The Good News: Mark Part 13

I remember my trip to Washington DC when I was in High School. During that trip I got to explore the nations capital with a bunch of crazy high school students while learning about leadership. During this trip I also was moved by the countless numbers of disabled vets that lined the streets of our nations capital. I remember this one man in particular. He sat in a wheel chair, both legs were missing and he had a nasty scare down the side of his face. Yet, despite all the things this man had suffered he sat there smiling sharing stories with anyone that would listen about the joy and pride he had for the service he gave to his country. Though this man never asked for a dime a few of us were moved to buy this man lunch and spend a little time listening to his story.

I had almost forgot about this event till I was reading in Mark 6 today. As I was reading I came across the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 with a couple fish and a few loves of bread. As soon as I started reading this passage I was struck by the power of Jesus' miracle. However, what I found to be most striking in this passage isn't the miracle but the compassion in our Lord Jesus.

You see, while Jesus' disciples were ready to send everyone away Jesus wanted to meet their most immediate need. The reason Jesus wanted to meet this need was because He knew that He was their greatest need and that by showing them this compassion that He could show them the good news of God's kingdom.

Much like this old vet I meet in DC we all are in need of some compassion from time to time and Jesus wants to supply our greatest need. The fact is each one of us has a God shaped hole in our hearts and no matter how hard we try, we just can fill it.

The Good News:

As with this crowd, Jesus doesn't just meet the need we have at the moment but He exceeds our need in such a mighty way that He leaves enough leftovers for the doubting hearts of His followers. I love the fact that Jesus created enough for each disciple to pick up a basket full of the leftovers.

May you remember that Jesus knows your needs and that when He sees you struggling He doesn't look upon your need and send you away but He will meet that need with abundance. May you know that you have nothing to worry about if your life is in His hands.