Explore the Bible: Satisfies

• The Explore the Bible lesson for Sept. 24 focuses on Mark 6:30-44.

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Terrified!  (Mark 4:1-2, 35-41; 5:1-13)  

The crowd being so large, Jesus preaches from a boat to the crowd on shore.

At sunset, Jesus announces his intent to cross the Sea of Galilee tonight. He is still in the boat he preached from as they head out into the open lake along with other boats.

Jesus soon goes to sleep. A furious squall comes up when the boat is far from shore. The wind and the waves on the dark lake are so strong, disciples become terrified.  They fear the boat will soon be swamped. They wake Jesus. He speaks to the storm, and it subsides.

In the morning, the boats reach the region of the Gerasenes.

When Jesus gets out of the boat, disciples see a fierce, naked, unkempt, self-wounded man coming from the tombs to meet him. He runs and falls on his knees in front of Jesus. Jesus says to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!

The disciples watch a herd of pigs running into the sea leaving the man at peace with Jesus. As earlier with the storm, the disciples see that Jesus has spiritual authority over a legion of demons. The disciples are terrified and ask, “Who is this?”

Satisfied! In his right mind, witnessing for Jesus (Mark 5:14-20)  

Afterwards, the local people come out to see what has happened.

When they come to Jesus, they see the once fierce, violent man sitting there dressed and in his right mind.

The local people are afraid.  They plead for Jesus to leave the region.  As Jesus is getting into the boat, the man begs to go with him.

Jesus does not let him. “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

He goes away and begins to tell in the Decapolis—10 “Greek” cities southeast of Sea of Galilee—how much Jesus has done for him. All the people were amazed.

Why did Jesus leave the Galilee preaching ministry and receptive crowds, scaring his disciples in the midnight storm to arrive at this desolate spot? While still in Galilee, perhaps Jesus heard the man cry out to him for liberation from Legion. Jesus responded to his cry, left the Galilee crowds, faced the storm, and went straight to him.  The man responded by running to Jesus as soon as he got out of the boat (KJV says “worshipped”). Legion was cast out. The man became Jesus’ follower.

Satisfied! Rest can come later. (Mark 6:30-34)  

Later, back in Galilee: so many people come and go that Jesus and the disciples do not have a chance to eat. Jesus decides they will go away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

People who see Jesus and disciples leaving recognize them and run on foot from all the towns and get to the place ahead of them. Probably about this time, a boy has his mother or father pack a lunch for him in a piece of cloth—five loaves of bread and two fish, so he can go see Jesus with friends.

When Jesus’ boat lands and he sees a large crowd, Jesus has compassion on them. So, he begins teaching them many things.

Satisfied! Communion on the shore (Mark 6:34-44)  

The disciples remind Jesus “It is late and the people are hungry.” He responded, “You give them something to eat”.

But the disciples think it is “too expensive.”

Jesus says: “How many loaves do you have?  Go and see.”

The answer is five small loaves and two fish—a boy’s lunch.

“Have them sit down in groups of hundreds or fifties,” Jesus commanded.

Jesus accepts the five small loaves and two fish from the boy. Jesus looks up to heaven and gives thanks for the food. He starts breaking the loaves and the fish. Each disciple has obtained a basket to carry the food to the people.

Imagine you are in the crowd. The food is distributed, shared and eaten in a reverent way. Maybe no one notices the miracle because they are experiencing communion with Jesus.

God supplies. More than 5,000 people are satisfied.

Glen Funderburk has taught children’s Sunday school for many years. These lessons on the Gospel of Mark are written from the perspective of children.