Feeding His Sheep

In our tiredness and exhaustion, sometimes all we want to do is get away from the people we’ve been ministering to. Yes, we do need to get away for the flourishing of our health and families, but Jesus does something interesting in Mark 6.

He is well aware of their physical, emotional, and spiritual capacities. He knows that these brothers thought they were traveling to retreat but instead were given another full day of ministry wear and tear.

“Send them away” the disciples suggest to Jesus. But Jesus counters with something else.

“Feed them,” He replies.

Jesus is asking His disciples to go above and beyond what they felt like doing in the moment. Remember, the disciples were coming off the high of a successful ministry trip that had produced incredible fruit. They were definitely tired, but perhaps Jesus took them to a place that dashed their expectations so that they might not get the wrong perspective of ministry so early in their vocational journeys. Ministry can become very “professional,” and pastors can become salespeople that deliver a product in a way that is clean, efficient, and void of any human messiness. Maybe Jesus brought the disciples to a place that was going to be anything but desolate so that they might not forget what shepherds were called to do: feed His sheep.

It’s also good to remember how the Good Shepherd has come to us in our waywardness and fed us with the food of His undeserved mercy.

When Jesus asks the disciples to “give them something to eat,” He is the One who ends up feeding them. The disciples just serve the food and gather the leftovers.

Pastor, don’t forget who you are! Jesus is calling you to feed the people with the food that only He can provide! Your job is to serve and to gather.

He is the One who gives you the faith and the hands to accomplish that! What the disciples learned in that not-so-desolate place is that Jesus calls shepherds to show compassion to shepherdless sheep.

This is how they are fed the very food of Christ to nourish their spiritual souls.