Daily Devotional • July 29
A Reading from Mark 6:30-46
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. 35 When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And all ate and were filled, 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
Meditation
Jesus wants to get away. The disciples have just returned full of stories from their first mission. Jesus sees their need and offers a retreat: “Come away… and rest a while.” The crowds have other plans. They see Jesus, recognize the boat’s direction, and race ahead. Jesus is moved by their spiritual hunger. Instead of turning them away, he welcomes their interruption.
He teaches them, for hours, past dinnertime. The disciples suggest the crowd be sent away, but Jesus suggests the seemingly impossible: feed them. Perhaps frustrated with the crowd or with Jesus (or with both), the disciples are quick to point out the impracticality of Christ’s request.
Yet they humor Jesus, and he astounds them. Jesus does the miraculous through them, feeding thousands, and there are leftovers! The disciples carry the evidence of the impossible in their hands, and yet, as the rest of chapter six will show, they still do not understand who Jesus really is. Their lives have not yet been transformed by the reality that nothing is impossible for Jesus.
This story reminds us how easy it is for each of us to follow Jesus, work hard for him, and even participate in miracles but still not be changed. Jesus is as patient with us as he was with his disciples.
Pieter Valk is a licensed professional counselor, the director of EQUIP, and cofounder of the Nashville Family of Brothers, an ecumenically Christian brotherhood for men called to vocational singleness.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
Community of St. Mary, Eastern Province
The Diocese of Nicaragua – Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America
Pieter Valk is a Guest Writer. He is a speaker, author, consultant, and licensed counselor. His work is detailed on pieterlvalk.com.
