One of the main purposes of a midterm exam is to chart the progress of the students. After weeks of readings, lectures, and assignments, a teacher may want to gauge how well the class is retaining, processing, and synthesizing the material presented. Are they getting it? Are they putting the pieces together? Are they learning?

In the sixth chapter of his Gospel account, Mark describes a couple of exams taken by Jesus’s disciples. These twelve men are well into their “Ministry with the Messiah” studies. They had been drinking from the proverbial firehose, having seen, heard, and experienced a significant amount in his presence. But now it’s time to track their development. Are they getting it? Are they learning, growing, and understanding? And as readers witness the examination of Christ’s first-century disciples, the Holy Spirit prompts us twenty-first-century disciples to check our progress as well.

SERMON MANUSCRIPT 

One of the main purposes of a midterm exam is to chart student progress. After weeks of lessons, lectures, and assignments, an instructor wants to gauge how well the class is retaining, processing, and synthesizing the material. Are they getting it? Are they learning?

Mark 6 describes midterm exam week for Jesus’ disciples. They’re well into their “Ministry with Messiah” syllabus. They’d been drinking from the proverbial firehose, having seen, heard, and experienced a lot. But now it’s time to chart their development. Were they getting it? Were they learning? Were they growing? Were they understanding?

And as we read Mark’s account of the disciples’ fumbling through this examination, the Holy Spirit is going asking you and me to check our progress as well.

A COUPLE OF TESTS

Jesus provides his disciples with a couple of tests to gauge where they’re at in their understanding of what they’ve been called to do and the power they’ve been given to do it. The first test begins in verse 33 and we’ll call it “the test of divine provision.”

The disciples had just returned from being sent out by Jesus to preach and heal. They are exhausted. Being out of gas, the twelve were looking to rest by sailing to somewhere private, “to a secluded place by themselves.” [6:33]

They just want some rest, but the people don’t know that and, by their time the boat reaches shore there’s a huge crowd waiting for them. Rest will have to wait.

But Jesus isn’t annoyed. Instead, he’s filled with compassion. Why? “Because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” These people were wandering without guidance, protection, or nourishment. They were vulnerable, helpless, and lost. And, so, Jesus lovingly begins “to teach them many things.” 

So “many things,” in fact, that it’s “quite late” by the time he wraps it up. If the twelve weren’t tired before, they sure are now. And they come to Jesus: “It’s late. We’re hungry. They’re hungry. Jesus, send them away so they can go get food.”

Now, here comes the test of divine provision: [6:37a]. It’s a command. “You yourselves feed these people!” Exhausted disciples, thousands of hungry people, desolate setting. “You feed them.” 

You may start your exam now. How’re the twelve going to respond? Are they going to trust him to provide for all the needs present in that moment?

Before we see how they do, let’s drop to verse 45 where we find the setting for the second test: “the test of divine protection.”

At this point, the crowds have been fed, the leftovers have been collected, and Jesus sends his disciples back onto the water. He stays, dismisses the people, and then goes off to pray.

The twelve are on the sea, Jesus is on land. Day turns to night. And here comes the second test in [6:48]. So, between 3 and 6am, Jesus looks out and sees the disciples struggling, having been blown off course. What little energy stores they had left are depleted and they are running on the fumes of adrenaline. Jesus knows it, sees it, and decides to go to them.

Now, when Mark writes that Jesus “intended to pass by them” he doesn’t mean he was ignoring or teasing the disciples. No, this is the language the Bible uses to describe God showing himself to people.

Let me give a couple of examples. [Ex. 33:18–23; 1 Kgs. 19:9–11] In both instances, God “passes by” his servants, showing himself to them to bring comfort in the midst of turmoil. To remind them of who it is that’s on their side. To lift their eyes from their hardships to the God who transcends those hardships.

So it is in Mark 6. The disciples are hurting, tired, and frustrated. And Jesus goes to them, walking on the water (another display of his power), with the intention of passing by as a reminder of who it is they’re with. 

You may start your exam now. How’re they going to respond? When the disciples see him, will they trust him to protect them from danger, from harm, from death?

So, we have two tests: the test of divine provision, and the test of divine protection. Will God’s people trust God to provide in a time of need and protect in a time of vulnerability?

How would we do on those tests? We’ve all had moments in which our neediness and helplessness collide. [Regiers] Maybe you’ve sat with someone facing a financial emergency, a health crisis, or a relational disaster, an existential crisis and you feel that they’re looking to you for help! You’re the Christian, right? How do I respond? Do I trust in God’s ability to provide? You may start your exam now.

Or maybe you’ve experienced times yourself in which you’ve been made to face your own powerlessness. You’re tired, worn down by the storms of life, vulnerable, and ready to give up. In those moments, do we trust in God’s ability to protect us? You may start your exam now.

A COUPLE OF FAILURES

Back to Mark 6, how do the disciples do on the two tests they’re given? Unfortunately, not well. The text reports a couple of failures. Looking at them one in order, we first find a failure to act.

Jesus had told the twelve to feed the crowd. That was their test, and I don’t think it was a hollow one. I believe Jesus actually wanted his disciples to give food to the masses, leaning on the power of God to do it. But their response is unfortunate: [6:37b]. “There’s too many people! It’s impossible! It’s impractical! It’s expensive!”

Wrong answer. And in case you think we’re being too harsh, remember that these disciples had had a front-row seat to God miraculously meeting needs. They’d seen him give health to the sick, forgiveness to the sinner, and cleansing to the leper. They’d heard the explanations of the seed parables, where Jesus taught the farmer’s role is simply to cast seed; God will provide everything else for growth.

On top of that, they’d just come back from being sent out by Jesus where they’d experienced all their needs being met and they’d experienced God working through them in miraculous ways to meet the needs of people around them.

And yet, with all of that classroom work in their collective memories, when Jesus tested them saying, “Feed these people,” the disciples said, “that’s impossible.” That’s a failure to act.

The second failure, is a failure to trust. Back to the boat. The twelve were on the sea without Jesus, struggling against the waves when he comes to them, offering the reassurance and the reminder of his power and presence.

We find their failure described in [6:49–50a]. Fail. Too harsh? These are the same men who had seen demons flee from presence of Jesus. They’d witnessed a paralytic made to dance and a dead girl made to live. They’ve heard him teach about the power of faith and the unstoppability of the kingdom of God.

More relevantly, they had, not long ago, watched as the weather submitted to his words and, just hours before, they’d seen him protect thousands from starvation with a single prayer.

Like nobody else on earth, these twelve men had witnessed time and time again the power of God to provide and protect and yet, when tested—when pushed in their trust of these truths—they collectively failed. Two midterm exams. Two “F’s”.

Even Mark has to take an inspired jab at their test results. After Jesus gets into the boat and calms the storm, Mark writes: [6:51b–52]. And then, as if to drive home the point, Mark contrasts the failures of the twelve with the faith of the crowds. Verse 54 reports that the crowds immediately recognize who he is and run to him, carrying their sick, to experience his provision and protection.

We want to respond more like the crowds than the twelve. When faced with impossible situations, deep hurts, significant stresses—all caused by sin in this world—we want our knee-jerk reaction to be confident faith in the power of God and his ability to provide and to protect. How do we move toward that?

A COUPLE OF LESSONS

Well, we’ve been presented with a couple of tests and a couple of failures, so I want to close with a couple of lessons that, with God’s help, we can apply to our lives and, Lord willing, pass tests like these.

First, look back and remember. Throughout Scripture, God’s people are called to remember. Look back at what God has done. Don’t forget!

In the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath was in place for that purpose: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there … therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.”

The feasts of Israel were nemonic devices to help the people remember God’s goodness and provision in the past. As a church, Jesus commands us to continue to observe the Lord’s Supper and believer’s baptism. Why? Partly as acts of remembrance of what God has done.

In Joshua 4, the Hebrews had just crossed the Jordan toward the promised land and God tells them to make a pile of twelve big stones as a monument to God’s faithfulness. He did what he said he would do.

In 1 Samuel, God gives victory to his people, as he promised he would, and then “Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’” The Ebenezer was a monument to God’s faithfulness. 

It’s what we sing about in the second stanza of the popular hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing: “Here I raise my Ebenezer: hither by thy help I’m come, and I trust by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.”

The twelve disciples are a good illustration of how quickly we can forget God’s power to provide and protect. We don’t want that. Instead, we want to look back and remember. And we should. Each of us should examine the history of our lives and identify the times God has shown himself faithful. We should store those memories, share them, celebrate them, never forgetting.

That may be a good exercise for us this week. At some point, identify two significant moments in your life, one when God provided for you and one when God protected you. Raise those Ebenezers, praise and thank him for his faithfulness in the past, knowing it will continue in the future. Look back and remember.

The second lesson is to look around and serve. One of the themes of Mark’s gospel account is that faithful disciples of Jesus Christ are servants—like the Lord they follow, Christians are to seek not to be served, but to serve. In our passage today, we’ve seen that it’s God that actually provides us the power to serve those in need around us.

You and I know there are many needs around us. Look around. There are needs in our church, in our families, in our communicates, in our world. We’re to be need-meeters. 

And some of those needs may seem too drastic, too intense, to meet, for little ol’ us. I could never disciple someone. I could never lead. I could never give that time, that money, that attention. I could never be useful. I could never contribute. I’m just not necessary. “There’s too many people! It’s impossible! It’s impractical! It’s expensive!” Sometimes we sound like the twelve.

Is it possible those are exactly the needs God wants to meet, by his power, through his willing and trusting people? We may think, I don’t have enough to meet that need. I don’t know enough to meet that need. I haven’t experienced what they’re experiencing.

How quickly we forget the power we have access to: we, the people of God, following after the Son of God, indwelled, gifted, and filled by the Spirit of God, carrying with us the very word of God, are well-equipped to meet the needs around us. 

Often, we just need to be willing, and with one eye looking back and remembering his faithfulness, the other eye is to be looking around and serving—meeting needs confident in God’s power to provide and protect.

Are we learning? Are we growing? Are we understanding more and more that we have all we need to do what we’re called to do and live how we’re called to live? God has proved himself over and over again. We’re well studied in the classroom of faith. How are we doing on the exams? Are we living lives that declare our belonging to an all-powerful Saviour?

  

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