Worship

“We Make Space” by Melissa Helser

Scripture

“After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.” -John 6:1-13 (ESV)

The Historical Context

Passover was nearing, meaning that the people were making their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They would have been reflecting on how the Lord fed the Israelites manna in their 40 years in the wilderness following Egypt. People were quite curious about this Jesus and the healing miracles they were seeing and hearing about. Curiosity caused them to press in a little closer. His love for them wooed them to a wide-open space where He could lay them down in green pastures to restore their souls and feed their empty spiritual bellies. He would feed them in their own little wilderness that day, both literally and spiritually. Additionally in Mark’s gospel account, Mark shares how they had been listening to His teaching all day and were hungry. Knowing what He wanted to feed them, He invites His beloved disciples to get hungry, too.

That morning, a mom had sent her poor, young son out with a packed lunch of barley cakes and two salted fish to be eaten as a relish on his cake. (Barley in that day was a very undervalued grain.) And to feed roughly 15,000 men, women, and children seemed impossible to Philip. One thing was true of Jesus as He trained His disciples—He always positioned them against impossibility to show them the vastness of His goodness. As Jesus starts up his new catering endeavor that day, His guys look on with practicality, unbelief, and impossibility—so they thought.

The people didn’t know the miracle was happening, but the disciples did. They got to partner with Him to distribute the miracle to the people! Later, their very lives would be a miracle of salvation—a salvation to be distributed to a waiting world. The precious “Bread of Life” was showing them how to partner with God to bring Heaven to Earth. They were learning what it would mean for the Bread of Life to be broken for the salvation of the world. Not one piece would be wasted. But here’s the differentiator: Jesus invited His disciples to come in close to observe what thousands and thousands didn’t have the privilege to intimately see. He wanted to stir up in them a hunger for the impossible and miraculous.

Two Levels of Witness

As I sat with Jesus, I asked Him to unwrap the significance of this story to me. I wrote in my journal the counsel of the Holy Spirit regarding this text. This is what He placed in my spirit:

Gather the hungry ones, and let Me create a testimony of encounter and miraculous stories—a place of My extravagant power and goodness. Sit in the open space of My promises and My Word (a place of rest and quiet waters), and I will feed My hungry ones. I long for My people to get still and get hungry so I can come in joyous wonder and miraculous power. I will instruct My disciples (those following me intently) on the hidden treasures, the behind-the-scenes that no one else sees, so that their faith goes even deeper. This is the privilege of following so closely to Me in the unknown. I will teach and train you how to partner with Me so intimately.

There are two audiences in this story: the wide-eyed disciples and the hungry crowd. And both needed to see, taste, and know I was the Bread of Life. Both audiences needed an encounter but at two different levels. Both needed to see the miracle, but only a few had the privilege of knowing the intimate details of the miracle. Others just received the fruit of the miracle. Every person with eyes on Me has either option in an encounter—to be changed by the intimacy of being close or just receiving a meal.

The disciples saw what I did when presented with a need. They heard what I prayed for when given so little to work with. They got to walk through a test of belief and have faith deposited in them; they got to feed the people in their own hunger; they got to watch people go from hunger to being full. They were participants in unlocking the miracle for the crowd. What was impossible before was transformed into possible as it passed through Me. When confronted with the invitation to consume Me with their whole life, many fell away at that moment. It was too much to accept—too much change. They wanted their feast with no responsibility to follow Me. Some just wanted to stay a part of the crowd—the onlookers—who would never get intimately close to Me. But I was the Bread of Life for both. Some would no longer follow Me.

I want people to experience the intimacy of My wondrous love and miracles. But it costs you something to stay intimately connected. You have to stay so close to Me to really see what I am doing. For some, it costs too much, and they just want to remain part of the crowd and go back home to life as usual. Where are My disciples who will stay so very close to Me?

Can’t you just hear Jesus’ voice of longing that we come in close and see what others never will? Can’t you just picture His beaming smile and look of expectation? He has so much if we just come in close and get hungry for Him. This is His plea to us today. Will you take Him at His word as He invites you to see what others never will because you are so near to Him? You can hear His heartbeat race when He sees the person across the way who He wants to bring His love to through you. You can feel His compassion rise up in you when He wants to bring miraculous healing to the person at the grocery store through your partnership with Him. The closer we stay, the more miraculous encounters we get to watch and participate in as Jesus partners with us and lives His glorious life out through us.

The Young Boy’s Example

The little boy who came that day to the wide-open space to hear Jesus was probably hungry before the day even started. Perhaps his mom had taught him to be generous with the very little that they had. It doesn’t seem that he hesitated to share his meager meal. And then it was multiplied, broken, distributed, and the overflow recollected. Jesus doesn’t waste any of the broken pieces of barley cakes or our life experiences. Can you imagine what he ran home to tell his mom that day? Can you imagine the wonder of the villagers as they were told the story?

Prayer

Lord, I pray You would lay us down today in wide open spaces of Your promises and Your wonder. I pray that we would come so close today to feast on our Bread of Life. Thank You for breaking Your very life for us that we would be whole, healed, saved, and set free. Thank You for not wasting any of the broken pieces of our lives but instead using them to testify of Your goodness, love, wonder, and power. Consume us as we make space. Clear the clutter and come close. We are ready!