In Mark 6, we find that Jesus has called his disciples and sent them out, two by two, to the surrounding villages. His charge: Take nothing with you… do not worry about what you will eat or where you will sleep… go and preach the gospel of grace and repentance to everyone you encounter. If they will not receive you, shake it off and keep going.
Upon their return, both Jesus and the disciples must be completely “spent.” After all, the disciples have just returned from a long journey of preaching, persecution, and performing miracles, staying with strangers and eating only as food was available. And by this point, Jesus’ nomadic ministry has also been underway for quite some time. Tired and hungry… it is time to rest. Jesus says, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”
The next series of events is amazing to me. As they went away to rest, relax, and replenish, the crowds “saw where they were going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them” (Mark 6:33). I can just feel the frustration mounting.
Don’t we all tend to be a bit more irritable when we are tired and hungry?
All the disciples want is a little down time, but here come the NEEDY people… in droves! They look to Jesus and say, “C’mon man! It is getting late… ‘Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat’ (6:36). Get them out of here… We can’t handle this right now.” All the disciples want is a little down time!
What does Jesus say? “No, they are hungry… let’s feed them” (paraphrase). If ever there was a time for Jesus to respond in anger and frustration, this is it. He has gone away to rest and enjoy food and fellowship with his disciples. But they are rudely interrupted by thousands of NEEDY people.
What does Jesus do? He saw the great crowd and “had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” When anger and frustration may have been warranted, Jesus had compassion. He fed the five thousand.
“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on compassionate hearts…” (Colossians 3:12)
