Signs and Destination
Each year we meet a group of old friends for a weekend at Cocoa Beach. It’s a great time and we’ve watched each other’s kids grow up. One of the traditions that has developed is that on Saturday morning I make a run to Krispy Kreme. It is about a 30-minute ride each way, but that’s ok. Usually I have the company of Brian Hall, our friend’s son who I’ve known since he was an infant and he’s now 23 or 24.
The key to Krispy Kreme is to get there when the “Hot Now” light is on. Then you get the hottest, freshest donuts. They are good, but fresh is best. And sometimes if you’re buying several dozen, they’ll offer you one while you wait. You watch them take a straw and hook the donut up off the conveyor, stick it in a little piece of paper and oh, man, is that good! The hottest, freshest donuts right off the line melt in your mouth. You can almost smell them!
If I’ve done my job with that opening, you are now thinking about donuts, really great donuts. Now carry that into today’s Gospel. Jesus has just fed the 5,000, which was really great but it has the potential to create one problem and expose another. Remember that the people’s hunger was merely the presenting issue, which Jesus shaped to God’s glory. It established an eternal witness to his own identity that has been shared ever since. We are still talking about it and it has been translated into almost every language. There are people right now translating the Bible into obscure dialects and languages.
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Jesus, broken, is sufficient for all.
You’ve hopefully noticed we’ve hit a little detour. We’ve been cruising along through Mark’s gospel all year. This week we’re beginning a 5-week excursion into John’s gospel. We are going to spend today and the next four Sundays exploring this entire chapter, chapter 6. Why? Mark’s gospel also records the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on the water. But John’s gospel alone records Jesus’ extensive teaching that follows after this moment. And this is a big moment, an important moment.
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Compassion (including reflections on Ivan Brown)
Our Gospel lesson from Mark today is located between the Apostles missionary journeys and Jesus’ feeding of the 5000. The Apostles are reporting in, telling Jesus all that they had done and taught. Can you imagine their excitement? First time out on their own. I can picture them talking over each other, interrupting each other, one upping each other, each bragging about their amazing successes! It wasn’t long though, before their excitement turned to a real sense of tired, pure exhaustion! You know the feeling you get when the excitement is over? The adrenaline has gone, all of the sudden you feel drained. Now, what they wanted and needed was Jesus, His undivided attention and His affirmation. However, the crowds were gathering. People wanting to be near this miracle man that they had been hearing so much about. People from all kinds of backgrounds with all different sorts of needs and desires. At the same time Jesus knew that the Apostles needed to get away to a quiet place to finally get the rest that they sorely needed. This was not to be the case today. They did get away, but their alone time was cut very short. The crowd actually beat them to their hoped for, solitary place. When they came ashore, the crowds were already there, the Apostles saw them and so did Jesus. Don’t you suppose they might have thought, ‘oh no! Come on Jesus let’s turn around and go somewhere else!’ Jesus’ reaction was not what the Apostles were hoping for. The Apostles wanted Jesus. Instead, Jesus turned His attention to the crowds and had compassion on them.
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