July 22, 2022

Passage Read: Mark 5-6
Meditation Verses: 6:50-52

Thought

Jesus is literally claiming to be God as He approaches the disciples in their boat. And the disciples marvel greatly because, according to Mark, they didn't understand the miracle of the loaves. What is the connection between the two? How would understanding the miracle of the loaves cause them to marvel less at Jesus walking on the water? They were involved with the bread, they had passed it out. They should have seen the baskets filling or never running out. Were they still marveling about that while they struggled against the wind? Were they struggling to understand how the bread kept multiplying? Jesus has power over nature, over matter itself. He can create something from nothing. The miracle of the bread is perhaps greater than many of His miracles of healing, because in healing He is removing something that is bad or fixing what is already there, but the bread came from nothing. It is like the jar of oil and flour that never ran out for Elijah, but already baked bread was produced.

Application

Jesus is God, without question. He has power beyond our imagination. He can bring something from nothing, just as in the beginning with all of creation. It is a smaller scale, but still impossible. And the disciples literally had their hands on the baskets as the bread multiplied! How did He do it? There was no magic, no faking it. This was real in a whole new way. It's one thing to read about it, but something entirely different to have been there passing around the baskets that never went empty. Lord, help me appreciate who You really are, and the power You actually have.