What Does it Cost Us?

What Does It Cost Us?

Mark 6:30-44

Mark 8:1-10

            In Mark’s gospel, Jesus feeds huge crowds on two separate occasions.  The first (Chapter 6) occurs immediately after the disciples return from the mission trip Jesus sent them on.  He tries to take them aside for a debriefing, but crowds follow, and he must either take compassion on them and feed them, or send them away hungry—something Jesus would never do.  The disciples produce five loaves of bread and two fish.  Jesus stretches that meager fare to feed five thousand men plus women and children.

            Two chapters later (Chapter 8), Jesus is in Gentile territory—the Decapolis, by the Sea of Galilee—when another huge crowd gathers.  Jesus also has compassion on this crowd because, as he says, “they have been with me three days and have nothing to eat.  If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way.”  Again the disciples find food, this time seven loaves of bread.  Again, Jesus multiplies this small amount to feed the multitude, this time four thousand people.

            If just bread doesn’t sound like much of a meal, remember, these were simple folk, fishermen and farmers.  They seldom had much to eat at any time.  They didn’t expect steak dinners at Ruth’s Chris.  They could make do with bread if they had to.

            Jesus fed them because he had compassion on them.  They had come to him for spiritual food, but they also had bodily needs that had to be met.  Without bread to eat, the Bread of Life would mean little to them.  It’s a good thing for us to remember:  preaching to an audience that is physically hungry will almost assuredly mean they will remain spiritually hungry as well.

            Let’s focus for a moment on what it cost to feed these two great crowds.  Certainly, a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish did not constitute a huge expense, especially when you consider that the fish had probably been caught by the person who provided them, and the bread had been baked at home.  The food didn’t cost the disciples anything, nor did Jesus pay for the food.  In one sense, then, the cost of the meal was minimal to everyone involved.  In monetary terms, the persons who provided the food gave up very little.

            On the other hand, those who gave their sustenance for Jesus to distribute gave all the food they had.  We have no proof that they held anything back.  As far as we know, they gave everything to Jesus.

            This is what is demanded of all who would follow Jesus.  We are expected to give willingly of ourselves and our goods.  The disciples did not wrestle the food from those people, nor did they demand that those listening to Jesus turn over their food to him.  We can’t even imagine such a thing.  Those who were asked gave—perhaps a little reluctantly—but when Jesus, through his disciples, made a request, they responded.

            Today, God demands that we give our all—not all of our goods, although God expects us to give more than most of us are willing to share.  Instead, God demands that we give ourselves in the service of those who are desperate to be fed, both spiritually and physically.  If we haven’t placed our all on God’s altar, then we are short-changing the One who gave everything for us.  There’s a line in an old hymn that asks the question, “How can I make a lesser sacrifice when Jesus gave his all?”

            What does it cost us to serve the poor, the needy, the downtrodden—those who have never had a chance to enjoy all the blessings we have had?  It’s all or nothing.