The End is the Beginning

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

July 21, 2024

Mark 6:30-44

 “The End is the Beginning”

The summer is zipping by very fast, as it always does. And we are ever so thankful that our heat wave has subsided. The end of last Sunday’s Gospel lesson, which was the death of John the Baptist (Mark 6:14-29), is the beginning of today’s Gospel lesson, which is Jesus’ miraculous multiplication of loaves and fishes that fed 5000 (Mark 6:30-44). Truth be told, that number was likely much higher. The final verse in today’s Gospel reading says that it was 5000 men who were fed. Wouldn’t there also have been women and children who were present and ate as well? I would certainly think so, but for whatever reason, they were not included in the headcount. This is the only miracle of Jesus that is found in all four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6:1-13). What we find here is that when our own resources come to an end and we think everything has been exhausted, that is the beginning of what the Lord can do to provide. Based on today’s Gospel lesson, the message for today is entitled “The End is the Beginning.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.  

Sometime in the week ahead, as a takeaway from worship today, I encourage you to read through the other Gospel accounts of Jesus’ feeding of the 5000. Each is a little different and has a unique perspective in conveying this amazing work of Christ. For example, John’s account is the only one that tells how a little boy willingly shared the lunch of five loaves and two fish he brought. Andrew, Peter’s brother, is recorded as saying to Jesus: “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they among so many?” (John 6:9). That about sums it up for us, too, doesn’t it? So often in life, we see only what we do not have. We have to learn again and again that little is much in the hands of Jesus. We see only the end, but it is there – at our end – that it is just the beginning of what Jesus can do.

Before the death of John the Baptist, Jesus had sent out his twelve apostles to call all people to repentance, to heal the sick, and cast out demons (Mark 6:7-13). All of these were signs that in Jesus, the promised Messiah, the kingdom of God had broken into our troubled world. Now Jesus invited his apostles to some quiet time to rest and debrief from their mission. But it was not to be. As they were cruising out on their boat, looking for a desolate place to get away from it all, the equivalent of the Galilean paparazzi, was gathering steam. Crowds of people watched that boat from land, following it and made a beeline to where it landed. Because of this, Jesus and the apostles’ vacation plans vanished. How do you react when just as you’re heading out for vacation, something comes up and your plans have to change? Most of us won’t be too happy about this. But here’s what we read about Jesus: “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). The end of Jesus’ plans for rest and respite becomes the beginning of a new opportunity to teach about how the Lord provides. Jesus’ heart of compassion reveals him to be the fulfillment of what was promised in today’s Old Testament lesson (Jeremiah 23:1-6): the righteous Branch of David who makes his people to dwell securely.

The compassion of Jesus that moved him to feed the hungry, heal the sick, cast out demons, still the storm, and raise the dead is what we celebrate. Our Savior is not One who is distant and coldly aloof from us. He is a compassionate Good Shepherd whose concern is always for the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand (Psalm 100:3) – that’s all of us. The compassion of Jesus would move him to offer up his life for us and for our salvation. That compassion of Jesus moves us to compassion as well. The love of Jesus moves us to love one another; to be Christ to our neighbor and see Christ in our neighbor.

One of the things that I really like about this account comes in the next to last verse of today’s Gospel lesson: “And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish” (Mark 6:43). Nothing was wasted. All of those leftovers would be put to good use feeding people the next time. The end of one meal becomes the beginning of another. In the abundant compassion of our Good Shepherd, who abundantly provides for the needs of his people, we are moved to steward God’s gifts in such a way in order to make the best possible use of them. That is good stewardship, then and now.

The title of this sermon, “The End is the Beginning,” points ahead to something greater than Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and fishes, as wonderful and amazing as that certainly was. The end of Jesus’ earthly life was out there on the horizon; it was coming. These same disciples who witnessed first-hand how Jesus fed 5000 people and more with five loaves and two fish thought that his death upon the cross was the end. They believed that everything Jesus had worked for over the course of his three years’ of preaching and teaching was over. But it was not the end – far from it. The grief and sorrow of Good Friday give way to the joy and exultation of Easter morning. As the angel announced on that first Easter morning: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:5b-7). With Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, a new beginning came about through God’s amazing grace. In Jesus, death must give way to life – that full and abundant life which Jesus came to bring (John 10:10). In Jesus’ own death and resurrection, not only have we received the forgiveness of our sins, but we have also received the assurance that even when we die, yet shall we live (John 11:25).

Whatever resources we have, even if they are meager, puny, and small, bring them to Jesus. Place them into his nail-pierced hands. He will multiply and provide. In Jesus, the end is the beginning. Thanks be to God. Amen.