Mark 6:30-44
30The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 35When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” 38And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. 42And all ate and were filled; 43and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
Jesus goes back home and even though He impressed people with His wise teachings in the synagogue he is rejected because they knew that He was just a son of a carpenter.
Jesus then sends the Twelve on a mission and they do great work, casting out demons and healing the sick.
Meanwhile, John the Baptist is beheaded.
We now come to this morning’s passage. The Twelve return from the successful mission trip and Jesus wants to give them rest. There are so many people coming and going that the Twelve do not have time to eat. So, Jesus gets everyone on a boat and goes to a deserted place so that they could have some peace and rest. But the people follow them and soon there is a great crowd around them.
Although they are there to rest, Jesus begins to teach them many things. It gets late and the disciples suggest to Jesus that He should send the crowd away so that they could find food to eat. Five thousand men would mean that the crowd could be twenty thousand or more and yet, Jesus tells His disciples that they should give them something to eat. The disciples know that this is impossible and tell Jesus.
Jesus tells the disciples to see how much food they can find. They come back with five loaves and two fish. Jesus has them sit down in groups of hundreds and fifties, blesses the food and has His disciples pass it out. Everyone eats until they are full, and they collect twelve baskets of broken pieces of bread and fish.
What can we take away from this?
First, we see that Jesus prioritized God’s work over planned rest. He took his disciples to a deserted place so that they could have some rest and quiet. When the crowd showed up, instead of sending them away or telling them that they are unavailable, they minister to those who need to hear Jesus’ words.
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says these words – 28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.Jesus is saying that if you are tired and burdened from doing Kingdom work, He will lighten it for you. Unlike how many people like to interpret this passage, He is not saying that if we are tired, we can stop doing Kingdom work. Instead, we are invited to take His yoke. A yoke is a tool to get work done, not a tool for resting. We see Jesus living this principle out in feeding the five thousand.
Second, we see how the Kingdom work is accomplished in this world. Jesus does not directly feed the crowd. He provides the power and the miracle, but the ones who pass out the food are the disciples. Likewise, the Lord will provide His love and power for us, so that we can carry out His work.
Third, we see that God’s powers are immense and go far beyond what we can imagine or hope for. There is no earthly way to feed such a crowd with five loaves and two fish, and yet, it was accomplished and with some leftovers.
But this does not imply that God will always provide much more than needed so that we can enjoy the leftovers. Twelve baskets full of leftovers seem like a large amount of food, and it would be for two people or for this congregation. However, when we realize that there might have been twenty thousand people, twelve baskets full would not be very much. More often, God provides exactly what is needed.
So, from this passage, we can be reminded that God’s power and love are immense, and that we have been saved so that we can do the Kingdom work – To witness to the world that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the World and that through Him, we can have eternal life. We are also reminded that there are many people around us that need salvation and that it can be tiring ministering to them, but we need to prioritize their needs over our own needs. The Lord will provide the rest we need, if we do His bidding.
The Lord fed a huge crowd with five loaves and two fish, with some tired disciples doing the work. He can certainly use us to spread His salvation to the unsaved.
(the above is a summary of the message shared by Pastor Shun Takano during our worship on July 5, 2026.)
Japanese Congregational Church 