Over summer we are looking at ‘FRIENDS OF GOD’ as we find them in the gospel of Mark. This week Tracy Bishop looks at the well-known miracle, which is the only one to appear in all four Gospels, where Jesus and the disciples feed the 5000 (plus women and children).

The disciples have returned from their missions, excited by all they had seen and done, bubbling over with the stories of God working through them but at the same time tired, mentally and physically. Jesus says let’s go and chill, let’s take some rest. But even as they take a boat across the lake to a quiet spot they see in the distance hundreds even thousands running along the shore, round the lake to get to where they were going.

When they land the boat the crowd they left behind is already there, and the disciples think… REALLY!! This was our time, our space. REALLY!! But Jesus has compassion on the people and begins to feed their spiritual hunger. Hours later the disciples realise that hunger has also no become physical hunger. They need food, they need bread, well Jesus is the bread. And so he takes a problem adds faith and the power of God, and the disciples are suddenly part of this great miracle.

The reading is from Mark 6:30-44

This message was first preached on 17/08/2025