by The memory of Jesus feeding 5,000 men and their families on five loaves of bread and two fish was fresh on the minds of Jesus’ disciples. No one forgets such stuff. The fact that all gospel writers recount the incident tells you that this was phenomenal. But two chapters later in Mark 8, Jesus is with another hungry crowd that has been listening to him for three days and is moved with compassion for them. He cannot release them hungry. But there is barely much food.
“I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance.” Mark 8:2-3
You would think that the disciples will then ask Jesus what they should do, awaiting instructions. Or they would take the initiative to find out which little boy still has some fish and bread. But, no.
His disciples replied, “How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?”
Are you exasperated? Jesus is. A few verses later when these guys are still arguing about lack of bread even after, again, he fed the second crowd miraculously.
At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all? When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?”
“Twelve,” they said.
“And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?”
“Seven,” they said.
“Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them. Mark 8: 16-21
What is it that the disciples were not understanding? They seemed to not grasp who was in their midst — the creator himself, the heir of all things, owner of all riches in glory, who holds all things together — and that matters of bread and butter were a snap of a finger-equivalent to Jesus. And should be by extension to us.
When writing to Philemon, Paul said: “And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ.”
There are vast riches in Christ that we need to understand and experience. Spiritual riches but also in material provision. From the feeding of the 5,000 then the 4,000 from almost nothing; from the huge catch of fish by Peter and the disciples after a night of vain fishing ((Luke 5:1–11 and John 21); from the coin the fish for temple tax (Matt17:23-27); and from Jesus’ words to his disciples after a man came seeking arbitration in an inheritance dispute — “do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.”
Jesus is not saying this to pacify us. It’s because — God. God owns the kingdoms of the earth. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.” Ps 24:1. “For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. Every bird of the mountains and all the animals of the field belong to me.” Ps 50:10-11
God feeds sparrows and knows where each falls. He clothes lilies and grass. Things we don’t ourselves notice. He directs the universe as he pleases. And “your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” Luke 22:32. An unlimited kingdom.
Don’t we understand it yet? Bread and fish are small small things in the kingdom. They are crumbs that Jesus tells his disciples to not even have on their radar. We have such unsearchable inexhaustible riches in Christ — the love of God, sonship, the promises of God, riches in grace, inheritance, the Holy Spirit, among others — that we should not be losing sleep over existential problems. The Creator of the universe is our Father. We are citizens of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We are members of the household of God. Don’t we understand it yet? Like Philemon, may we understand and EXPERIENCE all the good things that are ours in Christ that we may overflow in generosity.
