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Manhood often feels like navigating through uncharted territory, but you don't have to walk alone. Join us as we guide a conversation about how to live intentionally so that we can join God in reclaiming the masculine restorative presence he designed us to live out. Laugh, cry, and wonder with us as we explore the ins and outs of manhood together.
Advent Part 5: Empty Baskets
00:00
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Restorative Man podcast by Restoration Project. My name is Jesse French and again grateful to be joined by my co-host. Hey, it's Chris Bruno. Hi Chris. Hey Jesse. Well, we are coming to the end of the year. We made it to the end of 2024. We did it! What a year it has been. It really has. Yeah.
00:29
And which it just feels like that takes so much work to actually sort through. Like I would argue good work, but to actually peel back the layers and recount. Man, January was a long time ago. 12 full months of, you know, sick kids and sweet vacations and, you know, awesome camping, whatever it has filled the year, it's come to the end. So, yes, yes. And we're grateful. I think it's hilarious actually.
00:57
how we celebrate the end of a year and the beginning of a new one. Because have you ever considered how arbitrary years are? No, but you have, so keep going. Well, just, I mean, why does today mean 2024 and tomorrow mean 2025? That's fair. And the arbitrary nature of...
01:20
like this day versus that day and all those kinds of things. And I understand the calendar and how it's built and all that kind of stuff and the rhythms and cycles of seasons and life and all that. So it's not arbitrary in that sense, but it's kind of like, well, we just decided this was gonna be named, named January, named December. Like there we are. So it's true. It is kind of arbitrary. Yeah. Well, in that arbitrariness and in this little window where we do find ourselves in between anticipating the coming year.
01:49
We have one last conversation that we've been in the series for a couple of weeks now, examining some passages of scripture, wanting to sit with some of Jesus' deeper invitation and curiosity towards people in scripture, hopefully to our own lives as well. And so, it kind of feels appropriate that as we do come to the end of the calendar of the year, we got one more conversation to be able to sit with and wonder. And obviously, Christmas has happened already and yet
02:18
this continued celebration of Jesus' birth continues and hopefully an openness on our end to perceive what He might have for us. Yes, yes, yes. Well, today, Jesse, I'm gonna take us to Mark chapter six. Okay, and this is a very familiar passage where Jesus is feeding the 5,000 He's been speaking, right? And there's a whole bunch of people that have gathered on the mountaintop and it's coming towards evening and the disciples are like, uh-oh.
02:45
There's no food. What are we gonna do? We better send them away. So I wanna, and maybe after the holiday season, that has been your house where everyone, the swarms of people have come and they have eaten all your food and there's no food left and there are empty baskets and all you have left are a few fish and a few loaves of bread. Maybe that is you. And also I wanna just invite us as we read this to wonder about the year that has passed. Would we consider our baskets full? Would we consider our baskets empty?
03:14
what is in our baskets and what do we anticipate for the year to come. So let me read this passage, Mark chapter 6, 30 through 44. It says, The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile. For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in a boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them.
03:42
and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, You give them something to eat.
04:12
And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And he said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they found out, they said, five and two fish. Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and fifties.
04:42
He looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
05:09
So, I love this passage also. I just said a minute ago before we started recording that if I were ever to lead a church, I would solely preach out of the Gospels because I just love how Jesus engages and I think there's so much richness to be mined from the exchanges and interchanges and conversations that are recorded here and the way that he is and the surprising way that he is. So, yes.
05:36
I just want to like paint a picture, Jesse, like can you imagine you've got your extended family coming over for dinner over the holidays here and you look in the cupboard and you've got one can of black beans and... Yes, some cilantro in the fridge, maybe. And some cilantro and maybe like two tortilla wraps. Yep, yep. Okay, let me just interject. I can't imagine this.
06:04
because at this very state, as we are recording, like this is the state of our cupboards right now of like it is, you know, very much towards the end of the month. And we affectionately call it Mother Hubbard's Cupboard of like, hey, we're going to use what we have. And it is kind of bare. Let's be creative. So, yes, I can imagine this. It's hilarious because I'm in the same boat. Literally a conversation I had with Beth this morning, I was like, hey, I'll make dinner tonight.
06:34
But like, do you have any ideas? And her idea was, well, we're just gonna find what we can find. So there you go. So yes, this is the state of things. And then the reality that there's nowhere to go to buy, there's no money to go buy food and there's nowhere to go, right? The disciples are freaking out and they want, in Jewish hospitality and the mentality of the ancient Near East, it would have been expected that food would be provided. That's what hosp-
07:03
like following a rabbi, the hospitality of this kind of space would be like there would be somewhere to get some food, some provision for that. And at the end of the passage, I just want to be clear, like at the end of the passage here in Mark, it says, and those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men, that just because the way things were recorded then, we're talking probably, you know, 10 to 15,000 people. So many. When you consider the women and children that would have been there as well, the youth, you know, all of that. So we're talking about a lot of people.
07:32
that have gathered around them. And they're sitting around in hundreds and fifties. So it's not a small gathering. Yeah, so once again, the disciples are freaking out. And when you paint it that way, like not without cause, right? In terms of what the culture was. Right, they're human. They just like, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna feed them? We don't have anything. And I love that Jesus says, go look and see how much we have. Go look and see how much we have. Yeah.
08:01
be a little disappointing, but let's start there. Take the inventory. AC Let's start there. The part that I want to land on for today, Jesse, is this, the kind of deeper still story that I see here is that as they're gathering up these couple of loaves and fish, right, and they're working through this process, Jesus takes those and He breaks them and offers thanksgiving and then breaks them and hands out the broken pieces to the disciples.
08:30
the other gospels kind of give a little bit more context. There's baskets, right? They have baskets full. And I can imagine that he puts into these empty baskets, he puts a few pieces of the broken fish and a few pieces of the bread into each of the empty baskets. Nowhere does it say in the scriptures that in that moment that he gave thanks, like the baskets were filled.
08:59
We don't have any kind of indication until the very end when we're collecting the leftovers that people didn't eat, meaning that there was extras that they had got, that there was more food available that people had taken that they just were too full that they didn't eat. So nowhere else do we have full baskets until the very end. So the disciples are walking around, we can put ourselves in the scene, the disciples are walking around and every time
09:28
the disciple reaches into the empty basket to pull out one piece of bread, right? It's still an empty basket. There's still just a few pieces that are in there. And they pull it out and they hand it out. And then they reach in and they pull out another piece and they pull out one piece at a time. They're not like frisbeeing the bread pieces around and throwing the fish around. No, there's just one piece at a time that they're doling out. The baskets are still.
09:58
And when I began to put myself in that scene and think about that, like how much more faith is both required and then built in the process of feeding 15,000 people with 15,000 reaches than one big miracle. One big miracle would be amazing, astounding, and everyone would have been like, well, that's amazing. But the faith is built one time.
10:28
But what I think Jesus is doing here is he's inviting the disciples to 15,000 acts of faith, 15,000 reaches for more bread to go to the next person and the next person. And in that person also, if you can imagine, as you're making your way down the line, as you're feeding the groups, right, you're watching that group of 50 or 100 get fully fed and there's no more food being put into the basket.
10:58
There's not a depot somewhere that they're going back to in your kitchen, they're going back to refill. They're just going to the next group. Each subsequent group is looking at the previous group going, well, they got fully fed. Is there enough left for me? And I just think there's both 15,000 reaches of the disciples and 15,000 reaches for the people watching. Like, oh, there's more. Oh, there's more. There is enough for me too.
11:29
It's astounding to me to think about it in those ways. So as we've said in some previous episodes, these conversations that we've had over the last five weeks are part of the Small Match Journal, which we put together every year. And so I got to read your writing about this a couple of weeks ago. And I remember coming to this section and I was reading it on a Saturday morning and drinking my coffee. And I was just like shocked because I had never considered it that way.
11:58
Like I had always read the story sort of filling in the blanks of, oh, this, there was just this one spectacular after Jesus prayed sort of thinking like, well, yeah, that the front area that they're in was the depot was the like, you know, explosion of food, but to actually sit with it and to wonder, Hey, could this be the way that that actually unfolded? I remember reading it and I was like, Oh my gosh, what better news? What even more assuring.
12:25
what even greater proof of the generosity, the trustworthiness of God. Like it really is this really fun new angle to sit with this story in. Yeah, it's shocking and so different from what we assume or believe that Jesus is going to do for us. And yes, he does big miracles. And this is just a small miracle several thousand times over. And I find myself so much more hopeful.
12:55
for the thousand times over, 5,000 times over, because there's something in there that I can be like, okay, I can see the small miracles far more than I can see the big ones. I can see them littered throughout my day, like these little breadcrumbs, if you will, of gifts that he has just given me over and over and over again. Every breath, every word, every smile, every opportunity to be with somebody, the opportunity to be with you today, like this is.
13:23
There's bread here for us and it's gonna keep happening over and over and over again. Before you and I started recording, we were catching up on the weekend and you said the phrase like, yeah, because you had this really fun weekend this past weekend. And you're like, yeah, I woke up this morning and there was a piece of me that was like, oh, like, do I have to go back to work? Right. Like classic Monday feeling. You're talking about it and I'm nodding. I'm like, yeah, you know, me too. Like, it's great as this job is. But it is.
13:51
Again, the illustration of that point, right? Of like, no, I actually need. Provision and sustenance, like daily moment by moment, but like one huge feast a week ago, a month ago, the need is greater than that. And so this illustration again of provision that is continual, that is repeatable, right? So deeply encouraging. So fitting. Yeah. And.
14:17
I think your word sustainable is just really good. It is sustainable because over time it's sustaining, right? We're not fed once. We're fed every day over and over and over again. We don't breathe once. We breathe over and over and over again. And I just love how God's pursuit of us is one breath at a time, one gift at a time. And I think also when we look back, like especially looking backward, we can recognize
14:46
how many loaves and fishes he has offered us. And here's the thing, even if you really look at the passage, it's not even a full loaf. It's not even a full loaf. It is, I'm gonna read it again. He said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. The people had broken loaves. They didn't get a whole loaf. They got broken loaves. And then he divided the two fish among them all.
15:16
So there's so many little pieces of sustenance that God is providing for us along the way that do we have eyes to see and the faith to reach again for more sustenance over and over and over again. Which there again, right? Where we started this conversation talking about the end of the calendar year, the upcoming year of 2025, like those words again feel timely to say what might it look like to spend a little bit of time just looking back.
15:46
with eyes for that sustenance that was unexpected, that was significant, that was repeatable, right? And just continued throughout the year. I feel like the calendar lends itself to some of that reflection. Well, yes, absolutely. Looking back and also to recognize, like if you're entering the new year with an empty basket, what does that mean for you? Some people might be entering the year with a full basket and that is great. And most of us are entering the year with an empty basket.
16:16
with a few little breadcrumbs and a few broken off pieces of fish. And in that is the sustenance of God. In that, you know, we are as Restoration Project turning the corner into the new year as well. And so there's this whole reality of our and with all nonprofits, right? All ministries kind of thinking through like, what is the provision of God for us this coming year?
16:46
And Jesse, I was actually marveling over this weekend. So far Restoration Project has existed for 14 years. Yeah. Almost 14 and a half. We're entering our 15th year, or in our 15th year, right? We can have our driving permit. We can have our driver's permit. Yes, yes. We have, you know, maybe a lot of acne on our face and a really bad haircut, but it's...
17:14
That's where we are, but almost 15 years, and the reality of God's sustenance along the way has just been astounding. And there have been moments where we have been in the disciples' seat of going, okay, we've only got a few loaves and a few fishes. What are we gonna be able to do with this? And then moving forward in faith and reaching into the basket, going, okay, I hope this works. I hope something like.
17:43
Lord, how will you, and I wanna be clear, how will you not will you? How will you come through for us? How will you provide? If this is what your desire is for this organization, this ministry, how will you provide? And the beauty is that he has and does provide for us. Yeah, yeah. Which is the beautiful privilege and also the like,
18:12
Rubber meets the road piece two, right? To be like, okay, we are Mother Hubbard's covered. Like, what meal will you provide? And so it is, and I think not to just like slap the makeup of it's all good on it, but like, actually those are like the deeply beautiful moments organizationally in our own lives, right? Where it is like, yeah, the need is, we're so aware of it. And the how will you provide to ask that? And then to be open to like, oh, you didn't see that coming? That was.
18:41
not how we would have anticipated and yet, and yet the provision came still. And the way that I like to think about this especially in this place of ministry is what you just said is the how we didn't see that coming is God has already made all the provision necessary for it to come. It's just a matter of the arrival. How is it going to come? How will He provide? Because He's already done everything necessary for that provision. And for you listeners
19:10
Join us in this, join us in this. And maybe there is provision that you have that you wanna share with Restoration Project. And that partnership with us makes this a possibility, a ministry of possibility. And maybe you're in a place where you have that provision and maybe you're not. And that's okay too. And to hold both as the reality, like join us in the journey of reaching into the basket, believing that God has enough food for you and for me and all of us all.
19:39
15,000 of us, right, to get exactly what we need, the sustenance that we need. And as we end of the year, we believe that God has that provision for us and we are reaching into the basket and maybe there is a loaf that you could put in the basket. And maybe you don't have a loaf to put in the basket. And that's okay too. So we invite you to wonder this year as you're entering 2025, what it might look like for your own basket. Where is God?
20:08
not will he, but how will he provide for you? Where will that come from? Jesse, it's been good to have these Advent conversations with you. Yeah, Chris, thanks for- Way to end the year. Yeah, thanks for your willingness to share your thoughts and just your ruminations on these passages. It's been good, thank you. Yeah, well, maybe somebody is gonna show up at Jesse French's doorstep now with a bag of groceries so that-
20:36
Mother Hubbard's covered. Great. Come over and eat with us then. Yes. Come over and eat. Yeah. Come on and eat. All right. Well, happy New Year, Jesse. And good you too.