“Moved with compassion”
Meditation – Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Mark 6:30-46 (Forward, p. 3) CEV p. 1034
Surely today’s passage, about the feeding of the 5,000 is ‘old hat’, something so known and familiar that we can scarcely read it and find anything that ‘speaks’ to us. However, in reading this over yet another time, I cannot help but be impressed with Jesus’ compassion. This evidenced itself in a couple of ways.
Firstly, it shows itself in His compassion towards the crowds in terms of their spiritual condition. They were like ‘sheep without a shepherd.’ In other words, they were lost and aimless, without anyone to guide or direct them. In other words, the already existing spiritual authorities or leaders were doing nothing to help them. And, needless to say, any other things that they might have turned to and devoted themselves to weren’t helping either. All of these things left them empty, unsatisfied and aimless. How very much this might describe today’s situation for many people! So many today are just as lost and directionless.
And secondly, our account also illustrates Jesus’ concern, His compassion, towards the crowd into terms of their physical needs. He recognizes that they have been with Him all this long day and have need of food. And rather than send them out to see what they might scrounge up, He tells His disciples to feed them. They protest that it would cost most of a year’s wages to give them even a little bit of food. Jesus counters by asking them what food they already have—just five small loaves of bread and two fish, it turns out—and Jesus tells them to use that to feed them. And miraculously, it is more than enough. To me, this speaks to the church, to Jesus’ modern-day disciples and provides us with a model to follow—and a challenge. In addition to dealing with and meeting people’s spiritual needs, we should also be attentive to their physical needs and do what we can to help in this way. And, if this story is any indication, we don’t have to look further afield to discover the needed resources but have them right here at home. Perhaps like those first disciples we need to go ‘digging around’ a bit and see what we have—things, perhaps, maybe not so much like our actual food resources—though we may have those as well—but things like our buildings, our expertise and experience, or our corps of volunteers.
This rather familiar story reminds me then of Jesus’ incredible compassion, His care for people, and moves me to want to have, and show, a similar compassion to those around me. Thanks be to God.
Forward notes: “And all ate and were filled” (verse 42).
“It is one of the most famous suppers ever, this hillside picnic, when a great crowd scatters across the hillside, waiting for something to eat. Just as the arrival of unexpected dinner guests provokes high anxiety for us, this assembly of hungry persons causes Jesus and his disciples to argue: “You get them something to eat. No, you do it.
“One of the unexpected pangs during the COVID-19 pandemic was food insecurity. People who had taken for granted full cupboards and fresh stuff to eat were idling in long lines at food pantries. It was a new experience. It was frightening.
“So, we have no trouble placing ourselves on the Galilean hillside, hungry, anxious, waiting. Will there be enough? There are so many people waiting. We’d better be in the front of the line. In the end, the crowd is asked to sit down, and they are served—and all eat and are filled.”
Moving Forward: “Where are you hungry? Can you eat and be filled?”