ALMS - MARK 6:34-44
34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
35 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:
36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
37 He answered and said unto them,Give ye them to eat.And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
38 He saith unto them,How many loaves have ye? go and see.And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men. KJV
In this miracle of God performed by Jesus we can see it all started
with “alms” giving to Jesus, our Lord. In the very first verse (verse 34) of
our context we can see that Jesus did four things, He came, He saw, He moved and
then He began. He came speaks to us of showing up. If we need to be some where
to help people just showing up starts the process. Then we can see that Jesus
sees, the Lord will always scan the area looking into the hearts (souls) of
people. Once He has done this He can properly diagnose what is needful for that
particular situation. The Lord knew that the first thing these people needed was
love and for that reason He was moved with compassion toward them. We can learn
from this example that we must always be willing to reach out and help people grow
in the knowledge and blessing of God. Now this is interesting that He moved toward
them with compassion and began to teach them. It would seem that the teaching of
God’s word is not always associated with being compassionate but here we see a
direct connection. We must realize that many people need God’s Love but they also
need God’s Word to make them complete. It is not enough to say I love if we fail
to present those that are hurting the healing power of God’s Word. Since the
spiritual aspect of man’s hunger was satisfied first then the Lord focused His
attention to the outer man. The Lord is very practical and desires to take care of
you spirit, soul and body but we must be willing to maintain that order. Meaning we
must esteem God’s Love first, then combine the understanding of God’s Love with the
instructions of His Word to frame our natural world around Him. Jesus never minds
providing for His People but He usually requires at least some minimal commitment
that those who come to Him are sincere. Notice that in verse 36 the disciples
mentioned that the people should be dispersed so that the people could eat. This was
probably their own stomach speaking to them about some food. Since the day was far
spent (verse 35) dinner would have been appropriate. However the Lord surprised the
disciples with the statement, “You give them some food!”. This is still happening
today, quite often the Lord will speak something to us that we fully don’t understand
at the time when it is spoken. We too, like the disciples should ask Jesus further
questions seeking more direction until we have enough information to do what we know
He is speaking to our heart. In verse 37 we can see that the disciples asked the
wrong question because they were not expecting what Jesus was about to do. So don’t
feel bad if you don’t always understand everything the Lord Jesus speaks to you the
moment it is revealed. Do notice however that because the Lord is always in control
of His operations He knows exactly what is necessary and He is ready to execute His
Plan. Notice that the Lord never did answer their question in verse 37 He simply
asked them His own question. We can conclude from this dialogue that if you do not
already know what the Lord will answer according to His Word be open for Him asking
you a question in response to your question. The question of Jesus required them to
look inside of themselves for their resources instead of looking to the outside to
provide something they needed. This is a principle of God that states, “Never try
to get someone else to do or provide something that you can do or provide
yourself”. We can glean from verse 38 that they needed to do some research, therefore
some time and effort was spent. As soon as they could answer the Lord’s question He
described how to fulfill His previous commandment to them, “You give them
some food!”. We all know by this time the disciples knew that if they did exactly
what Jesus said they would see something wonderful and everything would work out
fine. So as soon as they told Jesus that they had five loaves and two fishes in
verse 38 Jesus immediately told them to get the people organized. The Lord will
always perform His works when everything can be done decently and in order. When
the scriptures states that Jesus commanded the company to sit down by ranks and
companies it means that everyone was in a group and those groups were seated in
ranks (the groups of the same size were close together). This is necessary for
Jesus to determine exactly (or approximately) how many loaves and fishes would be
required to properly feed the hungry. The disciples presented the Lord Jesus with
an “alms”. Yes, perhaps a lunch for one or two but no less a gift for the
Master’s use. Therefore, since Jesus was given an “alms” He could easily multiply
that “alms” to minister unto the multitude. Since the people were sitting it would
be that much more easier to count the total group present. So although the total
number of people is given in the last verse of this teaching (verse 44) be assured
that Jesus knew the number of people before He prayed. Notice in verse 41 that
Jesus looked up to Heaven first, which shows us that He was trusting (looking
unto) His Heavenly Father for this miracle. Then the verse states that, “He blessed” which
is the same thing we do before we eat. The food must be blessed (prayed over) to kill
any harmful germs or impurities. Next the Lord brake the loaves, which tells us that
God’s Hand of Grace must touch the natural to take it unto the supernatural level. Since
the Lord is absolute growth and increase anything He touches will continuously
produce, even if it must reproduce itself. After that the Lord gave the loaves (and
fishes) to the disciples (His body, His workers, His Servants) which means we have to
be willing to put our hands to work. It is never acceptable to the Lord for His servants
to be spectators. The Lord does the spiritual work because He expects us, His servants, to
do the natural work to the best of our ability. Remember we are workers together with Christ
according to 2 Corinthians 6:1. Since the Lord did His gracious part first, then the
disciples did their faithful part to serve the people, after that the people were happy
to do their receiving part. We can see that the amount of food was more than enough to
meet their needs because as long as Jesus kept breaking and giving the multiplying kept
on manifesting. We should point out that the people ate and were filled because that
reminds us that it is God’s Will for His Children to have adequate provision with some
extra leftover. This example teaches that everyone should have had enough bread and
fishes to eat according to their own appetite. Proving that God is no respecter of
persons but He provides for all the people in His Presence equally (in the same way
and at the same time). The whole act could be considered an “alms” or the disbursement
of individual deeds could be considered a multitude of “alms”. Whatever way you look at
this miracle of God you have to conclude that “alms” are of God and “alms deeds” are
blessed of God by the demonstration of Jesus working the works of the Heavenly Father
in the earth. Amen!
PS – One note of this story, if someone is coming to one of your all day meetings where
no food is allowed during the meeting it is acceptable for you to feed them after the
meeting, if they were unprepared. This would also be true in an all day home visit if
the visitors had nothing to eat all day and you were able to minister God’s Love and
Word to them. We do notice that when people came for the purpose of eating first
without a spiritual hunger for God that the Lord rejected that type of thinking in John 6:26,27.
In His Love, Eric & Angela Foster