Teaching, Healing, and Feeding

Mark 6:30-34
Length: 21:05

This is a message given on July 19, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.

In our Scripture lesson this morning we see similar things happen as before. This is really the height of Jesus’ ministry now. This is the peak of His popularity.

We see the Apostles return from their ministry expedition. No doubt it was an exciting and productive time in the Apostles lives. As they gather around Jesus I am sure they all want to talk and tell Him about their adventures and successes. How they healed, cast out demons, preached to the crowds and saw people’s hearts turn in repentance.

As we have studied the Apostles for the past few months now, we know what they were like. They were hyper, impatient, excited, ready to act. As with most conversations the stories probably got bigger and better. Each Apostle was trying to tell their story and make it more exciting and more interesting than the others.

And there is Jesus in the middle of all this, listening with patience and enthusiasm for His students. If you remember from our scripture last week, a group of John the Baptists disciples approach Jesus and informed Him of the sad news that John is dead. He was executed by Herod.

Jesus is listening to the Apostles with excitement, while feeling the intense sadness of the death of the greatest man born of a women and the last Old Testament prophet. Not only that, but John the Baptist was a friend and family member of Jesus’.

What a difficult position to be in. Showing exciting for your students but also grieving the loss of a great man.

Jesus knows it is time for some rest again, to reflect on the recent events and to consider the next step in their ministry. Jesus knows that doing God’s work is extremely important, but to do it effectively we need periodic rest and renewal.

So Jesus invites them to a secluded place for rest and privacy from the crowds. But, the crowds keep coming. Some come because of Jesus’ popularity. Some have no doubt followed the Apostles back. Some have showed up over the outrage of John the Baptists death. Whatever the reason for coming, they were there. And there were lots of them.

Jesus and the Apostles jump in their boat and start to cross the Sea of Galilee once again. The people wait for a minute to see which direction the boat heads and then they start their journey by foot to the other side of the Sea.

As it turns out, some of the crowd actually beat the boat across the lake. When Jesus arrives He is once again moved with compassion for the people. He ignores His own tiredness and hunger to minister to the crowds.

Instead of showing impatience with the needy crowd, Jesus welcomed the people and ministered to their needs.
He teaches them. He heals them. And as we will see next week, He feeds them. What a wonderful model of ministry we see here. Teaching, healing, and feeding. Surely, we as a church should be doing this today.

We can all be teachers can’t we? If you are a parent, you are a teacher. We should be teaching our children and grandchildren about Christ. It is so wonderful to see children and families in Church.

Scripture tells us we are to bring our children to Christ and teach them in God’s way. We are to tell them of the miraculous works of God.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

We should be introducing Christ to our neighbors and friends and encouraging them to come to Church as well.

Teaching the gospel of Christ isn’t hard to understand. In fact, most of you here have probably taught others what it is like to be a follower of Christ whether you realize it or not. Sometimes our actions speak louder than our Words.

I remember Dr. Cook, from the Walk with the King broadcast, telling a story about how he went in to a store one day and bought some tapes. When he got out to his car, he realized he was under charged for the items.

He went back in to the clerk and explained the mistake to the clerk. The clerk replied, “I didn’t make a mistake, I just wanted to see if you practice what you preach!”

That is a testament to the gospel. You may teach it in words, but do you live it in your actions?

What about healing? We don’t have the power to heal do we? Well some of our Charismatic friends would argue that we do. I’m not so sure about that, but I do know that God has the power to heal.

How can we heal today? Easy. We can pray for healing, of others and for ourselves. We can also minister to those people that are sick. We can cook for them, clean for them, visit them, call them on the phone, send cards or letters. Everyone needs some maintenance on their homes, right? We can do whatever is needed to help them.



And finally feeding. Today this is probably the easiest type of ministry for us to perform here in the United States. We have an abundance of food. And not just an abundance, but a wide variety of food as well. We can donate money or food to the local food banks and soup kitchens. We can even volunteer at these places.

There are many poor and needy people out there, but there are also many people just going through a difficult time economically.

Listen to the words of Leviticus 25:35, “If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or sojourner, that he may live with you.”

Can you imagine if we all lived like that? No one would be hungry. No one would have need. It would all be provided for.

This is what Jesus did. He taught, healed, and fed. Isn’t this what we ought to do too? Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we need to do this to be saved.

I am simply saying, if we truly serve Christ, wouldn’t we want to do what He wants us to do? And isn’t that what he did?

Yes, I know we are all tired and this world seems to wear us out. When someone interrupts your schedule how do you view it? Is it an annoyance or is it an opportunity for you to minister to that person.

Living the Christian life means living like Christ and Christ obeyed the Father’s will.

Deuteronomy 10:12 says, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord our God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

That is what the people of the Old Testament needed to do. That is what Christ did and it is what we too need to do today.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time in your Word this morning. Help us to take what we have learned and apply it in our lives. Strengthen us so that we may live as Jesus did, teaching, healing, and feeding others. All so that you may be pleased, honored, and glorified. AMEN.