“Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”” Mark 6:36-37a ESV
Reflection: how do you define what is possible and what is impossible?
Many people around the world are following the World Cup, watching their country, their players go up against players from another country. And, in many matches, the expected winner does win. But sometimes, the underdog wins, the almost impossible happens. Depending on who you are rooting for, it might be a wonderful moment, or a hugely defeating moment. And, history is full of stories, where some people have completely beat the odds. Have overcome what seems humanly impossible. You might have your favorite story in mind. You might even have your own story of overcoming obstacles where the odds are completely stacked against you. Now, the question is, as in our reflection for today, how do you define what is possible?
Take most modern inventions, and if you had asked someone a couple generations back, they would have said “that’s impossible”. My grandfather would have not believed what we can do today, what we take for granted every day, using our mobile phones. And, while we might think of those who lived a couple generations back as not very smart, not very informed, the truth is that we do the same. We set boundaries around what we think is possible, based on some criteria. And, outside of that boundary, by default, we often say “that’s impossible.” You can almost think of what you consider to be possible as a box. A “possibility box”. And, what is so interesting about this is that how we define this box is different from person to person. Some possibility boxes are rather small, perhaps based on what a person has seen, experienced or even achieved. While for others, the “sky’s the limit”. These are often the dreamers and the inventors, those that often say “there has to be a way”.
The disciples ran into a possibility problem. Over 5000 people had followed Jesus and the disciples to “a desolate place”, where they were supposed to rest. But there was no rest, because the people were so hungry for truth. Starving, in fact. Because the religious leaders had been feeding them junk food for so long. So when they finally heard Jesus, heard the truth, bread from heaven, they could not get enough. And, being at this desolate place also meant there was no physical food to get. You probably know the story. But, what we need to stop at for a moment to consider here is the “possibility box” of the disciples. We read from v35, “And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”” Mark 6:35-36 ESV. It was a very practical solution they offered Jesus, right? Not sure about you, but I probably would have said something similar. But, Jesus has something else in mind. “But he answered them,
“You give them something to eat.” Mark 6:37a ESV
Can you now image how they were trying to process what He said? They probably thought that He just didn’t understand the situation. He just didn’t get it. So, they give Jesus a bit of a “smart” remark back to Him, perhaps laughing as they said it. “And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”” Mark 6:37b ESV. They knew this was a joke as it would no way feed over 5000 people. It was completely impossible. But Jesus then just expand their “possibility box”. No, He really blows it up, “And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied.” Mark 6:38-42 ESV
Can you now image how silly the disciples must have felt? But even more importantly, how much bigger their “possibility box” had become?
We see this all throughout scripture, that some people’s faith is bigger than others; as some truly believe “with God all things are possible.”” Matthew 19:26b ESV. The disciples learned a huge lesson from Jesus, about never limiting God, even with something so very practical as the food we eat. So, let’s be honest with ourselves, and ask how big is our own “possibility box”? Do we put limits on ourselves in what we can achieve, in the mission God has for us in this life? But more importantly, do we also put limits on what God can achieve, in us, through us, for us? Perhaps we should hand our limitations to God, and ask Him to expand our box, to grow our faith?
