April 16, 2025; Mark 6:30-56

Daily Dose of Hope

April 16, 2025

Day 3 of Week 3

 

Scripture - Mark 6:30-56

 

Prayer:  Lord, as we get closer to Resurrection Sunday, I would ask you to prepare our hearts.  Regardless of what is going on in our lives, help us focus on you.  Lord, please us these next few moments of silence to speak to our deepest needs, to those places of heaviness, sorrow, or anxiety deep in our soul...Lord, we are grateful for the hope you offer.  We love you, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we finish up Mark 6.  We get to participate in the feeding of the 5,000 and watch Jesus walk on water.  What an amazing picture of God’s Kingdom!

 

At the beginning of today's narrative, we find that the disciples are tired.  They have been traveling and doing ministry.  Jesus knows they need time away so he decides to take them somewhere else.  Scripture says, “a solitary place.”  But people see where they are headed and follow them.  Now, their little retreat has been invaded by hundreds and then thousands of desperate people. 

Picture this: Verse 44 states there were roughly 5000 men there, which doesn’t include the women and children because at that time, women and children would not be in the official count.  We are talking probably 10-15,000 people.  The disciples ask Jesus to send the people away because they are in a remote place and they are going to need to find some dinner.  Now, the disciples were simply being practical, right?  It makes sense that they would immediately think to send them away, seems like the easiest solution.  And they were tired.  And they were probably a bit annoyed and wanted them to just go away.  But that isn’t what Jesus decided to do. 

Jesus tells the disciple