The King's Banquet

Mark 6.30-44

Introduction 

When we were driving out to California in August we stopped the first night in Springfield, MO. By the time we got there we were starving. The problem is that it was college move-in weekend so all of the restaurants we wanted were impossibly long waits. Against our better judgment we decided to go to a certain buffet, because “you’re not really you when you’re hungry.” Bethany agreed that it was quite possibly the worst dining experience we’ve ever had as a family. The food was sub par and over priced, Anabelle wouldn’t sit still, and one of the kids got super sick and spent half the time in the restroom.

That dinner was contrasted in my mind this week with another dinner. The night before our wedding we had our rehearsal right here in this room. Afterward our rehearsal dinner was at Dave and Cheryl’s home. Friends and family surrounded us as Dave cooked up some baller food. Maybe it was because of the anticipation of the wedding day but that dinner is still vivid in my mind. 

Mark is doing something similar in our last two pericopes. He’s contrasting the kingdom of Jesus with the kingdoms of this world. In vv. 14-29 we saw Herod’s banquet that was filled with debauchery and death. Now Mark is going to contrast that with a banquet that Jesus is hosting. This is one of the few stories about Jesus in all four Gospels. All four Gospels contain the specific details that there were 5 loaves, 2 fish, 12 baskets, and 5,000 men. What does Jesus’ dinner show us in contrast to Herod’s? Jesus is the true king who has come to (1) lament another Exile, (2) lead another Exodus, and (3) launch another Eden.

Lament Another Exile

After being sent out two by two, the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. Jesus invites them to get away and rest, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” But Mark tells us that many people saw Jesus and the disciples leave on a boat and the crowd ran on foot, arriving before them. As it turns out there will be no rest here for Jesus and the disciples. When Jesus exits the boat, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus laments another Exile.

Jesus has compassion for the people. The Greek word for that phrase, he had compassion is σπλαγχνίζομαι. It comes from the noun σπλαγχ, which means “guts.” Jesus’ compassion for them is so deep he can feel it in his guts. His heart hurts over the lost. They’re like sheep without a shepherd.

That phrase, like sheep without a shepherd is in all three sections of the OT, the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The phrase speaks to the condition of people in their sin. Sheep without a shepherd lack leadership; they don’t have a shepherd guiding them. Sheep without a shepherd lack protection; enemies will devour them. Sheep without a shepherd lack provision, they can’t get food and water on their own. Sheep without a shepherd are as good as dead.

This idea reaches an apex when the old covenant people of God, Israel, are exiled from the Promised Land. Because of their unfaithfulness to the covenant the people lose the temple, the kingdom, and the land. There is no clearer picture in the OT of sheep without a shepherd than the Exile. But the Exile wasn’t an end unto itself. God used the Exile to show his people that they’re in spiritual exile. We are lost. When Jesus sees this spiritual exile he began to teach them many things. Jesus does what he’s done since chapter 1.14-15; preach the gospel.

If you’re not a Christian this phrase is about you. You are in spiritual exile. You have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You are at war with God, rightly deserving God’s justice for your sin. Mark is showing you here that you don’t have to stay lost. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laments your spiritual exile and has compassion. 

Lead Another Exodus

But Jesus has not come merely to lament another Exile; he has come to lead another Exodus. As Jesus is teaching the people it starts to get late. His disciples come to him and ask him to release the people so that they can go to nearby villages and buy some food. And then we have another one of those strange Jesus answers, “You give them something to eat.”

The disciples can never quite figure Jesus out; their response is incredulous. “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” A denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer, so they’re saying it would cost more than six months wages to feed all these people. Remember back to vs. 8, Jesus sent them out on mission and told them not to bring any money. Even if they did have money they wouldn’t have enough for this crowd.

Jesus commands them to go and see how much bread they can find. They return with five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus then commands the people in groups of fifties and hundreds. Mark tells us that Jesus fed five thousand men; the Greek noun is ἄνδρες, which specifically means males. It’s logical to infer that the crowd was a lot bigger adding females and children, maybe up to 20,000 people.

There’s no doubt Mark’s first century readers would’ve thought of our call to worship from Exodus 16 reading this story. Remember Jesus isn’t just feeding the people to say, “Look what I can do.” Jesus is preaching the Kingdom of God. This miracle is a sign to point to the kingdom. The time is fulfilled; the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. 

Just as YHWH provided manna for Israel in the wilderness, Jesus is miraculously providing bread for the people out in the desert. Just as there were twelve tribes of Israel, so are there twelve baskets remaining. Like the Exile, the Exodus was pointing to something bigger. Jesus came to bring the last exodus and establish a new Israel. We were in spiritual exile, but Jesus leads us out. We were slaves to the world, the flesh, and the devil, but Jesus comes and says, “Let my people go!” 

Notice the difference though. Jesus provides more abundantly than the Exodus. In Exodus 16 the people are only to take what they need for the day, the rest will spoil. When Jesus provides for his people there is a surplus, twelve full baskets. The twelve disciples told Jesus there wasn’t enough food and now there are twelve baskets full, one for every doubting disciple!

We can be like the Israelites complaining in the wilderness, can’t we? We can distrust the provision of Christ in one of two ways, either (1) anxiety or (2) arrogance. Some of you struggle with anxiety. There’s no doubt that can be a medical issue, but sometimes it’s sin. Sometimes it’s a lack of trust that Jesus loves you and will provide. Anxiety is worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet. You don’t know the future but Christ does. Rest in him.

Some of you struggle with arrogance. Everything is good for you right now and you believe you’ve got it all under control. You need to pray that the Holy Spirit humbles you. Every good gift comes from the Lord Jesus, even your faith and obedience. Whether you’re head is hanging too low in anxiety or help too high in arrogance, look to Christ Jesus.

There’s many ways that we look to Christ and Mark emphasizes one of them in this text, giving us a little preview of the Eucharist. Isn’t it curious that this miracle unfolds as it does? Jesus is sovereign God, he could’ve just filled their bellies or removed their hunger. He could’ve instantaneously made food appear in front of everyone. But he doesn’t. Why?

Mark uses four verbs to describe Jesus’ actions in the miracle: taking the loaves, said a blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples. Those verbs are used in that exact order in Mark 14.22 at the Last Supper. We hear “Eucharistic echoes” here. Jesus is previewing the Lord’s Supper. This is why for two thousand years the church has observed Holy Communion every week. It’s a means of grace. Bring your anxiety or arrogance to the table this morning and find fellowship with your Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Notice also the important detail that Jesus didn’t pass the food out himself, but had the disciples pass it out. As it turns out the disciples will give them something to eat. Jesus is using them to bring his bread to the hungry. He does the same thing with us. When we offer lost sinners the bread of life, we’re contiuning the work of the apostles. We’re merely beggars showing other beggars where the bread of life is.

Launch Another Eden

But Jesus has not merely come to lament our spiritual exile, and to lead the final exodus He has also come to launch another Eden. This is what the Promised Land was all about. When Joshua led the people into the land, when the exiles returned, it wasn’t because that strip of land in the Middle East is an end unto itself; no it was pointing to the new creation. This is what Jesus has come to do; he’s come to launch the new creation.

This is hard to see in English translations, but it would’ve been clear to Mark’s readers. Look again at vv. 39-40, he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. In verse 40 where it says “groups,” that’s a translation of a Greek word repeated twice - πρασιαὶ πρασιαὶ. This is the only time in the NT that this word is used. The gloss actually means a garden plot. Mark is saying the people sat down orderly, like how you’d order your garden. That’s why the ESV translates it in groups, emphasizing order. 

But if you were a first century Jew and you read that Jesus has people sit down on the green grass and tends them like a garden, you can’t help reminisce about Genesis 1-2. In the beginning God created Adam and commissioned him to tend the garden of Eden. Adam fell in sin and since then we have been in spiritual exile. Jesus has come to lead us out of exile, through his exodus, into the final Eden. 

As the people sit on the green grass, it’s as if Jesus is tending the garden of humanity. He is the Good Shepherd who has come to provide for his sheep. Notice that the people were satisfied after the meal. In a culture where people were hungry more often than not, Christ satisfies. He’s pointing them to a day when no one will ever be hungry again. Jesus is the last Adam who’s come to represent humanity before God. He represents us in rightoeusness and he takes our wrath when he died on the cross. He will come again to make the whole earth a true and better Eden. Which brings us full circle to Jesus’ original intent in this pericope – rest. May the green grass and the satisfied stomachs make you long for the new heaven and the new earth!

Conclusion

Herod’s banquet was infinitely worse than our buffet in Springfield, MO. But there is a similarity between Jesus’ banquet and our rehearsal dinner. Jesus’ meal was a rehearsal dinner of sorts. One year before Jesus would give his church the Eucharist, he would preview it here. The Lord’s Supper is our weekly rehearsal dinner for the marriage supper of the lamb that is coming when the groom returns for his bride and makes everything sad untrue.

Please turn in your Bible to Psalm 23. Mark is showing us here that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who leads, provides for, and protects his people. I want to close the sermon by glorifying our Good Shepherd together. Let’s read the 23rd Psalm in unison as a church and offer it as a prayer to the Lord Jesus:

A Psalm of David.

1  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2  He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3  He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

4  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5  You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever