Miracle Stories

Participatory Miracles

by Terry Barlow
10/10/14
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    Rereading one of the miracles of the loaves and fishes (in Mark Chapter 6) I was impressed with how participatory they were. Jesus wouldn’t let his disciples just lay back passively and say, “OK, it’s time for you to do a miracle.” Nor would he let them substitute a practical alternative for meeting the need that absolved them of any responsibility. No, instead he said, “YOU feed them.” (my capitals) They were going to wind up being the ones who fed the multitude but with the bread and fish that Jesus supernaturally provided.

  Earlier that day Jesus had been "moved with compassion" as he looked upon the multitudes who seemed to him like sheep without a shepherd.  When something is moved it changes its position in relation to other things.  Movement implies action or activity.  The account didn't read that he merely FELT compassion.  We can feel twinges of compassion without being MOVED to action by them.  Being moved by compassion carries us beyond mere feelings into responsive activity that addresses or helps to rectify the situation.

   The first way that the disciples participated in this miracle of Jesus’s was by scrounging together everything they had or could get at that moment, five loaves (barley loaves of the poor in the John 6 account in which a boy surrenders his lunch) and two fishes, and making it available to the master. Earlier they had pooled their money and declared it insufficient for need. They had gathered about forty dollars worth of currency which, if all the original disciples were present, amounted to about three(3) dollars each, not exactly a filthy rich group!

  The second way they participated was by distributing what Jesus directly handed them after he lifted it toward heaven and blessed it. He was also thanking the Father ahead of time for meeting the great need. There were probably more than one hundred groups of fifty or one hundred arranged like garden plots (Amplified Bible) on the green grass, and the record does include that the grass was green! They were about to “fertilize” those garden plot congregations. Jesus, of course, could have done all this without the disciples’ help, but that wouldn’t have built their faith and ignited their joy like giving them a part in this historic work did.

  The third way they participated in this miracle was by doing the cleanup or collecting all the food fragments afterwards. That in itself was a miracle within the miracle, that they had twelve baskets left over after feeding close to ten thousand people. A basket was there for each original disciple, a little miracle for each to further ponder. The afternoon wonders do not cease here either. Jesus is quick to send off the satisfied multitudes. These are SATISFIED multitudes. They weren’t given just enough to tide them over, but enough to fill them completely, thereby truly satisfying them, which would energize them for the long journey home.

  Then the disciples were sent by boat ahead of the Master who would eventually follow but would first literally head for the hills. Jesus chose to bask in the Father’s Presence rather than to bask in the accolades and gratitude of the multitude. (It’s one thing to receive but another to bask or wallow.) He knew the safety and delightful security of the former, and the precarious dangers of the latter. Let us follow His lead!