The Weary Fed, Walking on Water, Well by His Touch

Mark 6:30-56 

Feeding the Five Thousand

30 Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. 31 And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.

33 But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him. 34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. 35 When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. 36 Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat."

37 But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat."
And they said to Him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?"

38 But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see."
And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish."

39 Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. 41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. 42 So they all ate and were filled. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.

Jesus Walks on the Sea

45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. 47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. 48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. 49 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." 51 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. 52 For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.

Many Touch Him and Are Made Well

53 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, 55 ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was. 56 Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well.

The weary workers who followed Jesus were fed and used to help feed an additional five thousand, then Jesus came walking on the water as they struggled in the stormy waves, and finally many were made well by the mere touch of Jesus.  These supernatural historical events of the works of the Son of God among men wooed the disciples who gave up all to follow Him and gave them encouragement with strength to continue with the religious leaders against them and the crowds clamoring for more.  First we see the disciples returning from going out with the good news of the kingdom of heaven as they healed bodies and souls of those they met along their journey. They were weary in body from all the walking but also from the toll the ministry took on their souls in spite of the joy of seeing others made well in body and soul.  Jesus knew their weariness and called them to rest and eat, and they went in a boat to a quiet place where nobody was that they might recharge.  The crowds saw them go and beat the boat to the landing that they might be made well also.  Jesus was moved with compassion for each one of them, because He knew they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He was that Great Shepherd foretold (Numbers 27:17, Hebrews 13:20) who they really needed more than bodily sustenance alone to teach them many things (Isaiah 48:17) and lead them to Him (John 10:16) as lost sheep desperately desire and require.  The day wore on and everyone was hungry, so the Lord told the disciples to feed them.  They could not and the place they were was too isolated to go for food.  Jesus therefore multiplied what little they had and fed a vast number of people in an impossible way.  Just five loaves of bread and two fish fed five thousand people!  Even if the two fish were huge it could never have been enough.  There were even leftovers amounting to twelve baskets containing fragments of bread and fish.  Not only was there enough for the crowd, but each of the twelve disciples had his own basket to meet his own need afterwards!  The faithful followers were thus fed as they helped feed the bodies and souls of others.  They learned a valuable and personal lesson here on faith and laboring for their Lord.  

Then they set out on the sea by boat once more while Jesus stayed behind to see that the multitude got sent safely back home and minister to them as they went away and then went off lone to pray.  As He came to catch up with the disciples who were in the midst of the sea with a strong headwind stalling their progress, they saw Him come walking on the water in the night and imagined He was a spirit of sorts since people are utterly unable to walk on top of waves like that.  He immediately comforted them with the truth and said, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”  That was enough to calm their irrational fear but left them in supernatural awe in its place.  Who could this man be?  They had not understood about the twelve baskets of leftovers and likewise could not understand that Jesus was the divine Son of God (John 1:1, 14) standing before them and leading them as He demonstrated who He is by these works and words to meet the needs of the body and soul.  Their hearts remained hard to comprehend until they were opened by Him to grasp these truths of who He is just like those on the road to Emmaus who heard and then were given sight (Luke 24:27, 31-32).  What a glorious thing it is when He opens our eyes to see Him as God among us who alone can deliver us from the consequences of sin and find eternal life in Him!  These would also discover this truth after His resurrection.  After these events they landed in Gennesaret and the word spread to gather yet another crowd to meet and have needs met by Him.  All who touched even His clothes were made well by trusting and acting on the belief that He was willing and able (Mark 1:41, 5:34) to heal them as they heard what He taught of the kingdom of heaven.  Everyone who met Him by faith found healing and hope, again providing whomHe was as the Great Physician of the body and soul and the Great Shepherd to lead them to eternal life.  This is good news indeed!  He does not need to prove Himself by miraculous healing now that we know His divine identity and the way to receive Him by active trust with repentance from dead works.  We have His word of this good news to heal our souls whatever may happen to our bodies.  This is eternal life (John 17:3, 1 John 2:25, 5:11) of which the apostles testified to us in these accounts of the work of Christ.