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"Do you not remember?"
It was a very
busy day. Jesus, the disciples and a large multitude were out in the wilderness.
Imagine, the Lord leading and behind His people following Him and you will get
what should always be the case. BEFORE, FIRST OF ALL, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
LEADS THE PATH, and behind Him ALL of us following. Then Mark 8, verses 1-3
tells us:
Mark 8:1-3
«In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus
called His disciples to Him and said to them, „I have compassion on the
multitude, because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing
to eat. And if I sent them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on
the way; for some of them have come from afar»
THE LORD HAD
COMPASSION CONCERNING THE NEEDS of those men. He has compassion on those that
follow Him on the way. He is merciful to each and every soul that follows Him
and desires to care for their cares. «Cast all care upon God, for He cares for
you» the Holy Spirit said later through Peter, one of the guys that were there
that day. Continuing with Mark, the Lord had compassion on the multitude and
called His disciples. He could do everything alone. However, He preferred to
call His disciples and communicate to them His concern for the others. Then the
disciples thought it well and answered starting with a …… how:
Mark 8:4
«Then His disciples answered Him, «How can one satisfy these people with bread
here in the wilderness?»
Jesus didn't
ask them to tell him the «how», but it is there where their mind immediately
went. The Lord communicates with us things, but instead of saying «Yes Lord,
that would great», we say «How can this be done?» looking probably at our
selves and our own abilities. The Lord replied to their question, with another
question:
Matthew 8:1-5
«He asked them, «How many loaves do you have?» And they said «Seven»
What was seven
loaves for those people? Well too many in the hands of the Lord. Whatever is put
on His hands is multiplied. And so it was with those seven loaves:
Mark 8:6-7
«So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven
loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to the disciples
to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. They
also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also
before them.»
The Lord didn't
ask the disciples to make the bread themselves. The only that He asked them was
to give Him the seven loaves and the few fishes they had and then take plenty of
bread and fishes FROM HIS HANDS AND SET THEM BEFORE THE PEOPLE. God's servants
are not asked to make the bread, but to take the bread from the Lord's hands and
serve it to the people. And verse 8 continues:
Mark 8:8
«So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover
fragments.»
Only the food
that comes from the Lord's hands is able to fill the Lord's household. Our own
food, the seven loaves, will keep ourselves and the people to whom we deliver it
hungry. His food however, is enough to fill all and to even leave leftovers.
«Do you not remember?»
But our story does not stop
here. Few verses later we read:
Mark 8:14-16
«Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than
one loaf with them in the boat. Then He charged them, saying, Take heed, beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among
themselves, saying, «It is because we have no bread»
These people
were the very people that had distributed miraculously-made bread to four
thousand men. And yet, just hours latter, they were reasoning that they didn't
have enough bread. Obviously, what the Lord had done, had not touched them. Yes,
they had done the job, they had distributed the bread, yet their hearts were
untouched. It is not enough just to do the work, but also to do it with your
HEART. If you don't do it with your heart, you may have distributed many loaves
from the Lord's hand and still thinking of your own one little loaf. Then the
Master replied:
Mark 8:17-21
«But Jesus being aware of it, said to them, «Why do you reason because
you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is you heart still
hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? AND DO
YOU NOT REMEMBER? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many
baskets full of fragments did you take up? They said to Him twelve. And when I
broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments
did you take up? And they said «Seven.» So He said to them, «How is it
you do not understand?»
How really they
didn't remember? How really we don't remember? REMEMBER MY FRIEND, REMEMBER ALL
THE WONDERFUL THINGS THE LORD HAS DONE FOR YOU. Take your mind away from the
sounds of the reasonings and thoughts, from yourself and your one little loaf of
bread. If your walk is by sight and not by faith you will only go as far you
have loafs. Yet the Lord can make loafs out of nothing. The loaf you will put in
His hands will bring forth thousands more, able to feed you and many others. In
Luke 22:35 He asked the disciples:
Luke 22:35
«And He said to them, «When I sent you without money bag, knapsack and
sandals, did you lack anything?» So they said Nothing»
NOTHING is
needed to serve the Lord except obedience to Him, AND NOTHING WILL BE MISSING
FROM YOU WHEN YOU SERVE HIM.
Mark 10:28-30
«Then Peter began to say to Him, «See, we have left all and followed you.» So
Jesus answered and said, «Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left
house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands,
for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this
time - houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with
persecutions - and in the age to come, eternal life.»
Tassos Kioulachoglou
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