​Compassion and Community - a symbolic exploration of Mark's Feeding of the 5000 (Mark 6:35-44)

Today we come to reflect on Mark’s telling of the story of the feeding of the 5,000.  I guess one of the questions that many modern readers might have is whether the story is historical or not? Did the story happen exactly like this or was it a legendary story that grew up around Jesus within the first 30 years or so after Jesus death? My rational scientific brain would question the exact historicity of the story… and yet there is a part of me that is stil unable to dismiss strange and miraculous events simply because at this point science is unable to explain it.  There is far too much anecdotal evidence to suggest that strange unexplainable things don’t happen. 

What I do know however is that Mark’s Gospel deliberately employs symbolism in order to capture the meaning of Jesus life and ministry. Mark’s Gospel (in fact like all 4 gospels) is in fact very short to be a history of Jesus life.  Rather, the author seems to have deliberately crystallised a number of stories in order to capture symbolically, the meaning of Jesus life and ministry.  And so I believe that it is not just possible, but quite probable that the writer of Mark’s Gospel is wanting us to interpret this story of the feeding of the 5000 symbolically.  And so, like the Native American story teller who would always begin his tribe’s creation story with the words:  “I don’t know if it happened exactly like this, but I know this story is true”, that is how I would approach this story from Mark’s Gospel today.  “I don’t know if it happened exactly like this, but I know this story is true”… and so I invite us to explore some of the symbolic truth of the story and how it might speak to us today. And when we do so, I believe that we find that it is more than simply a story about a miraculous provision of food; it might in fact be a profound statement about God's kingdom, justice, and community. 

Setting the scene in Mark’s Gospel, as we saw last week, the disciples have just returned from their missionary journey, and Jesus invites them to rest. They withdraw to a quiet place, but the crowd follows. As Jesus sees the multitude, He is moved with compassion because they are "like sheep without a shepherd." This phrase (which we touched on last week) evokes the imagery of Psalm 23, where the Yahweh, or ‘the Lord’ is depicted as the shepherd who provides, guides, and cares for His flock.

In Psalm 23, we read, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures." Here in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus instructs the people to sit down on the "green grass." This detail is not incidental. The writer of Mark is directly linking Jesus' actions in this passage to the pastoral care depicted in Psalm 23. Mark is wanting to emphasize that Jesus is the good Shepherd, God’s chosen leader for his people Israel, who sees the needs of the people and responds with compassion and provision where the actual leaders of Israel have failed because of their own corrupted self-interest.

Ched Myers, in his book “Binding the Strongman” develops these insights further and suggests that   this miracle is not just about feeding hungry stomachs; it's a radical act of economic justice and community building. Myers interprets this event as a direct challenge to the Roman Empire's economic system, which was marked by scarcity, competition, and exploitation. The Roman Empire, as almost all of the world’s empires have been was fundamentally built on the principle of exploitation.  Slaves and peasants were exploited through low wages and taxation to create wealth for the Empire. The crowds, in Mark’s Gospel represent these large swathes of people living in the Roman Empire whose primary purpose in the eyes of the Empire were to be used and exploited as economic fuel for the glory of the Empire. 

Getting back to the story, when the disciples suggest sending the crowd away to buy food, Jesus' response is revolutionary: "You give them something to eat" he says. In doing so, Ched Myers believes that Jesus shifts the focus from the market economy of buying and selling to a community of sharing. The disciples find five loaves and two fish—an amount that seems insignificant—but in Jesus' hands, it becomes abundantly sufficient.

Jesus takes the loaves, looks up to heaven, blesses them, breaks them, and gives them to the disciples to distribute. Many suggest that this act mirrors the symbolic practice of communion, where all share and are fed from a common loaf. But Ched Myers suggests that it also symbolizes a new economy based on God's abundance, not human scarcity. Twelve baskets of leftovers signify not just enough, but more than enough—a direct contradiction to the empire's narrative of never enough. But when food and provisions are shared there is more than enough.  As it is often said, if the aim is to meet everyone’s greed, there is will never be enough. But if the aim is to meet people’s genuine needs, there will be abundantly enough. 

Ched Myers suggests that by involving the disciples in the distribution, Jesus models a new form of leadership and community. It's a decentralized power structure where everyone participates in the miracle. This community is marked by mutual aid and sharing, a stark contrast to the top-down power dynamics of the Roman Empire.

This miracle also serves as a foretaste of the Messianic banquet, a recurring image in the Old Testament, the eschatological feast at the end of time where all are welcomed and provided for. In Psalm 23, we read, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; my cup overflows." In Mark, the feeding of the 5,000 anticipates this overflowing abundance and the inclusive nature of God's kingdom.

And the writer of Mark’s Gospel is suggesting that as followers of Jesus, we are called to embody these kingdom values in our lives. We are called to see the needs of those around us and respond like Jesus with compassion to those in society who are like sheep without a shepherd. We are invited to participate in God's economy of abundance, where we share what we have with those in need and trust in God's provision the provision of a Higher Power. We are challenged to build communities of mutual aid and justice, where those at the bottom are empowered and lifted up reflecting the radical inclusivity and generosity of Jesus.  

A colleague of mine in South Africa used to say that the purpose of work from a Christian perspective is not simply to earn a living.  The true purpose of work from a Christian perspective is to earn a giving.  AS Christians we are called to be part of a society where our main aim in life is not simply living for our own wealth and our own comfort, but to become givers so that others around us can be raised and lifted up and enabled to become the best that they can be. 

Last year I heard Constable Martin, one of the Dromore Police Officers, speaking of these things. He has been very concerned about the number of teens in Dromore who have become directionless.  He has been trying to initiate projects where some of this directionless energy is channelled into positive ways.  One of these is the repair shop… fixing bicycles. Another is initiating sporting events during the holidays.  He is convinced that these kinds of projects have an impact. He spoke of one teenager who was becoming problematic in the town a few years ago engaging in anti-social behaviour. In befriending the teenager, he managed to get the youngster involved in a boxing academy to channel his directionless energies into some kind of discipled structure. He said it made an enormous difference in the life of that teenager, whose life he says has now begun taking on a different turn simply because he was given a little direction and a lift up at a time when he was becoming directionless and destructive. 

I wonder if that is what this story and others like it in Marks Gospel are pointing towards. The nurturing of a society where no-one is left behind. And ultimately it benefits us all when the unruly and directionless energy is channelled and nurtured and fed in positive and wholesome ways. 

Just some food for thought for us all today. Amen. 

Come Away... Rest a While - Mark 6:30-34 

In 2002 Norah Jones released a song called “Come away with me”

Come away with me in the night
Come away with me
And I will write you a song

Come away with me on a bus
Come away where they can't tempt us, with their lies
And I want to walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high

So won't you try to come
Come away with me and we'll kiss
On a mountaintop

Come away with me
And I'll never stop loving you
And I want to wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I'm safe there in your arms

So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away with me

In our Gospel passage today, the context is different, but Jesus words to his disciples in verse 31 echo the words of Norah Jones (or perhaps it should be said it is the other way around), Norah Jones words echo the words of Jesus to his disciples: “Come away with me... and rest a while”

They are words that help emphasize how important it is that we should make time to re-charge our batteries. 

Jesus’ invitation to the disciples to come away with him and rest a while comes straight after two significant passages in Mark’s Gospel. Firstly it comes after the passage where Jesus sends out the 12. Secondly, it comes after the news that John the Baptist has been beheaded. 

In response to the disciples missionary journey, Jesus points out the need for them to rest and to be recharged. Jesus is in touch with their humanity and his own. He is not a slave driver. He is concerned about their well-being.  He knows that it is not possible to keep on keeping on without a break. He is in tune with the rhythm of life. There is a time to work and a time for rest. There is a time to be out engaging with the world, and there is a time for retreating from the world. 

There is a time to come away. 

Even computers need to defrag once in a while. And if we never take out cars in for a service they no longer run efficiently. 

This is true even of Jesus. In this passage, we encounter something of Jesus own humanity. He has just received news of the death of John the Baptist. Jesus needs to take time out in order to sit with his pain and his grief. 

It is a reminder that grief is not something we can escape. The only way out is through.  A hospice nurse once said that grieving is like digging through a mountain with a teaspoon. And there are no short-cuts to the other side of the mountain. 

Jesus draws aside to sit with his pain and grief at the loss of his cousin John. He does not try to avoid it. 

It is a reminder that we too have inner work that we all need to do that cannot be avoided. 

Secondly we see that even with Jesus his plans can go awry. 

While Jesus is making plans to get away, the crowds are making plans to find Jesus.  In verse 32-33 we read that Jesus and the disciples left by boat for a quiet place where they could be alone. But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. 

It all sounds a little bit like the paparazzi. 

Imagine wanting to get away for the weekend and when you arrive at your destination your clients are waiting for you in the hotel lobby! 

Jesus’ response is quite remarkable and reveals that there was something remarkable about him. It reveals his enormous capacity for compassion. 

We read in verse 34 that when Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. 

The Greek word in the passage for compassion refers to being moved in one’s gut. While he Hebrew word for compassion is taken from the root word rechem, which means womb. Both words suggest that Jesus is moved and touched in the depth of his being. There is a maternal instinct in Jesus. It is as though Jesus considers each of those in the crowd as though they were his own off-spring, his own children. They are part of the circle of Jesus love. 

Though most of us might have been tempted to tell the crowds off or to send them away, Jesus reaches out to them in love and compassion. There were plenty of other religious teachers like the Pharisees, who told the crowds that they were unclean and not good enough for God.  Jesus expresses God’s heart of love where all are embraced and included. 

And he is particularly concerned about them because he describes them as being sheep without a shepherd.  This is a phrase that can be found in multiple places in the Old Testament and refers to the failure of the of true leadership in Israel… the leaders of Israel, both secular and religious care for themselves more than for the well-being of their people. And in response to this failure in Israel’s leaders, Jesus steps in to respond with compassion as a true shepherd of the people should. 

Getting back to the theme of rest, the passage beautifully illustrates the need for balance in our lives between self-care and selfless service. Jesus acknowledges the disciples' need for rest (together with his own need for rest) and makes an intentional effort to withdraw from the demands of their ministry. This moment highlights the importance of recognizing our limitations and the necessity of taking time to recharge and renew our spirits.

Yet, when faced with the pressing needs of the crowd, Jesus is moved by compassion. He does not ignore their plight; instead, he responds with compassion. This response shows that while self-care is crucial, there are times when compassion calls us to go beyond our comfort and convenience to serve others.

How do we find this balance in our own lives? In a world that often glorifies busyness and productivity, it is easy to neglect self-care. We may feel guilty for taking time for ourselves, fearing that we are being selfish or lazy. However, this passage reminds us that rest is not a luxury but a necessity. Just as Jesus called his disciples to rest, we too must heed the call to take care of our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

On the other hand, our call to serve and show compassion remains ever-present. We live in a world where the needs are great, and the cries for help are many.  Our challenge is to learn how respond to these needs without neglecting our own.

What are some practical steps we might take to help us to achieve this kind of balance: 

Firstly, to schedule regular times for rest.  We all need to make rest a regular part of our routine. Whether it's a daily quiet time, a weekly Sabbath, or using one’s annual leave wisely, iwe all need to make sure that we don’t run on empty and we have enough fuel in our tank to respond with kindness and compassion to the needs and responsibilities of life.

Secondly, listen to your body and your spirit. Pay attention to signs of fatigue, stress, and burnout. Be honest with yourself about your limits and take necessary breaks.

Thirdly, set healthy boundaries:  There is a time to say yes, but there is also a time for saying no. 

Fourthly making time for prayer and meditation: Jesus in the Gospels regularly makes time for prayer and stillness.  His example encourages us to engage in practices that enable us to remain centred and to connect with our inner selves and the Divine.  Such prayer is not just about using words. There is a time when our words need to come to an end and we hear God’s invitation to rest into the stillness of God’s presence and love. 

And so, when are the demands of life weigh heavily on us, and the needs and sufferings of others become an irritation and a burden to us, may we make time to rest so that we have enough spiritual fuel within to respond to others with  compassion.  May we respond to the invitation of Jesus “Come away with me and rest a while”. Amen. 

Shaking off the Dust 

In our lectionary passage today, Mark 6:7-13 describes Jesus sending out the Twelve disciples, instructing them to take minimal provisions and granting them authority over unclean spirits. 

Ched Myers in his book "Binding the Strong Man” views Mark's Gospel as a narrative of radical discipleship where Jesus invites his followers into a peaceful social revolution, a revolution of love.  And we see this being worked out in the passage in 3 ways: 

Firstly, Jesus invites his disciples to practice radical dependence: 

In the passage Jesus orders his disciples to take nothing with them for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, and no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.  

By ordering the disciples to take nothing but a staff, Ched Myers suggests that Jesus is challenging the socio-economic norms of the time. Jesus is encouraging his disciples to foster a deeper dependence on God and the hospitality of others, reflecting a critique of the materialism and self-reliance prevalent in the Roman Empire.

This is very challenging for Western Christians today.  We live in a culture that emphasizes material wealth above all things, and so that the radical simplicity of Jesus instructions to his disciples seem quite foreign to us.  

Secondly, Jesus’ instructions to his disciples to a life of radical dependence seems to have had a further purpose of fostering community and solidarity. 

The disciples are sent out in pairs, which Ched Myers would interpret as a model of mutual support and communal living. This emphasis on solidarity, community and interdependence, would have stood in stark contrast to the individualistic and hierarchical structures of the Roman world.

In our Western Culture, along with materialism, one of our supreme values is independence and individualism.  But the danger of holding up independence too highly is that the more independent we become, the more we think we do not need other people and so the deeper the danger for isolation and loneliness. 

We think that ask for help and to reach for support is failure.  By contrast, Jesus’ disciples in this passage are instructed to practice a life of radical dependence and in doing to to nurture the bonds of community and solidarity. 

Thirdly, Ched Myers and other commentators like him suggest that in this passage we see something of Jesus’ Subversive Mission, what some have called Jesus’ conspiracy of love.  

The mission of the disciples is to include preaching repentance and casting out demons, actions that Ched Myers interprets as subversive to the established social order. 

Proclaiming repentance implies a call to change one's way of life and one’s view point, challenging the status quo. 

Casting out demons can be seen as a metaphor for confronting and overcoming anything and everything in life that oppresses people. By contrast Ched Myars suggests that in Mark’s Gospel Jesus is nurturing a society in which all are given the space and the potential to thrive, grow and blossom as the children of God. 

The last thing that I would like to reflect on in this passage are Jesus’ instructions to his disciples to engage in the practice of shaking the dust from their sandals in towns which reject them.   

Verse 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.

A few weeks ago I came across the following quote: 

"When we hold onto resentment, we let other people live rent-free in our heads."

This saying encapsulates the idea that holding onto negative emotions, resentments or grudges allows the offending person or situation to occupy mental and emotional space, often to our own detriment. It helps to emphasize the importance of letting go of resentment for one's own mental well-being.  I wonder if this is at least part of what Jesus means by shaking the dust from our sandals. 

Shake it off, says Jesus, and move on. It is a pathway for living with greater psychological freedom. Let go of the resentment and the bitterness. Shake off the dust so that you do not internalize the rejection or let it affect your self-worth.

Secondly, for the disciples, this advice underscores the importance of staying focused on their mission. Instead of dwelling on failure or rejection, they are encouraged by Jesus to continue their work with a clear mind and a clear purpose. Shake the dust off and move on to the next town says Jesus. Shaking the dust off is a way of helping us us to maintain our motivation and to persevere in the face of setbacks.

Thirdly shaking off the dust can be interpreted as setting healthy boundaries. It allows us to acknowledge that we have done our part and that the responsibility for acceptance or rejection lies with the other person and not ultimately with ourselves. Other people’s reactions are outside of our ability to control. Shake the dust off says Jesus, don’t dwell on things that you can do nothing to change. 

Fourthly, the practice of shaking the metaphorical dust off our sandals is an invitation to foster resilience.  Jesus is teaching us that rejection is a part of the journey and not a final verdict on one's life and value. For Jesus, rejection needs to be accepted as part of life and as a temporary obstacle.  

Lastly, by shaking off the dust, Jesus invites his disciples and us to reclaim our agency and our control over our responses. It is often said that we cannot control what happens to us, but we do have control over our responses.  Jesus instruction to shake the dust off is an invitation to make an active choice to move forward, rather than be left churning over anger and resentment in our heads and hearts over and over again. Shake the dust off says Jesus to his disciples and move on. Don’t let people’s rejection of you stick for too long. Best to shake it off quickly and move on with your life. 

And that is clearly the way that Jesus lived. He didn’t dwell on stuff in his head forever, churning it over and over like most of us do. Jesus shook the metaphorical dust off his sandals and moved on with his life.  We see this in the passage just prior to this one.  In last weeks lectionary passage, Jesus is rejected in his home-town of Nazareth.  But he doesn’t dwell on it. He moves on.  In fact his very next move is to send out disciples to further his work and mission in the surrounding towns. He doesn’t let the dust of other people’s rejection cling to his sandals or to mess with his head. And for this reason, Jesus lives as a free person.  And he is inviting his disciples and  to this life of psychological freedom also,  letting go of our grudges, hurts and resentments, shaking the dust off our sandals in order to live as free people in the present embracing life with energy and positivity instead.  

What dust might you or I need to shake off our sandals today in order to stop people living rent free in our heads, so that we, like Jesus might live as free people? What are the resentments that you are living with that are dragging you down that are preventing you from living with joy and freedom today? Amen. 

Would Jesus be rejected by us today? 
​
Today’s Lectionary passage in Mark 6:1-6 recounts Jesus’ visit to his hometown, where he faces rejection by those who knew him growing up.

Mark 6:1-6 (NIV)
    1. Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples.
    2. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?
    3. Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offence at him.
    4. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home."
    5. He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
    6. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.

Ched Myers, in his influential book "Binding the Strong Man," interprets this passage within the broader socio-political context of Mark’s Gospel. Myers argues that Mark's Gospel presents Jesus as a having a radical prophetic ministry challenging the existing power structures and social norms of his day. We saw that in our analysis of last weeks passage of the healing of the marginalised women and the raising of Jairus’s daughter.   
The fact that Jesus message challenged the existing power structures and social norms of his day should not be surprising. When you follow the logic of love and begin to treat people at the bottom of society with equal dignity and respect as those at the top, this becomes a major challenge to the status quo. From this perspective, the rejection that Jesus faces in his hometown can be seen as a consequence of the of his radical message of love, in which all people are honoured as having equal dignity and where the lowest in society are empowered and lifted up.

In this regard, Jesus identifies himself with the tradition of prophets who were often without honour in their own communities. We see this in Ezekiel 2:2-5 where we read of Ezekiel’s calling in which he hears the voice of God telling him: 
     Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites,
    rebels who have rebelled against me;
    they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day.
The implication is clear, that Ezekiel must not expect his message to be well received. He must expect to be rejected by a rebellious people who do not know the ways of God’s love.  

Getting back to Mark’s Gospel, The townspeople’s lack of faith is rooted in their inability to transcend their familiarity with Jesus' ordinary background. Ched Myers suggests that this lack of faith reflects the community's collective resistance to the radical Jesus' message which Jesus is sharing with them.  Their lack of faith in him is an expression of their resistance to change. It is a defence mechanism to preserve the status quo. Who does Jesus think he is upsetting the way society is ordered and challenging the ways we have always done things? 

By identifying Jesus as a carpenter and the son of Mary, the townspeople of Nazareth attempt to diminish his authority and his legitimacy. In first-century Palestine, a carpenter was considered a lower-class artisan, and the mention of Jesus as "Mary's son" implies a scandalous background.  Only illegitimate children in first Century Judaism would have been referred to as being the son of their mother.  The implication was clear, the people of his home-town were questioning his paternity and in doing so diminishing he legitimacy and his authority. 

It raises the questions for us today… if Jesus had to have been born into our country and our culture today, how many of us would genuinely feel threatened by his message? What aspects of our culture would Jesus challenge? What marginalised group might Jesus be identifying with or seeking to protect that would make us feel uncomfortable?  In what way would we seek to diminish his legitimacy and authority because we would prefer the status quo not to be challenged? Would Jesus be despised and rejected in our town, culture? 

But there is also another layer of meaning in this passage that points to ordinary human jealousy.  The people of Nazareth’s rejection of Jesus is also clearly motivated by jealousy and resentment.  They are threatened and offended by his success and popularity as a religious teacher. It seems that this is quite a common characteristic of small enclosed communities. When one person rises too high in others estimation the tendency is to want to cut that person down to size. Who does he think he is… we’ll show him.  In our interpersonal relationships, do we resent the success of other people? Or are we able to rejoice in other people’s successes? 

In this regard, there are four Sanskrit words from the Buddhist tradition that might be helpful for us in more deeply understanding the loving way of Jesus: 

In Buddhism, the Sanskrit term used to describe the quality of taking joy in someone else's good fortune is mudita. Mudita is one of the four Brahmaviharas, or "sublime states," which I believe are very descriptive of the person and the way of Jesus:

Metta (Loving-kindness): The wish for all beings to be happy.
Karuna (Compassion): The wish for all beings to be free from suffering.
Mudita (Sympathetic Joy): The feeling of joy at the success and happiness of others.
Upeksha (Equanimity): A balanced and impartial state of mind.

Mudita is specifically the ability to feel genuinely happy for the joy, success, and good fortune of others without jealousy or envy. This quality helps to cultivate positive relationships and emotional well-being, fostering a sense of interconnectedness and community.

In the town of Nazareth, the people are lacking in this quality of mudita.  Their ability to love others is limited by their resentment of others success, and in this case resentment towards Jesus. 

In what way do we, like the townsfolk of Nazareth grow jealous and resentful towards others in their success.  Can we be inspired by the love of Jesus, that we can nurture this quality of mudita that we might instead learn to feel genuinely happy for the joy, success, and good fortune of others without jealousy or envy.

Just some challenging questions for us to consider. Amen.