relationships (Mark 6:33-56) Applying Love and Compassion

(Mark 6:33-56)

33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. 35 And when it was already late, His disciples came up to Him and said, “This place is secluded and it is already late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread, and give it to them to eat?” 38 But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 And He ordered them all to recline by groups on the green grass. 40 They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He gave them to the disciples again and again to set before them; and He divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied; 43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces of bread, and of the fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:

Jesus had compassion on these people, who had just run, probably several miles, dragging their wives and children along with them... just to hear Jesus teach!  Imagine if people were that eager and excited to go to church!!! To hear what Jesus wants to tell us "today"!  Because in a personal relationship with the Lord, the desire to have a two-way communication with Him should be there.  Like, having an excited and eager desire!  We can share with Him, and He will share with us.

Not only is our personal relationship with God just between Him and us, it is also about us serving one another, and sharing God's love with others, WITH the Lord Jesus right there with us.  He's got to be involved!  Like, how would it be if we kept talking about our amazing friend, but our amazing friend was never with us, so that people could start wondering if maybe we simply had an imaginary friend!

Now, I see that the main lesson in these verses is about compassion, which is part of how we can show God's agape love to others.  But let's make sure that this isn't improperly applied.  We can see examples of what not to do in our society, where people will proudly place great compassion and support towards terrorist regimes, vicious cartels and criminals who kill, hurt and take advantage of the vulnerable, or execute those who simply have different opinions.  Where is the compassion for the victims, and the weak and the vulnerable?

Notice that Jesus had compassion on these people, because they were sheep without a shepherd.  The Pharisees were also like sheep without a shepherd, but with one big difference, these people wanted to be close to Jesus and learn from Him, while the Pharisees just wanted to undermine Jesus and murder Him.  Obviously, Jesus still loved the Pharisees, but we don't ever see Jesus trying to sway the Pharisees with social "niceties".  That would be like saying, "What you are doing and what you are all about is okay" - because - it is not!

Should we then not have any compassion towards criminals?  We certainly are to be patient, gracious and respectful, ready to show compassion and share the love of God with all people.  And as God gives us opportunities, we can mentor and pour into others.  Now, I love the prison ministries that some Christian organizations have.  Bringing the gospel message to hardened criminals is an excellent idea, because we never know who will be receptive to hearing God's word.  Especially when they find themselves in prison, with nowhere else to go- they might already be contemplating life and feeling remorse.  There's the rub!  

If a criminal has no remorse, they will only take advantage of compassion.  But show them forgiveness and love, even after they have hurt us, that's hopefully going to get them to think.  But if they do have remorse and desire to hear about God's love and the way of salvation, this is where and when we can know that they need compassion.  Not to help spring them out of jail, but let them find spiritual freedom from their sins.  There was a group of men who were on death row.  Someone held a Bible study with them, and all of them became Christians.  They all felt the desire to become missionaries.  But they didn't request that they be set free, instead, they requested to be transferred to other prisons, where they could share the love of Jesus with other inmates.

Now let's look at the disciples.  Jesus had spent the entire day teaching these people, and the disciples just wanted to send the multitude away, using hunger as an excuse.  Instead, Jesus asked them to find and serve food to the people, with love and compassion.  So, here we come back to how Jesus should be involved in everything.  Here Jesus gave the disciples their next calling, with a desire for the disciples to then continue the conversation with Him by asking Jesus to help them with this.  Instead, they turn to themselves, and their own hopeless, helpless thinking... it's too far, it would cost about half a year's income to feed everyone, this is an impossible ask...

Except, with God, all things are possible!  God is not going to ask us to do something, without having the answer and the means to get it done.  But He is not going to force us to be obedient.  Because it is all about agape love, and having a personal relationship with Him, the Lord wants us to ask Him for His help!  And I say "duh" to myself because I know just how quickly and easy it is to quickly forget!