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An archive of Jacob Nannie's Sermons & Teachings
This sermon is titled "Jesus Provides," and it's on Mark 6, verses 31-52.
In the sermon series, "Who Do You Say That I Am?
The Son of God and the Gospel of Mark," this is my 12th residency sermon, and it was preached
on March 23, 2025.
This is the passage on Jesus feeding the 5,000, and so, awesome passage, good sermon, of course
I'm saying that about my own sermon, so maybe I shouldn't say that, but I hope you enjoy
this sermon and think it's good as well.
Good morning.
My name is Gene.
Our scripture today is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6, verses 31-52.
Hear now the word of the Lord.
He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.
For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place, but many saw them leaving
and recognized them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.
When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he began to teach them many things.
When it grew late, his disciples approached him and said, 'This place is deserted, and
it is already late.
Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy
themselves something to eat.'
'You give them something to eat,' he responded.
They said to him, 'Should we go and buy two hundred and an hour worth of bread and give
them something to eat?'
He asked them, 'How many loaves do you have?
Go and see.'
When they found out, they said, 'Five, and two fish.'
Then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.
So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.
He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke
the loaves.
He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people.
He also divided the two fish among them all.
Everyone ate and was satisfied.
They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish.
Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.
Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other
side to Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd.
After he said goodbye to them, he went to the mountain to pray.
Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.
He saw them straining at the oars because the wind was against them.
Very early in the morning, he came toward them, walking on the sea, and wanted to pass
by them.
When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out because
they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke with them and said, 'Have courage; it is I.
Do not be afraid.'
Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased.
They were completely astounded because they had not understood about the loaves.
Instead, their hearts were hardened."
This is the word of the Lord.
You may be seated.
Thank you, Gene.
Good morning, everyone.
A little short, short scripture reading for you this morning.
When I was a sophomore in high school, my family started attending a small, local church
after a couple of years at a very large, non-denominational church.
This was a very small church, so small they needed more musicians.
One day, one of the worship leaders approached me and said, "Hey, do you want to play on
the worship team?"
And I said, "Well, maybe, I don't know.
There's this one problem.
I don't know how to play any instruments."
He goes, "That's okay, I'll teach you.
We'll start with bass."
And so that summer, I learned bass, piano, and guitar over the course of two months.
Now, lest you think I'm an amazing musician, I'm just as good, if not worse now, than I
was 10 years ago.
But I did learn a lot that summer, but it was interesting how I learned.
After being invited into work with the worship team, I expected to be led every step of the
way with exact detail on how to play bass guitar and how to gel with the worship team.
That was not the case for me.
I was not led in that way.
Instead, it looked more like me trying things out and being given tips here and there along
the way, just so I don't completely ruin everything.
And in some ways, that was satisfying.
It was satisfying to figure things out on my own and figure out how to gel with the
team.
In other ways, it was not.
I also had a hunger to be led more intentionally.
What exactly should I play?
Where exactly do I come in?
And hey, what songs are we playing today because the service starts in 30 minutes and we don't
know what we're playing?
That type of learning that I didn't like.
And while being gently led, but mostly figuring things out on my own was formative, the lack
of leadership caused a lot of chaos that I experienced in playing with this worship team
for a couple of years.
This chaos was very stressful for me.
And it was so stressful that at one point, I remember one particular Sunday, minutes
before service, I was so frustrated, everyone was frustrated, I left the pre-service practice
crying because I couldn't do it anymore.
I felt like a failure.
I didn't want to play anymore.
And I ended up playing afterwards because they needed a bass player.
Fight through the pain.
And maybe some of us have similar experiences where you're invited into work, but it's not
led well.
Your appetite is not satisfied, and it leads to a lot of chaos.
And hey, maybe even you're here this morning, living the Christian life and the Christian
life feels like this.
That you follow Jesus, but it doesn't look like what you expected it to look like.
Do you feel like you accepted an invitation to believe in Christ for salvation, but now
you're not sure what to do with that?
Life is not as satisfying as it was advertised to you or painted to be, and because of that,
you feel chaos is raging all around you.
What you need, what I need, is someone to lead and guide you.
And what we need is a shepherd.
And friends, Jesus is a good shepherd, and he wants to shepherd you.
Last week, Pastor Jacob Vangen, I don't often refer to myself in the third person, he preached
a great sermon, and one of his driving points was that we must have expectations for Jesus,
but these expectations must be realistic expectations.
To expect something that Jesus has not promised us is bad for our faith.
But we should expect things of Jesus.
The Bible shows us what to expect of Jesus, and what to expect of his leadership, and
the Gospel of Mark tells us that you can expect Jesus, this good shepherd, to shepherd you.
You can expect him to shepherd you by inviting you into life with him.
You can expect him to shepherd you by satisfying all of your hungers, and you can expect him
to shepherd you by quieting the storms in your life.
Jesus wants to shepherd you.
And being shepherded by Jesus means being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus, and doing
what Jesus does.
In our story, the disciples, they had just come back from doing what Jesus did.
These miraculous works.
They went out and they preached that people should repent.
They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Our good shepherd is inviting us into a life with him, and that life with him looks like
doing what he did.
What Jesus did was preach the Gospel, a message of repentance, and an offer to wholeness to
those with faith in him.
Are you accepting that invitation to that work with Jesus, to do as he did?
Are you preaching the Gospel of repentance and offering wholeness to those who are around
you?
You don't need to be a pastor to do this.
You don't need an MDiv degree or a Masters in Divinity or a lot of theological training
to do this.
What you need is to be with Jesus, become like him, and do what he did.
Offer true wholeness.
It just takes experiencing that wholeness for yourself.
Life is full of this work.
Though life is full of this work, it's not hurried.
Jesus is not a hurried person.
His life is full, but he's not hurried because life with Jesus looks like a lot of ministry,
but it also looks like resting with him.
Our verse in Mark 31-32 says, "He said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a remote
place and rest for a while.'
For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
And so they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place."
Our shepherd invites us into life with him.
Jesus invites us into a full life, and that life includes rest.
It's a lot like what the psalmist says in Psalm 23, "He lets me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He renews my life.
He leads me along the right paths for his name's sake."
Rest.
Doesn't that sound nice?
Are there any of us here today that need rest?
Look at this picture.
How sweet does that look?
Yes, that is AI.
I did not create this or find it.
I prompted it.
Don't you just want to lie down in a nice green field like this to quiet water, restful?
Life gets full and life gets busy, and when it gets busy, we get tired mentally, physically,
and spiritually, but friends, Jesus, our good shepherd, invites us in the midst of all of
this to come and rest with him.
Are you accepting that invitation to rest in the fullness of Jesus?
Now what's interesting is that the disciples, they don't get this opportunity for rest.
He invites him.
He says, "Let's go rest," and then it doesn't happen.
The crowds begin chasing Jesus and his disciples as they attempt to retreat into the wilderness,
and these people run so fast that they beat Jesus and the disciples to the place that
they're headed to.
That's sort of annoying, right?
When you're trying to get away and then people are just coming after you.
It's like when I was younger, I would have friends over.
My little sister would always be around somehow, and she would never like really interact.
She'd just sit there and giggle.
Like she just so happened to have business in the kitchen or in the backyard or wherever
it may be.
It's annoying.
And my response to her and probably the disciples' response to this crowd is, "Get out of here.
We're trying to rest with Jesus, but listen to what Jesus responds with."
When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them.
Why?
Because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he began to teach them many things.
Jesus is a good shepherd, and he wants to shepherd you.
But the disciples are not so compassionate.
They're not as compassionate as Jesus is.
And I get it, right?
They're tired.
They're hungry.
And they recognize that this crowd is also hungry.
And so when it starts to get late, they tell Jesus, "This place is deserted, and it's already
late.
Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy
themselves something to eat.
You give them something to eat," he said.
With what, Jesus?
We've got no food, we've got no money, and you want us to give over 5,000 people something
that will satisfy their hunger?
But Jesus' response to them, "You give them something to eat," is interesting to me.
You could read it as Jesus clapping back at them saying, "Look, I'm tired and hungry too.
You give them something to eat."
Or you could read it in its context.
The disciples had just come back from doing what Jesus did, performing miracles, healing
the sick, casting out demons.
And now, when a miracle is needed, he invites them to do as he does.
You give them something to eat.
You ever feel like Jesus is inviting you to do wonderful and maybe even miraculous things
in life?
Maybe sometimes you feel or hear God say, "Hey, you go pray for that person and see
what happens."
He's not mad.
He's not telling you to do because he doesn't want to, but he's inviting you into the work
of what he does.
You go pray.
Friends, don't ignore that voice.
Don't ignore that feeling or that draw.
Accept the invitation that God is offering to you.
We may hear this invitation and have so many reasons that we "can't be the one to do it."
Well, I don't have enough time.
I've used that excuse quite a bit.
Driving, seeing someone who holds a sign or they need food or money, I don't have time
for that.
Knowing good and well I'm going home to do nothing.
I don't have enough money.
I'm already doing enough.
And I get it.
It's scary to help people and to accept God's invitation to do great and wonderful things.
But if we don't accept God's invitation, we may miss out on witnessing great things done
for His glory.
I certainly regret not having listened to God's voice.
In California, I frequented a coffee shop quite a bit.
It was pretty much the only coffee shop in town.
And one or two homeless men were always hanging out there.
They were good guys.
They were known by name.
They were loved by people.
They were engaged with in conversation.
And they were listened to.
And one of these men was named Duane Giesbrecht.
He was partially deaf.
And I would go here often and more than once, I felt God telling me, "If you go pray for
Duane right now, I will open his ears."
That's like, that's scary though.
Like, also Jesus like sometimes spits in mud and wipes on people's eyes.
So like, God, if I say yes, are you gonna have me do something weird like that too?
It's scary.
And I never accepted God's invitation to pray for or with this man.
And one day I went to grab some coffee, expecting to see this man and expecting God to invite
me again.
And I was actually getting the courage to go and do it.
But as I go to order the coffee, on the counter, there was a picture of him with details for
his memorial service.
Basically I was filled with regret for two reasons.
I had not listened to the voice of God.
And I had cared more about my own insecurities than this man's wholeness and humanity.
And because I had those two regrets, I know I missed out on participating in God's work
and offering wholeness and seeing restoration.
Friends, don't do this.
Don't ignore the voice of God.
Accept his invitation.
Accept his invitation into wondrous and miraculous works, and God will always, always, always
supply you with exactly what you need when he invites you to participate in his plan.
This invitation to good work is one of the disciples did not accept.
They didn't get it still.
And so Jesus gathers what little resources they have, five loaves and two fish, and feeds
over five thousand people with it.
And here's what the text says, "Then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups
on the green grass."
Sounds a little bit like Psalm 23.
"So they sat down in groups, hundreds and fifties.
He took five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves.
He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people.
He also divided the two fish among them all.
Everyone ate and was satisfied, and they picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread
and fish."
Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.
Our shepherd satisfies our hunger.
And here in this passage, Jesus satisfies the physical hunger of the crowd, and even
today he's satisfying the physical hunger and needs that we have.
We don't have to be anxious about our needs because our good shepherd provides for us.
So what Matthew says, "Consider the birds of the sky.
They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not worth more than they?"
But Jesus also provides for and satisfies our spiritual hunger.
He satisfies the true need of the crowd, teaching and hunger.
The crowds are aggressively chasing after Jesus because, because of the many wonderful
things they've seen him do.
They've seen him heal people, they've seen him cast out demons, and so they're chasing
after him.
But what they need is more than miraculous things.
They need a shepherd.
Our text does not say that Jesus saw them knowing that they were sick and in need.
It says he saw them knowing that they're sheep without a shepherd.
They need a shepherd.
They need someone to lie them down on green grass, which Jesus does, besides still water.
They need someone to restore their soul and lead them in paths of righteousness for Jesus's
name.
And we need that too.
In life, we often mistake symptoms for the problem, or in a more positive direction,
we often mistake what captivates us for what is truly satisfying.
And the crowds, and maybe even us here today, chase Jesus because of what he's done for
them.
They think that this is what is nourishing.
If he can just do this for me, if Jesus can just do this thing for me right now, then
I will be truly complete.
But as Jesus demonstrates throughout the Gospel of Mark, and as we've preached on, the miracles
of Jesus and of his disciples are the result of his true teaching.
They are a blessing that accompanies what we really need.
Salvation that includes us in the kingdom of God, restoration to wholeness.
In the Gospels, when the kingdom of God is preached, signs and wonders are also performed.
And they're performed as a foretaste of what is to come when God's kingdom finally and
fully breaks in here.
But the signs and wonders are not themselves the message.
The message is that there is a coming kingdom where these signs and wonders that we see
are going to be the norm.
And inclusion in that kingdom comes through believing in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
He is what we need.
And the only way to that type of wholeness, be it physical or not, is through Jesus.
Our shepherd satisfies us with what we need.
He is a good shepherd of Psalm 23 who gives us so much that we will not lack anything.
He does not give us the minimum.
He does not give us the leftovers or the moldy crusty pieces.
Did anyone's dad ever growing up say, "Just scrape the mold off the bread, it's fine."
Jesus doesn't do that.
He gives us fresh bread.
And sometimes that's what we expect from God is the crumbs or the moldy leftovers.
Sometimes we say, "Well, if I'm lucky, or if I'm really good, if I pray just right,
maybe he'll give me these crumbs."
No, that's not what the shepherd does.
Jesus wants to satisfy us to the point that we say, "Jesus is my shepherd, I shall not
want."
If you have Jesus, you have God as your shepherd.
And with God as your shepherd, you have what you need.
Dallas Willard has an entire book on Psalm 23 called "Life Without Lack."
And in it, he writes that God does not have a shortage of anything you can think of.
We see it when Jesus multiplied the bread and the fishes.
How much do they have leftover?
Twelve baskets.
God is not stingy.
He dwells in magnificent abundance and lovingly provides for our needs out of that abundance.
God is not worried that he's going to run out of something.
He is overflowing with everything that is good and everything we need.
God loves to just gush forth with goodness.
Nothing so delights him as giving to anyone and everyone who will receive.
God has all that we need and more, and he delights in giving.
Are you turning to him for this nourishment?
Are you turning to him for this type of full satisfaction?
Or what do you behold and say, "If I can just have this, I will be satisfied?"
Whatever it is you turn to, even the good things in life that you might turn to, if
they are not the triune God of the Scriptures, you will not be able to join the psalmist
in saying, "I have all that I need."
Jesus gives us all that we need.
But the problem is that the sheep shepherd metaphor is a little too real for us.
I don't know if you know this, but sheep are not the smartest of creatures.
One of my closest friends has shown sheep for years and has won, I think, national championships
in sheep showing and sheep judging, and I asked him, I said, "Well, hey, how dumb are
sheep?
Can you give me some stories?"
And I think there was too many stories for him to give me, and so he said, "One, well,
if they eat too fast, they choke.
If they are spooked, they will run to a fence and break their necks.
If they stare at the sky while it's raining, they can accidentally drown themselves."
And I'm assuming these are three facts that he's also experienced showing sheep over the
years.
Isn't that crazy?
But here's the problem, sometimes we're a little too much like the sheep.
Like sheep going in a ditch, getting out, and going back in the ditch.
But this is what is so wonderful about Jesus.
He knows this.
He knows you're like this.
And knowing this, he patiently leads you to abundant life.
Jesus wants to shepherd you.
Now, after all this, he sends off the disciples to go to rest, as he originally planned.
And he retreats to do the same.
This is common for Jesus.
He needs time to sit in the quiet and pray and commune with his Father, so that as John
tells us, he can continue to do what he sees the Father doing.
Friends, make sure you're doing the same.
Make sure that you are retreating to commune with God.
Often we say, I say, "Well, I would do what God tells me if I knew what he was telling
me."
But are you taking the time to listen?
Are you spending time in communing with God?
If not, then of course you don't know what he's telling you.
But if you are, he will lead you in paths of righteousness.
He will invite you and satisfy you.
Now at this point in the story, the Father led Jesus to look at the disciples struggling
on the water.
Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.
He saw them straining at the oars because the wind was against them.
The disciples are struggling again.
Every time they're away from Jesus, they struggle.
This time their life's not in danger, they're just encountering a lot of challenging wind.
So what does Jesus do?
Here's what Mark says, "Very early in the morning, he came toward them, walking on the
sea and wanted to pass by them.
When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out because
they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately, he spoke to them and said, 'Have courage, it is I.
Don't be afraid.'
Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased.
They were completely astounded because they had not understood about the loaves.
Instead, their hearts were hardened."
It's funny to me that the disciples thought that Jesus was a ghost.
That's interesting that they had actual categories for ghosts, and of course they were afraid.
I mean, if you were exhausted from rowing a boat in strong winds and saw Pastor Paul
just approaching you, wouldn't you also be afraid?
I mean, he'd be so excited to approach you too, wouldn't he, but it would still be terrifying.
But Jesus tells them to not be afraid, and what he does is he quiets the storm.
And they were astounded.
Why, Mark?
Because they had not understood about the loaves.
Instead, their hearts were hardened.
You see, Mark is trying to show us throughout his gospel that Jesus is the Messiah.
And though the disciples spend almost all of their time with Jesus, they still don't
get that he is the Messiah.
They don't see it in the signs and wonders that he does, even though they participate
in those same signs and wonders.
Even when it's painfully obvious, they miss it.
And Mark makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is the Messiah.
And if you've been with us during this series, you may have heard us talk about how Jesus
is a new and better Moses, or heard us mention the Exodus themes over and over again.
Jesus is leading a new and final Exodus out from under the oppression of our true enemies,
the world, the flesh, and the devil.
And the Exodus was a pivotal moment in the Old Testament, and Moses himself is a very
important and prominent figure, but both point ultimately to be fulfilled by God himself.
Mark is showing us that Jesus is the one who teaches, this one who feeds 5,000, the one
who walks on water and calms the storm, Jesus is the promised God Shepherd, come to save
his people.
And as we read this story with Exodus in mind, we begin to see the similarities.
Both Jesus and Moses serve God's people in the wilderness, or a deserted place, it's
in our text this morning.
They both teach God's people.
They both provide bread or manna where there was none.
And they both go up on a mountain to hear from God.
But Jesus isn't a new prophet like Moses, he is the new and better prophet.
He is the Messiah.
God used Moses to part the Red Sea, yes, but Jesus walked on the sea, something only Yahweh
does in the Old Testament.
God passed by Moses with his presence, but Jesus is the one who passed by his disciples,
revealing himself as God to them.
God told Moses in the burning bush that his name is I Am, but Jesus declares to his disciples,
have courage, I am, do not be afraid.
Who do you say that I am, Jesus asks, to which we should respond, you are God, the Messiah,
the Shepherd King, Redeemer, and only this type of shepherd can quiet the storms that
are out there, but also within.
This good shepherd invites us and he satisfies us, but our shepherd also quiets our storms.
He's a shepherd that says to you, don't be afraid, it's me.
Have courage.
In the ancient world, the sea was a powerful symbol for chaos, water goes hand in hand
with chaos, Yahweh brings order to chaos and creation, Moses reenacts God's order when
he parts the Red Sea, and Jesus does the same thing twice in the Gospel of Mark.
But the chaos we experience isn't always out on the water.
In fact, it's usually the storms within where we experience chaos in our life.
The loudest storms are not out on the sea, they are within us.
But take heart, because Jesus's authority doesn't stop with water.
Our shepherd also quiets the storms that we face in our soul.
He's there in the darkest of valleys.
He is there when the evil oppression of the world, the flesh, and the devil are pressing
in on you.
In the chaos, our good shepherd comes to us, he comforts us, he feeds our souls, showers
us with goodness and mercy, and he quiets all of these storms.
In him, we have all that we need, and we lack nothing.
Do you need the shepherd to quiet your soul?
The good shepherd invites us to a satisfying quiet that we so desperately desire.
And friends, I encourage you to respond again to this invitation.
For some, this means admitting that you need shepherding, that you don't have all the answers,
that you cannot lead yourself in the path of righteousness.
But there is a good shepherd who can.
For others, it might mean accepting the invitation to participate in the wondrous works of God
and those works that he's calling you to do.
When you hear that voice to go do even miraculous things, don't ignore it.
Our shepherd invites us to accept his invitation.
Our shepherd also satisfies us to stop turning to things that are temporary and failing and
fading.
Do you want to lack nothing in this life?
Then let the source of your satisfaction be in the shepherd who gives abundantly, who
gives all that we need.
Satisfaction is not found in the tangible things of this world, not found in money or
success or power or even family.
Satisfaction is found in the good shepherd alone.
And when we experience the chaos that life throws at us, the storms that rage within,
our shepherd quiets our soul.
Receive his words in the dark night of your soul.
Receive his words that break through the chaos that you will experience in this life.
I am with you, do not be afraid.
Let's pray.
Lord God, we thank you for inviting us into life with you.
I pray that through your son, Jesus, we experience a life without lack and that we experience
this life without lack in tangible ways.
Even now, God, in these seats today, quiet the storms that people are experiencing within.
Even now, God, satisfy the hunger that we are experiencing.
Even now, God, give us the strength and courage to join in on the life and work that you are
inviting us to do.
We ask that this comes swiftly, Lord, and we pray these things in your son's name, amen.