For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
Colossians 1:16
My mum is an artist. She has produced some amazing works of art over the years, and continues to do so. I, on the hand, am no artist. When I was at school, my art teacher told my parents that I had absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever, and might as well give up now. And that’s someone who was supposed to be supporting and encouraging me! I guess we all have our different talents, and we can’t all be good at everything!
Luckily, Jesus is a slightly better artist than I am! As Paul tells us in this letter to the Colossians, Jesus is the creator; “by him all things were created.” God the Father actually created existence through Jesus. John also explains this at the beginning of his gospel. He tells us that “the Word became flesh,” (John 1:14), having previously explained how the Word was with God, and was God, and that all things were made through the Word (John 1:1-3). Jesus did not start to exist, therefore, when he was born to Mary, but has always existed. He is much more than the man who happened to walk around Palestine for thirty or so years, before winding the Romans up and being executed.
In our current Mark Marathon passage, Jesus is getting a little exasperated at his disciples. They have seen him multiply food on two occasions now, but they still haven’t grasped who Jesus is. Yet the fact that Jesus was able to multiply bread and fish is small fry to what he did in the beginning. It is one thing to make more bread and fish from something you already have, but Jesus was responsible for the creation of the fish and the grain that made the bread in the first place. Not only that, made he made the water that the fish swim in, and the ground that the grain grows in!
Sometimes we lose track of who Jesus really is. I think we can get like the disciples, and fail to totally grasp the true identity of Jesus. Jesus not only died to us to bring us into communion with God. He created the world for us in the first place!