GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 6:42
Satisfied
For many years, our families gathered at my parents’ home for a Thanksgiving meal. As the family grew in number, it became necessary to rent a larger space for the assembly. There were several highlights of the gathering—a chance to show our love to Mom and Dad, meeting the new additions to the family, enjoying the familiar presence of everyone, and the meal—turkey, ham, and desserts. Mother always made a “Mississippi Mud” pie, a delicious chocolate pie with a cream topping. There was also always an egg custard pie, which my brother tried, unsuccessfully, to hoard. By evening, everyone was satisfied—full of food and warmed by the comfortable camaraderie.
Writing about Jesus’ ministry to a large crowd gathered on the banks of the Jordan River near Bethsaida, Mark said that there was a miraculous feeding of thousands of people with five loaves and two small fish. Some pragmatic-minded scientific readers have tried to analyze and explain this event, but in the final analysis, it was a miracle. Many writers think that Peter actually related this story to Mark and told his young protégé, “And all ate and were filled.” (Mark 6:42) The word Mark used to describe the people as “filled” (χορτάζω, chortazo) has the meaning of “gorge,” to supply food in abundance, and it is most often translated as “filled” or “satisfied.”
I hope not to stretch the interpretation of this account too far, but the crowd was satisfied by Jesus’ teaching, his ministry, and now the divinely supplied food—they were spiritually and physically filled. I can identify with the way they must have felt when I think back to the evenings of those familial Thanksgiving gatherings—satisfied.
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