Feeding of the Five Thousand - a Green Perspective from Mark

Recently I drove down to the beach along Florida's Atlantic shore to watch the sunrise. The weather at 6:39 am, however, had different plans. I sat trapped in my car as an early morning rain storm pelted the beach. Sure, I had an umbrella in the back, but there certainly wasn't much of a sunrise to watch at the moment. And the clouds outside made for a very dark morning. Instead, I opened my pocket Bible and flipped on the little map light.

As the rain continued to plink against the roof, I asked God to illuminate something of significance from these four different writers as they described how Jesus directed the people into groups and had them sit down. Guess what jumped out at me?

Only Mark mentions that the grass was green.

Now at first, you may think, "So what." (I know I certainly did) Then I began to wonder. What does it say in the Greek? Now, as much as I'd like to impress my friends with my 'brilliant' mind, I don't casually read Greek. (It really is all Greek to me!) So, when I could, I cranked up a web browser and from the BlueLetterBible.org website I learned that this word for green only appears four times in the New Testament. Only four? I'd apparently hit on a rarer word than I'd anticipated. Three times it shows up in the Book of Revelation, and the only other time, in Mark. When I looked up the definition, I was expecting some sort of unrecognizable "Greek" word. But to my surprise, the Greek word for this green grass was: chlōros. That sure sounded similar to the word "chlorophyll". And if there was one thing my high school science teacher (from many moons ago) drilled into me: chlorophyll makes plants green.

So, what did this all mean to me? What was I supposed to glean from the seemingly simple observation that the grass was green?

Simple: Mark was a details kind of guy. He took notice of God's creation.

I find an amazing assurance in Mark's careful eye. He took in all the happenings, all the surroundings. He noticed the little stuff -- like green grass. I bet he even liked to look at sunsets too. I see his personality in this, and that's reassuring too. After all, if all four Gospel writers had said "they all sat down in green grass" I think it would have seemed a little fishy (and come to think of it, there are already some "little fishys" in this story! Ha!).

As the rain finally let up, and I strolled down to the water's edge, I was glad that God worked through these writers like He did. Each had a slightly different perspective - just like you'd expect from four different viewpoints. Not carbon copies, but individual personalities showing through the inspired Word.

Thanks, God, for showing me something so easy, so simple -- so green. You are a God of the simplest details (even stuck spark plugs!) and I love you for it. Thanks for leading me, through the rain, through the storm... through green pastures even.

Amen.