Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Mark 8:1-5
8:1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” (ESV)
by Jo Anne Kandel
This passage illustrates the wide gulf between the broad, divine understanding of Jesus and the narrow, human ideas of the disciples. Jesus, as usual, focused on the needs of the people as he realized that they had been with him for three days and were very hungry! Jesus also knew that his Father could make provision for any need. In contrast, the disciples forgot the Old Testament story of how the children of Israel were fed manna in the wilderness, and focused only on the limits of their meager resources. Clearly they had yet to grasp that Jesus was the powerful Son of God.
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2008, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service .
