Why is God so good at feeding people in the wilderness?
[This is Part 4 of “God Fills the Space He Creates” – As in the earlier posts, there are devotional questions at the end of the writing. I encourage you to utilize them for your own study and to interact with one another in the comment section. Thanks!]
In Mark 6, after the disciples had returned from a ministry journey in the nearby villages, Jesus leads them to a deserted place for some rest and a bite to eat.
Unlike many contemporary church strategies—to strike while the iron is hot—Jesus doesn’t seem to care if the disciples received the contact info of those they served. No phone calls were made to make sure they didn’t lose them to another messiah. No four-step communication strategy to get them plugged in to the movement.
It seems the whole endeavor was less about Jesus making converts of the nearby towns and more about him having compassion on the people who lived there.
Following their return, Jesus turns to his disciples and compassionately leads them by boat to a far away, deserted place to share a meal.
Mark tells us that the crowds not only heard about their departure, but rushed ahead to meet them on the other side of the sea.
As Jesus got to the shore, his compassion appears to shift. Though it seemed he wanted to get away for some rest, his mercies moved toward the waiting crowd.
And though they were all together in one place, he saw them as a scattered people. Though they all found him, he saw them as lost.
And so, before a single fish sandwich was made, Jesus started teaching them.
Did he forget? Didn’t we come here to eat?
All day long he taught them. And he just keeps teaching them.
The disciples are getting antsy. They haven’t even had any lunch yet!
Besides that, the hour is late and they fear that the people’s hunger will only multiply with nothing to eat. Sure, the teachings of Jesus can sustain them, but only for so long. Soon, the people will be dissatisfied.
Stuck in this god-forsaken deserted place, the disciples don’t see any other way than to send them the way they came.
“Send the people away so they can get something to eat,” they say.
“Out here, we are in a deserted place. Out here, we are too far away. Out here, there is nothing to eat! Send them back to their villages. Send them to the places where they can buy food as they normally would. Send them to what they know!”
Did the disciples not realize they were talking to the One who had already been sent away? Did they not yet understand he was the One sent by his Father in their likeness so his presence might make them satisfied? Did the disciples not remember that he had already sent them away to this very place only hours before?
The sending has already happened, brothers! “You give them something to eat.”
Dumbfounded, they cannot comprehend the idea of having to go out and pay for enough food to feed a multitude. In their confusion, they were seeing through the lens of their own comprehension, not the compassion of Jesus.
They see Jesus, but Jesus saw them—and the crowds—and he was moved with compassion.
Like sheep without a shepherd, he saw them. Just as God saw his people throughout the Old Testament whenever they were in a deserted place.
The Good Shepherd recognizes his people when they are lost and scattered.
When Jesus reached the shore, he was not surprised. This was not his first sighting.
He saw them as he had always seen them. Scattered and without a Savior.
And He saw them because He had never lost sight of them.
He was already there—with compassion he had already moved there—filling the deserted space with himself and all he brought with him: his compassion, his companions and his calm, so that not one person would need to be sent away.
The disciples sensed it and the Lord already knew it: The crowds were at their end.
Like sheep without a shepherd, they waited in the weakness of the wilderness for someone with the strength to save them.
And without yet realizing it, this deserted place was exactly where the people needed to be. For lunch was about to be served. Beyond their comprehension or expectations, the fish sandwiches were coming.
And though the people would soon eat, this wasn’t just about a meal.
To be clear, I do believe that Jesus wanted to get away to a deserted place to share a meal with his disciples. And the feeding of the multitude is more meaningful than we often acknowledge. (It might be the meal and the rest he was anticipating for them all along).
But, I also believe that these verses remind us that no place will remain a desert as long as it’s a place where the Divine has put his foot down.
For wherever he steps, he sanctifies.
This is crucial for those who claim to be his companions. As we follow the Lord we would do well to make ourselves at home and take off our sandals. For in his presence every deserted place is transformed into holy ground.
In Mark 6, Jesus is sent to the wilderness by the Father to fill the hunger that he created within the crowd. To feed them with the food he created for them. To empty himself so that they would be filled with baskets overflowing.
He was sent, so that his companions might begin to be filled with the same compassion by which he was moved.
The scriptures teach that God brings nourishment and refreshment to a barren land. Whether it’s manna in the wilderness, water from a rock, or streams in the desert, God seems to do his best work in the far away places, out of sight and in the dirt.
This must be why Jesus is drawn to those places.
We see this in the first chapter of Mark as well.
“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”” – Mark 1:35-37
Notice how Jesus goes to a deserted place, far enough away to hide and still be hunted down by the crowds. It is similar to what happens in Mark 6.
Jesus going to a deserted place is not simply so that he can go far away to get rest—which he and every man needs—but so that God can continue to make the far away place, his place.
In this, God brings glory to the desert and holiness to the wilderness.
For wherever he steps, he sanctifies.
When people are hungry, whether in stomach or in heart, they will always hunt for an elusive god. In the case of Jesus, he is the God who will not remain hidden. He is the God who finds those hunting.
He is the God of compassion who will move toward everyone who is hungry to satisfy their every lack.
Even you.
No matter how far off you’ve gotten. No matter how far away you feel. You are not alone. He is the God of the desert and the God in the dark. He created you from dust and still does his best work in the dirt.
You, like King David before you, might think that a holy God desires the sanctuary of sacred temples. You may believe God prefers the companionship of perfect people.
But as God asked David, “Who told you I needed a temple in the city?”
And then reminded him he was fine dwelling in a tent in the wilderness.
We must rid ourselves of the idea that God will be defiled by the ground we walk on, when the opposite is true. The holiness of God makes the desert clean and brings life to the barren land. There is no deserted place so deserted that God isn’t ready and willing to be present.
There is no stomach so empty he will not satisfy, no heart so dry he will not water, and no life so scattered he will not make whole.
There is no space that he will not fill.
Questions for personal study…
Can you think of any other examples in scripture where God feeds either individuals or groups of people in the wilderness?
How does these events in scripture relate to how God works through weakness?
Have you ever thought about wherever God steps, he sanctifies?
Why is it important that Jesus value both personal rest and rest with his disciples?
Other than rest, have you ever thought about what it might mean for Jesus to go away to far away places?
Do you resonate with the disciples’ desire that hungry people go back to where they came from to get food?
What does it mean that Jesus refuses to send them away?
How has God has satisfied your needs this last week?
How can you demonstrate gratitude to God today?
Jason Martin 
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