I wrote yesterday about the disciples’ exercising Jesus’ power in teaching and healing disease. That would have been exciting, to say the least, and they would have been very happy that Jesus wanted to get some time with them alone:

The apostles returned from their ministry tour and told Jesus all the wonders and miracles they had witnessed. Jesus, wanting to be alone with the Twelve, quietly slipped away with them toward Bethsaida. (Luke 9.10, Passion Translation)

But time alone was not to be. This is the introduction to Luke’s account of Jesus feeding the 5,000. And the twelve? These heroes of teaching and healing? What was their role?

He told his disciples, “Have them all sit down in groups of fifty each.” After everyone was seated, Jesus…kept giving more to each disciple to give to the crowd. It was multiplying before their eyes! So everyone ate until they were filled, and afterward the disciples gathered up the leftovers—it came to exactly twelve baskets full! (Luke 9.14 – 17, Passion Translation)

We (rightly) get excited about the miracle, but we often miss the disciples who were serving:

• As ushers: “have them all sit down in groups of 50”
• As waiters: “kept giving more to each disciple to give to the crowd”
• As busboys: “afterword, the disciples gathered up the leftovers”

It’s like what an associate pastor at a megachurch said, “You have to be ready to preach, pray, or get out of the way at a moment’s notice.” 

As much as we’d like to be Jesus, receiving the praises of the crowds, sometimes we’re just the donkey!

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20.25 – 28, ESV)

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Corinthians 4.5, ESV)