Mark 6:33-56

When Jesus and His disciples went off to be alone, a large crowd got to the place first. Instead of sending them away, Jesus began to teach them. When it got late, the disciples wanted to send the crowd away so they could get food, but Jesus told them to feed the crowd. All the disciples could find was five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus miraculously used this small amount of food to feed over 5,000 people.

When we bring what we have to Jesus, He multiplies it, allowing us to accomplish much more than if we relied solely on our own power. This is a good lesson to learn well: Go to Jesus first. Freely offer what you have - time, money, talent - and let Him do wondrous things with them. When we try by ourselves before going to him, we waste precious resources and cause ourselves unnecessary frustration.


Jesus sent the disciples back across the sea in the boat while He dismissed the crowd of people. He then took time to be alone with God in prayer. When He was done, He walked out onto the water and met up with the boat. It was late at night, and the disciples mistook Jesus for a ghost. When they realized it was Him, they were amazed. They had just seen Jesus feed a great multitude from a very small amount of food, yet they were amazed at His walking on the water. We should never lose the sense of awe and wonder when we witness a miracle, but miracles shouldn't surprise us either. There is a middle ground between considering miracles commonplace, expected, or unexciting and being outright surprised. We should be filled with wonder each time we witness God's power in a new way and praise Him for the things He does.


When they reached the other side, people started bringing the sick to Him. Everywhere He went, the same thing happened. Everyone needs Jesus. Everyone needs to come to Him. Everyone needs someone to bring them.