Rev. Arturo Mendez

07-25-2021

Text Mark 6:45-56

Theme: Jesus Christ in Action !

Peace and grace from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To all of you Amen!

45 And immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he himself dismissed the crowd. 46 And after he* had said farewell to them, he went away to the mountain to pray.

1st. Action of Jesus: Sent His disciples.

We all know very well when Jesus preached on the mountain, we know that there were more than 5000 people since in those days children or women were not counted, after Jesus had preached about the kingdom the crowd was gathered and hungry the disciples of Jesus told him Master is late and they are hungry , Jesus give them a specific command, that the disciples give them to eat! Here we see a definitive action about Jesus by telling the disciples that they were in charge of supplying the food to the multitude. It is very important to take into account this action of Jesus and his command towards the disciples to be able to understand what Jesus wants from us also as his disciples, when Jesus tells them to feed the crowd, the disciples are dismayed because there was no money to be able to feed theand mainly the resources to be able to supply they Hungry, so if they were to the nearest city they could not have found more than 5000 fish and 5000 loaves to feed the multitude, here we can easily understand that the disciples first could not understand who Jesus was with whom they were gathered, and the importance of being able to understand those words you feed them, Jesus commands us as his disciples to feed thepeople . the sheep without a shepherd won’t be able to feed themselves the sheep need a shepherd who it is able to feed them spiritually with his word, and be able to lead them to the cross of Christ, without the cross and by our own strength we can obtain nothing and offer them nothing in return because we are useless disciples the Action of Christ with His word give us the ability to do it, without Christ, we do not know how to act in circumstances of difficulties,because our human nature does not allow us to see the same vision that Christ has, since our mind is limited, but the vision of Christ is unlimited, the disciples were dismayed and worried without knowing what to do, how many times we as disciples of Christ do not know what to do,or how to feed the multitudes, the sheep that are out of the fold, we are all disciples of Christ by vocation, and Christ calls us to trust in him and in his word, so the Holy Spirit can  be guided us as well as His disciples, the miracle that Christ perform by multiplying the loaves and fishes to feed the crowd, Jesus upon seeing this situation feels compassion for people just as a shepherd takes care of his sheep and leads them through green pastures and feeds them. Jesus is our true bread of life, as it says in the book of John 6:48 if we trust in the bread of life that is the word of God that feeds us, and that in turn can also be proclaimed through ourselves by our own testimony, and how God had compassion for us and that he can also reach that multitude that is hungry and be able to satisfy our spiritual needs is Jesus Christ is the true bread of life.

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 

Seeing this context Jesus returns to give a very clear order to his disciples sends them to Bethsaida in the boat in the middle of the night since it was already late, the disciples obey the words of Jesus but certainly do not know what will happen within that journey, so many times Jesus sends us as his disciples and we do not know certainly what we are going to face, through within our journey we do not know completely what Jesus' plan is for us as His disciples since our sinful nature don’t let us, seeing beyond what Jesus has planned for us.

2.-Any action has a reaction, They went inside the ship (the church)

Jesus has strongly commanded them to go to the other side of the village which is called Bethsaida. This expression with which Mark addresses himself is not clear to us whether it is a frustration of Jesus to see his disciples who do not understand and are not clear about the ministry of Jesus himself, or perhaps it is the fact that Jesus is preparing the next scene in action of Jesus towards his disciples to show them once again whom He is. How many times we as disciples of Christ, we are inside the ship of Christ, which is the Church. We do not understand the purpose of Jesus himself towards his people, every action requires a reaction, and sometimes we react to that action of Jesus' command in a contrary way by preventing ourselves from the purpose that Christ Jesus has for each of us and his Church, when we trust in our own strengths and wisdom we simply cannot do what Christ sends us to do Christ has apparently left them alone in the boat, but certainly they’re not alone , how many times we  believe or imagine that we are alone inside that boat. But Christ is caring of us, even if at our naked sight we see that he is far away. For Christ himself looks like, sometimes appear to leave us alone, to see how much we trust in him, in his providence, in his care, and in his love for each of his disciples, towards each of what we are inside that ship, because that ship belongs to Christ which is the Church,  we will see what happens when we are by ourselves , and we want to do it, at our own strength,simply we paddle against the wind and get tired and alone, without Christ we can loss the direction, or the place where Christ has sent us or wants us to be, Jesus sent them to a specific direction, but later we'll see that there may be changes that Jesus himself allows in order to get to where he wants us to go.

2.nd Action of Jesus: He Dismisses the multitude.

Jesus' second action after feeding the 5000 it is to dismiss the crowd. Because Jesus knew something could happen that he didn't want to happen. Mark and Matthew do not give reference to this concern of Jesus. But John 6:14-15 refers to what Jesus knew could happen to him,became an Earthly Kingand not the True King who it is, Jesus who has given up His Kingdomfrom Heaven to become a servant, and give his life on the Cross for the redemption of all, that was not his purpose of Jesus, To become an earthly King and save them from the oppression of Caesar , but rather to save them from the oppression of sin and eternal Death, so many times we ourselves want to see Jesus as an earthly Savior, trusting that he will satisfy our needs, as well as satisfy the need of the 5000, we do not understand what is the true mission of Christ in our lives and on earth in general, since our own sins don’t let us, trusting 100% in Christ Mission in our lives, we want an earthly Messiah, someone that appears every time we call him and need him, we commit the sin of making our own earthly kings, our own Messiah who satisfy our temporal needs, we are so selfish that we only see for ourselves and we do not care about the other people who are suffering from the eternal damnation, and we are not able to share with them what we have, because we forget who is the one who has fed us when we were hungry, our gluttony blinds us, and while we are satiated the others who cares? let us remember that the only one who multiplies the fish is Jesus, not us, do not believe in your own messiah,  by your own strength you cannot do it, do not row against the wind alone, for you will get tired and faint, without Christ in Our lives we are lost.

Rather, let us follow Christ's example. For He teaches us by his example to Pray !

Jesus go away from everyone to the high mountain to Pray to the Father, Jesus once again teachus here His human nature and His total dependence on God the Father, to be able to overcome all the obstacles that will come to Him in His earthly ministry, before fulfilling His mission on earth, to go to the Cross and give his life for you and for me , and for everyone who believes in him as His Lord and Savior, with this example of Jesus going totally alone to Pray, shows us that it does not depend totally on Him even though being 100% man and 100% God, what a greater example we can have of Him through his prayers, in His Obedience to the Father, We ourselves should do the same , to turn away from all that surrounds us and disturbs us to spend some time alone with the Father who is on High, and to pray that He is the one who gives us the Strength to be able to move forward, before the ministry that He has given us each of Us in our daily lives, let us remember that absolutely all of us who have believed in Christ are His Disciples by Vocation , it is not only the task of The Pastors or the Elders of the Church. The work is everyone's, not just one. Without Christ and without the Prayer to the Father, we simply cannot do anything, because the only thing we do, is to do evil before God the father, for our own sin, we take the example of Christ and let us do the same let us go out of all routine and go to ourHigh temple into the presence of God our father and pray that He will guide us and give us the strength we need to move forward.

5.- After the disciples were inside the Boat they were rowing against the wind because there was a great storm that hit them inside the Ship,  we can't row against the tide, even, if we try we're going to get tired and we're not going to get anywhere. No matter how much force we try to put and go in one direction, sometimes the wind and the storm allows us to change direction to a new one, even as the waves and the wind hit us, without Christ we can easily lose direction and sink before our own Strength.

They thought it was a ghost. His disciples, while paddling against the wind, saw something coming and passed them by, they thought it was a ghost. Here is something very important that we have to take into account, as His disciples of Christ, it was already night very late the fourth hour of the morning, could say that it was like three or 6:00 in the morning, the disciples were tired and exhausted before such a storm and seeing that someone walked within the waters was terrified, thinking that they were seeing a ghost, Jesus passed by and it seemed that they were ahead of them. It seems that Jesus himself is ahead of us, is to say it passes before Us, but wealso don’t understand who was Jesus, as the disciples confused him, and this is only for lack of Our Faith, that we cannot see Christ, we cannot go towards Him, by our own Strength, He knowing that we are perishing and that we are sinking, He take the ActionTo rescue us, He is The one who calls us and tells us.

Be good cheer, it is I, be not afraid !! He call to us, and tells us, to not be afraidthat He is there who rescues us, when we are tired of paddling against the wind, and within the storms of life itself, Jesus passes in front of us and Make the call by His Word, He is the one who seeks us and rescues us to get us out of that situation, when we hear the voice of Jesus through his word that is proclaimed !I am! He is showing us his disciples once again that he is 100% God and 100% man teaches us that he is the promised messiah not who came to save the world from the Roman Empire but to save the world from our own sins and eternal death, we have to be very attentive to the voice of Christ into our lives. As disciples of the Lord Christ send us, as well as send the disciples to an specific place, or route, but Christ sometimes allows us to go through those winds and those storms to let us know who is in control of our lives who is in control in the face of such a storm and that sometimes the winds can take us to another place, is not our vision, but rather the vision of Christ who send us to other places to proclaim His Gospel, they were going to  anspecific point. And yet they were carried by the wind to Genezaret ! They arrived at that place, we must let ourselves be guided by Christ who is the one who takes control and can take us to another place. Sometimes we have a mission and we thought of that mission, is the one Christwants us to have, but rather, we have to learn that the winds, that make us change direction is also allowed by Christ to lead us to preach His gospel to other places, if we row against the wind we are going to get tired and we are going to give up and die inside The ship , rather, let us be aware that these winds can take us where Christ wants us to go, trust in the will, that guided under His care and protection we can safely go wherever Christ wants us to take us and serve Him Serving Others.

When They arrived to Gennesaret, people recognized him:

we know many times, that people recognize Jesus, known who is Him, but nevertheless do not have a relationship with Him, the scripture says that many people when they heard that Christ was in the village, went out and put their sick on the shore so that even if they touched his garment they could be healed, always as human beings we want to receive favors from Christ we want to be physically healed , but we know that, that healing can be temporary, Christ can physically heal you, but His mission and his purpose, was not that, even though He can Do it, because it is God, but the real mission and purpose of Christ was and it is, to spiritually heal everyone who is sick from sin, it is the main mission of Jesus to heal everyone who is dying without Christ, let us be led by Christ, so that we can fulfill the mission of Jesus, which is to heal the Sin of the World Proclaiming the News of Salvation.

And all those who touched it were healed: certainly, when Christ touches us, we are healedthe promise of Christ to come into the world, is that everyone who repents and confesses his sins will be spiritually healed for eternal damnation and bring to life everlasting, by Faith in Jesus Christ the Messiah. For Christ has been paid the price on the cross, by giving His life in sacrifice so that we do not die eternally, but that in turn the death and resurrection of Christ may also be ours and we may enjoy the eternal promises of the father through His son Jesus. Which is eternal life in heaven with the father, adoring him and sanctifying his holy name, when Christ touches you, it heals you completely heals your life and heals your heart, so let us let ourselves be touched by the messiah by the Christ, so that in turn. To the people that we touch with our testimony and our proclamation of the gospel, they too can be healed and delivered from their afflictions and torments, let us pray to the father, as Christ pray to the God the Father, let us follow HIs example, so that day by day, He will give us the strength to move forward and that those winds and those storms that are against us. May be finished by the word of action and power in Christ Jesus

and that, that same word motivates us day by day to act as Christ tell us to do, for the Honor and Glory to the Father and in Christ Jesus Amen!!

May the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your heart and mind for the life everlasting Amen!!

 

 

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