Bread on the Water
And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. - Mark 6:46-52
The above passage comes on the heels of the famous feeding of the 5000. In this event, Jesus is not simply feeding the attendees of His Bible Conference, since no one remembered to hire caterers. He’s fulfilling the prophecy from Deuteronomy 18 that one like Moses, but greater than Moses, would come amongst the people of Israel. It was the command of Moses that He should be heeded.
By establishing the people in groups of 100s and 50s in accordance with their rank (Mark 6:40), he was ordering the people in a manner similar to that which was done in the wilderness wandering. The culmination of this entire scene is the gathering the fragments off the ground. If the reader fails to see the Mosaic structure in all of this, the remnant is identified as being a collective 12. Straight up Moses in the wilderness. But what is more is the fulfillment of this Bread which the disciples had given out, coming back to them upon the waters.
The true Bread which the disciples gave to the people was not the lunch bread but the Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus says as much in John’s account of the feeding which is followed by the pursuit of Jesus across the sea by the same crowd, in order that another meal might be provided by Him. He refuses to cater a second meal on the grounds that they were hungering for the wrong bread. Their rejoinder is that if He was a prophet in league with Moses, He would give them miracle bread, in the style of Moses . . . you know, gathered up off the ground and all that.
Now, it is not only that Jesus had just done this, in Mosaic style, but the key to their misinterpretation of the text was that they believed Moses to have been the one doing the giving. It’s true that Moses gave . . . in a way. But this subtle point will inevitably be a part of why Moses dies outside the Promised Land.
In Numbers 20, at the second event regarding water from the rock, Moses strikes the rock instead of speaking to it as God had commanded. Moses, in his anger, yells, “You want water? We’ll give you water!” For this, Moses is told to go up onto Mt. Pisgah and lay down and die. He would not be entering the Promised Land. Does this seem harsh? The charge laid against him is that he blasphemed the Lord, not reverencing Him as holy in the sight of the people. He treated holy things as though they were common.
Without going into all of it now, it is important to remember that Paul tells us this Rock which followed the people in the wilderness was Jesus. It was His riven side from which they were drinking (1 Corinthians 10:4). So, if Christ has already been struck on their behalf, to crucify Him afresh is indeed a blasphemous posture. In Hebrews 6, we are shown that any attempt to crucify the Lord again is to hold Him in contempt. This is God’s issue with Moses.
But it is not only this. Moses and Aaron also take responsibility for the giving of the water. And it is this misappropriation that goes down through the corridor of time and gets preached back to Jesus in the mouths of those who either do not believe or do not understand when they say, “Moses gave us bread to eat in the wilderness.”
Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. - John 6:30-35
We know from Jesus’ calling up the words of Deuteronomy when being tempted by the devil that the way a man must live is by eating the bread that comes out of God’s mouth . . . the Living Word. And this leads us to the fulfillment of Ecclesiastes 11 which takes place later in the evening on this stormy night. The Disciples feed the people with the Bread that is Jesus and, later in the evening, the Bread comes back to them on the water.
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. - Ecclesiastes 11:1-5
When we give Christ to others, we have every reason to expect Him to come to us. There is a life cycle which Jesus models for us. The more the Spirit of God is poured out for others, the more the Father gives Him, in answer to the depletion. If you are hungry and thirsty, give others Jesus. This is the way to draw near to Him.
