like Malachi 4:
"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the Lord Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the Lord Almighty. "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." – Mal. 4:1-6
With this “great and dreadful” day would come the Messiah, the Christ, overthrowing the wicked, secular governments of the world and bringing in a new everlasting era of peace, a kingdom even greater than the kingdom of David.
And other people thought Jesus might be some other resurrected Old Testament prophet. But in all cases, the expectation was similar – perhaps we are entering the Messianic age! Perhaps the Messiah will lead a revolution! Understand that the Jewish nation was at this time only a shadow of its former self. In effect, the scepter had departed from Judah. The Jews were an occupied people. Rome allowed them to have Jewish leaders, but they were subject to Roman law and the leaders were basically puppets of Rome. The desire for the coming Messiah, for deliverance, was strong in many hearts.
"But what about you?" He asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God." – Luke 9:20
And so here we see Jesus’ real reason for the question. What do you think? Again, this is a great question when sharing the gospel. Once you know someone’s answer to this question, you can see whether they know the gospel, and you can see in what ways their understanding is lacking. And you can see their hearts, whether they are curious or closed.
Peter’s answer was, of course, exactly correct. For us it is easy to miss how anyone could come up with any other answer. But the crowds didn’t get it. I don’t think the other disciples got it. Again, we know the end of the story – His death and resurrection, what it all means in the various letters that make up the second half of the New Testament. Peter didn’t have any of this. Peter got it – Jesus wasn’t just some forerunner of the Messianic age – He was the actual Messiah, the Christ of God! Only Messiah could command demons, command nature, the way He had. Only Messiah could teach as He did. And then, probably for the first time, Jesus told them the rest of the story: their expectations about the imminent coming of the Messianic age were wrong!
Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And He said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." – Luke 9:21-22
We will see that Jesus tells them this at least three times before these events actually happen. Why? Because they couldn’t grasp this at all. How could the Christ of God die? That doesn’t make any sense! What about the revolution? Messiah is supposed to overthrow the Roman government, not get murdered by their own Jewish people! There is no way to overstate how shocking and incomprehensible this had to be to the disciples. But this is not all He says. Before they have a chance to even begin to process this (they can’t anyway – it just doesn’t compute), Jesus says this:
Then He said to them all: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. – Luke 9:23-24
This was probably said to the crowds, not just the twelve disciples. What does it mean to take up your cross? Unfortunately, we have a phrase, “That’s my cross to bear,” that dilutes the meaning of this passage. The phrase means something like, “That’s my annoyance I have to put up with.” But that is not at all what Jesus means.
If you have seen Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion,” this is what you should be picturing when you hear Jesus say, “He must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” And understand that Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross, to endure what He endured. He chose to be there. He chose to forgo the temptations and pleasures of this world, because He wanted to please God His Father. Jesus’ shocking statement is that we should be like the man carrying his own cross to the site of his soon-to-come crucifixion. And we are to do this, to be in this position, daily.
And Jesus says we are to remain faithful to Christ despite persecution, even if that persecution leads to death. This is hard for us to understand in America. But in many parts of the rest of the world, this is everyday life. For the disciples, this was to be everyday life. Read Foxes Book of Martyrs and you will see this. Eleven of the twelve disciples died a martyr’s death, along with countless others in the early church.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of Me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." – Luke 9:25-27
These are hard teachings, and I don’t have time to cover them in much depth today. But we will revisit these themes as we go forward in Luke’s gospel. As for the mysterious verse 27, next week you should ask John what this means. Sorry, John! But I do think one reasonable interpretation of this verse will be revealed in the passage next week.
I want to close on the verse “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” Listen. The world is an exciting place to be in. It has probably never been a more exciting place than it is now. When I think of this verse I think of America. We are one of the richest nations on earth. Through the amazing advancements of technology we can travel vast distances as a matter of routine. We don’t have to spend every waking moment providing for our sustenance – indeed, we have hours and hours and hours of leisure time every week. And such leisure! For a few dollars we can watch an entertainment spectacle (a movie) that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce, more than the entire GDP of some countries. Through the Internet, we have the largest and most powerful library in the history of the world at our fingertips. Figuratively speaking, America has gained the whole world.
But what about America’s “very self”? As a people, we are miserable! Abuse, addiction, crime, depression, and suicide are rampant. We live amidst a broken people. And this is not just America, but the whole world. I am focusing on America simply because we live here. But it is not our home.
We are just like Jesus’ disciples in that remote place surrounded by thousands of people “like sheep without a shepherd.” And like Jesus’ disciples, we are being given bread with which to feed them. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel – that “old time story” is the bread of eternal life. I pray that we would stay “on mission” and not become distracted by the pleasures of this world and so forget why we are here. Let us choose to take up our cross and follow Jesus. Let us choose to forfeit the whole world, and gain our very self.
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