Mid Latin American nations consisting of Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Belize) were planned to hold a Bible conference during the second weekend of April, but due to the travel restrictions owing to the Corona Virus, it was postponed.
Missionary Esther Lim of Chongno II Seoul Korea who visited Nicaragua in advance to organize dance team and music program for the conference {the lady in white top in the picture below) had to come back to Korea. On her way to Korea she visited LA chapter.
Our prayer for the Lord's protection of the coworkers in the five Latin American nations, that is, shepherds and missionaries, including:
* Juan and Rebekah Kim of Nicaragua; David and Elizabeth Kang of Honduras, Moses and Sarah Chang of Belize, Isdro and Edith of El Salvador, Josue and Anna Ham, Sarah and Hilbert, Marcos and Daniela Nam and Mercy Kim of Guatemala.
In the meantime, I share the message here on line, the message which was supposed to be served at the conference Saturday Evening, the message entitled "You give them something to eat".
Mark 6:30-44
Key verse 6:37
But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
Introduction: In today’s passage our Lord Jesus gave his
disciples a shepherd training, the training to feed his flock as shepherds.
There is an interesting humor online on the Honduran young
man: a 20-year-old young man asked his 100-year-old grandmother what her
secret was to live so long. His grandmother replied, "I will
tell you if you do one thing for me, tell me the number of grains of the sand
on every beach in the entire world!" The 20 year old planning to
travel the world took this challenge and set off counting every grain of
sand in the world: he went to Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola … and all
the way to Uganda
…Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe. Eighty years later the now 100-year-old walked in
the door and into the living room where he sat down in the same chair he had
sat 80 years ago and said to himself "Oh. That's how."
This humor indicates young Hondurans are brave, bold,
persistent, and therefore teachable and trainable, just like the disciples of Jesus.
I pray that the Lord
would inspire the young Central American young men and women to be shepherds
feeding the flock of God.
I. Sheep without a shepherd (30-34)
In the previous passage Jesus had sent out his disciples who
now are called the apostles (meaning the ones who had been sent) to the towns
and villages he was about to go. Jesus empowered them with the authority to
drive out impure spirits and sent them out two by two. By faith they went out
and preached that people should repent. They also healed those who are sick.
Now they all came back from the mission journey. They gathered around Jesus and
reported to him all they had done and taught.
By the time they finished reporting, they must have been
very exhausted. They also must have been very hungry, that after eating a feast
meal like Came Asada along with Pupusa, they must have wanted to take a long
nap and then after waking up play a soccer.
But there was a problem: so many people were gathering
around Jesus that they did not have a chance to eat. Jesus understood them. So
he said, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
On hearing this, all of the apostles must have said to themselves: “Wow, thank
you Jesus. Gracias, Muchas Gracias, Mil Gracias! Te Queremos!”
So what did they do? Look at v. 32 So they went away by
themselves in a boat to a solitary place.
No sooner had they all gotten into the boat, than they were
already into the water. And the boat was gliding into the Sea of Tiberias.
They were going to a solitary place such as a Private bungalow beach front
community at the beach town Trujillo.
As the boat was gliding into the sea, Simon Peter waved his hands to the crowds
of people standing on the beach side, “Bye, bye, see you next time.” And
without no one leading the disciples of Jesus started singing a song, like
Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat Song:
“Day-o, day-ay-ay-o, Daylight come and me wan' go home. Day…
me say day, me say me say-o, Daylight come and me wan' go home…Come, Mr. Tally
Man, tally me banana…
All of the disciples were exhilarated in expectation of the
picnic coming. But little did they know that on the side of the picnic spot
there were heading, already there was developing a problem – the problem that
ruins their plan of vacation.
Look at v. 33. But many who saw them leaving recognized
them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.
As the boat was reaching the shore, the apostles saw the
crowd, waiting for them on the shore and on seeing the boat touching the shore,
they waved their hands saying, “Hello Jesus, hello Apostles, welcome!”. So, the
apostles said to themselves, “Oh, man. What the heck is going on?!”
But how did Jesus respond to the sight? Look at v. 34a. When
Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they
were like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus and the apostles saw the same group
of people. The disciples saw a large crowd, Jesus saw a large crowd. But response
was different. Jesus had compassion on them, but the disciples found them as a
burden. What made the difference? We find the answer in v. 34. Let us read the
passage one more time. Jesus saw that the crowds were like sheep without a
shepherd.
From a human standpoint, a lot of the members of the crowd must have been even better
endowed than the apostles, like some of them making more money than the
disciples, living in a better neighborhood than the disciples. But, in Jesus’
view, the apostles are all set on their wellbeing, whereas the crowds were not,
for the Apostles were sheep that had a shepherd but the crowds not.
Practically then what is it like to be a sheep without a
shepherd that Jesus had compassion on them? We find an answer to the question
in what King David shared in his Psalm, for Psalm 23 reads,
“The Lord is my shepherd, I
lack nothing. 2 He
makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,3 he restores my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even
though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you
are with me;your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You
prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You
anoint my head with oil;my
cup overflows.6 Surely your
goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever.
But man without shepherd cannot afford all the blessings
David is referring to in this psalm. Instead he suffers like a sheep who after
being lost, wanders around in a wilderness, going thirsty and hungry without
knowing where to go to quench thirst and fill stomach and find rest.
I know how miserable it is to live like a sheep without a
shepherd, for throughout my young adulthood I lived like a sheep without a
shepherd. I was born in a poor family in a small village of S. Korea.
In the family of 7 siblings I was the youngest son. Farm work was hard, so in
order to get out of the hard life in a farm I studied hard, and by the age of
19 I came to Seoul
and attend a college. But the school study was a bore. Since I could not find
the purpose and meaning, I generally goofed around, walking in and out of the
school gate just like a zombie. Have you seen a zombie? (Read the
Part I of my life testimony attached to this message.)
II. Send the people away (35-36)
So what did Jesus do? Look at v. 34b. “So he began teaching
them many things.” Let us read vs. 35-36 responsively. By this time it was
late in the day, so his disciples came to him.
“This is a remote place,” they said,
“and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they
can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something
to eat.”
In Israel
there is a trail called “Jesus
Trail”.
It is a 40-mile trail going from Nazareth
to Capernaum.
Most likely the conference took place in one of the places near the Sea of Galilee. I think the apostles when sent out two by
two visited towns and villages in the area of Galilee such as Cana,
Lavi, or Middal. Then during morning hours, they might have returned to Jesus
and reported to him all that they had done. You know the Sea
of Galilee is not a sea but a lake, yet since it is so large (33
miles in circumference,14 miles long, 8 miles wide) that they call it sea. And
it takes easily a couple of hours to cross the sea by boat. So by the time the
disciples landed, lunch time must have past. Then on seeing the crowd, out of
compassion Jesus started teaching. The teaching went on and on. One P.M. came
and went. But the teaching went on. Two pm came, but still going on. This way,
three pm, came and go. 4, 5, 6 pm… Still the teaching went on.
The disciples most of them Galilean fishermen had big
stomachs with huge appetite. So they have been waiting and waiting for the
teaching to end. But still there was no sign of it ending. Counting men only
there were about 5000, so with women and children the number could easily
exceed 10000. And everyone wanted to meet Jesus and talk and receive His love.
And one by one or one group after another, Jesus listened to all of them and
talked to them on and on.
Finally the disciples patience ran out. They agreed to ask
Jesus dismiss the crowds before too late.
and go to get a dinner meal. Look at vs. 35-36 again: ““This is a remote
place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people
away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy
themselves something to eat.”
There is a Korean hymn song entitled “Walking with Jesus.”
주와 같이 길 가는 것, 즐거운 일 아닌가, 우리 주님 걸어가신, 발자취를 밟겠네
This is an easy song to sing, but actually to follow Jesus,
walking in His footsteps, doing as He does is not always easy; in fact it is
very challenging. So even we like shepherds and missionaries end up saying, “Send the people away!”
III. You give them something to eat (37-41)
What did Jesus say to them? Look at. 37. “ But he
answered, “You give them something to eat.”
How did the disciples respond? Look at v. 37b. “They said to
him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend
that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
The disciples of Jesus were realistic people. Simon Peter
was a fisherman, so the sense of reality he goes by was “catch one fish is to secure one bowl of enchilada, two fish
two bean burritos etc.” The same was true with Matthew the tax collector. So
their idea was: in order to survive you
need to have lempira or at least credit card in your pocket.
“That would take more than half a year’s wages!” The food
price like Big Mac in Tegucigalpa Honduras is a little cheaper than the U.S., that is,
$3.45 (134 lempira). So assuming about 10000 people gathered there you need
$34,500 just to let each person eat one big Mac. No drink no French fries, but
just big Mac. This is more than a man’s half year wage. The problem was that
had they had this much money in their pocket, they could have thought about
going and getting that much of food, but the reality was they did not have that
much of money. No. Their pocket was empty. They quit their job and followed
Jesus full time. Thus far Jesus did not give them paycheck. And in sending the
disciples out on a mission journey Jesus did not allow them to bring wallet
Now, Jesus is charging them saying, “You give them something
to eat!” The charge made them upset. So in unison they said, “Are we to go and
spend that much on bread and give it to them?”
What did Jesus say? Let us read vs. 38-41 responsively.
Jesus did not argue with them. Instead Jesus asked them:
“How many loaves do you have?”
I think the disciples were dumbfounded at this question, so
on hearing the question they just looked at each other, and shrugged their shoulders.
Noting this, Jesus further said, “Go and see.”
Then they started looking around and asking people, and
finally they found out and said, “Five—and two fish.” It was a lunch box
carried by a small boy!
Then Jesus said, “Have all the people sit down in groups on
the green grass.” Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in
groups on the green grass.
This time,
mysteriously the disciples did
not talk back to Jesus. Faith
came into their hearts. They believed
in Jesus! [Can anyone read Mark 6:1-6? In Mark 6:5-6 it reads, “He could not do
any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal
them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.” And I amazed at
the disciples’ faith, because they believed that Jesus was
going to feed through them the crowds of people with what they had brought to
him. So by faith they obeyed Jesus’ order: they all went around and talked to
people to sit down in groups on the green grass. Some folks of the crowds asked
why. But the disciples said, “Just sit down. We are going to serve you a value
meal.” So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.
Now look at v. 41. Taking the five loaves and the two
fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave
them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish
among them all.
What was the result? Look at vs. 42-44.
42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and
the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and
fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
In conclusion, in the passage the Lord trained them to live as
a shepherd who with the sense of responsibility takes care of sheep. During my college days I used to live like a
zombie. (Since I did know Jesus I lived at random, so I smelled so bad that
when I came to the UBF, sisters could not come close to me. ) By God’s grace during the winder of 1972 one of
my law school classmates invited me to a Bible study in UBF. He fed me with the
word of God and over time granted the mercy to live a shepherd for the American
college students. (For the life as a shepherd please refer to the part II of my
life testimony attached.)
One word: you give them something to eat.
