You Give them Something to Eat

So often Christians passionate for evangelism downplay social justice. They see things like caring for the poor and other good works as secondary to telling someone the good news of Jesus. For a range of reasons, I find this unsatisfactory. Social engagement can never be limited to the words we speak. Sharing Christ is found in a holistic encounter where our attitudes and actions sit alongside and give meaning to the words we speak. If we speak without loving good works our words are dead. If we show love and never speak the gospel, no one is saved. The two are intertwined. One of the verses that I find helpful in this regard is in the context of the feeding of the 5000 in Mark 6:30–44. The disciples have just come back from their first mission in which they proclaimed to people that they must repent of their sins, cast out demons, and healed the sick (Mark 6:12–13). Then they return to Jesus (Mark 6:30). Jesus takes them by boat to a desolate place for a bit of r & r. However, they were seen by the crowds who raced ahead and met them as they got off their boats. The crowd was immense including at least 5000 men along with women and children. The story is well known. The day comes to an end and his disciples suggest that Jesus dismiss the crowd to go and buy themselves food from nearby towns. Jesus’ response is: “you give them something to eat.” The disciples find this baffling as it would cost 200 denarii. That is 200 days wages for a laborer. In NZ terms, that would be about $28,000 NZD (based on the minimum wage of $17.70/hr & 8 hr days). All they have is five loaves and two fish. Jesus then performs the miracle, feeding the immense crowd. What strikes me is the relationship between the feeding and the return from the mission. In the mission, they do the classic things of evangelism: preach the gospel, cast out demons, and lay on hands to heal. This pattern of evangelistic mission is found across the NT. Yet, it is as if Jesus in this command, “you give them something to eat,” is summoning them to another facet of their mission: social concern for the needy. They now know that as they engage in the mission of God, they will come across people in desperate need. When they do, always with the goal of sharing the gospel so that they may come to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, they are to minister to their needs. They are to care for the material needs of those they meet. They are to preach the gospel with godly attitudes, acts of mercy and compassion, and graciously sharing the gospel. This is the fullness of our mission.   Interestingly, in Galatians 2 when Paul’s commission to take the gospel to the world was endorsed by the Jerusalem apostolic core, they also gave him this command: “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor.” For the Jerusalem apostles, care for the poor and needy was concomitant with the call to share the gospel of God. Paul’s response is ideal—he writes that doing this was “the very thing I had been eager to do all along.” If we take this to heart, perhaps people who are sick of Christians bleating on about the need to repent and believe to be saved may have cause to reconsider as we genuinely care for those in need as we invite them into God's glorious salvation.