You Feed Them

Mark 6:35-37 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. 36 Send the people away, so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 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?” 
 
DOES God’s word feed you? Sometimes people gather in small groups or certain Sunday school classes for years to study the Bible and other Christian resources. They like being “fed” in God’s truth this way, and they should.
   But too often the group members resist taking what has nourished them into new places to feed others. We can be very uncomfortable going from eating to serving. “What will I feed them? Who will come to eat?” And the banquet hall remains empty.
   Jesus was the disciples’ small group leader. The Living Word had been feeding the scriptures to them. Words of life were filling their minds and nourishing their hearts. Then Jesus determined it was time to send them out to feed others.
   When the Teacher said to the disciples, “You give them something to eat.”  It was time to do what they had learned. Jesus wanted them to learn God’s power was available to them if they faithfully followed what Jesus had taught and done.
   But they responded as each of us would have, “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?” So Jesus helped them understand. He is the good mentor who taught with illustrations and by example. As the story continues, we see how the Lord helped them understand one essential lesson: Learning God’s Word must lead to doing God’s Word.
   One day as the Risen Son of God, Jesus would commission the disciples to serve a banquet that was set to feed the world. To prepare them for their God-sized work, Jesus gave them God-sized tasks. He wanted them to fill them, so they could abundantly fill others.
   As God’s Word feeds you, are you preparing a banquet?