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. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But [Jesus] answered, “You give them something to eat.” 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?”

Devotion based on Mark 6:35-37

The crowds had flocked to see this miracle man. Word had spread faster than a brush fire about his command over demons and his ability to heal the sick, even raise the dead. The crowds had come to hopefully witness something amazing. So many people had come that they had to move to the outskirts of town to accommodate the numbers. But now, as the hour of the day was late, it was time for the people to head home.

Jesus’ disciples begged him to send the people away. ‘We’ve helped them enough. Send them home for supper. It would be impossible for us to feed all of them,’ they concluded.

Didn’t Jesus see this coming? Didn’t he know that this was going to happen? Of course, he did! In John 6:6, we’re told that “he already had in mind what he was going to do” and that he did this to test his disciples. He wanted them to see the hopelessness of the situation. He wanted them to see that it would take a miracle to solve this problem. And that is exactly what Jesus did!

We would be stranded on a hill of hopelessness, spiritually speaking, if we were all by ourselves. We would starve because of our sin and be lost to an eternity in hell. It would take a miracle to solve this problem.

But, my friend, that is exactly what Jesus did! He saved us from our guilt and sin. He provided us with the miracle we needed by laying down his life on the cross so that we wouldn’t be lost.

Prayer: