In many versions of the bible, Mark 6:30-44 is titled “Jesus Feeds Five Thousand”. This passage is the story of Jesus giving his disciples the impossible task of literally feeding five thousand men with five loaves of bread and two fish. This event is one of the many miracles that Jesus performs. Many people don’t even believe in miracles. If someone were to tell you to feed five thousand people with such little food, you would think it is impossible. However, Jesus is able to complete this incredible feat. Another reason why this event is important is because it is recorded in all four Gospels. The purpose of this study is to find the reason how Jesus is able to feed the five thousand men with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus lived to spread the word of God as the Messiah and his disciples are unable to realize this.
I will be using the NIV version of the bible throughout this essay, but I also have read different versions of this text just to see how it was translated differently. The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand begins with the apostles reporting to Jesus that they had just returned from spreading his teachings. Jesus then tells them to rest because he knows that doing God’s work is tiring and to do it effectively, his disciples need to rest. As they were leaving, many people recognized them and anticipated their arrival at a location and met them there. Jesus realizes that they need guidance so he decides to teach them many things. As it was getting darker, Jesus’ disciples explain to Jesus that he needs to send them away so they can buy themselves something to eat. Jesus then replies, “You give them something to eat” (Mark 6:37). They are appalled at his response and want to know how they are supposed to feed so many people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus just tells them to divide them into groups and to sit on the grass. Then Jesus took the bread and the fish, looked up at heaven, gave thanks, and then gave it to his disciples to pass out to everyone who needed to eat. At the end of the passage, we find out that the amount of people who ate and were satisfied was five thousand men.
This passage shows the true nature of Jesus and the insights of his character. If we were to talk about leadership, we could compare Herod and Jesus. Herod was power hungry and selfish while Jesus was compassionate and caring. “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). In just this one verse, we can see how compassionate he was for so many people that he didn’t even know. Despite his need for rest, Jesus chooses to help them out. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd. When sheep have no leader, they are lost and confused and can be easily startled. Jesus acts as the shepherd and was able to teach them everything they needed to know so that they wouldn’t stray away from God. He puts thousands of peoples’ needs before his own. ...