Today we’re going to learn about a passage that is familiar to most if not all of us. We’ve probably read this passage tens if not hundreds of times before. Interesting, the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand is found in all four gospels. This means that all of the gospel writers all saw something significant in the feeding of the five thousand. Hopefully this morning we can all reflect on this passage and see what it is that the gospel writers found so important in this miracle. The key verse I chose for today is verse 16. Let’s read that together please. “Jesus replied, ‘they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat (Matthew 14:16).’”
I want to focus on the disciples of Jesus and their actions during this miracle. I’d like to see how they respond to the situation in this passage, and relate their progression to our lives today. To begin, let’s read verse 15 together. “As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘this is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food (Matthew 14:15).’” The first thing the disciples do is recognize that there is a need. The disciples noticed that the crowd had been with Jesus for a long time, and that they were in a remote place. The disciples probably noticed that the people in the crowd were tired because of the lack of food. They may have even heard people complain of the fact that they had no food. The disciples also realized that they themselves were hungry. Whatever it was, the disciples recognized that there was a need that had to be met. This seems like such a basic thing for someone to realize, but it’s an important step for action. When we look at people today, it should be obvious to us that there is a need. Perhaps we notice that people are tired from a lack of spiritual food. Or perhaps we notice that people complain about a lack of purpose and meaning in life. Or maybe our own spiritual hunger makes us realize that others are hungry as well. Whatever it may be, we have to recognize that there is a need that has to be met. If we simply ignore the fact that people need Jesus, we will never take any steps in meeting their need.
The second thing that the disciples do is realize that there is nothing they can do to satisfy the overwhelming needs of the crowd. If you read the version of this parable written in John, you will immediately notice the disciple’s inability to satisfy the crowd’s hunger. John 6:7 says, “Philip answered Him, ‘it would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’”. Verse 21 tells us that the number of people who were present were 5000, not including women and children. This means there were likely well over 5000 people crowded around Jesus and His disciples. The disciples looked around and realized that there was no way they could provide enough food for all of these people. You can ask the people who cook lunch for us on Sunday- preparing food for a lot of people is not easy. Imagine having to prepare or buy food for all of these people. To put this in perspective, the Xfinity Center at the University of Maryland seats 17,950 people. Imagine trying to feed everyone in Xfinity Center when it is full. Philip calculated that it would have taken half of a year’s wages for everyone to have a bite. Clearly the disciples did not have this kind of money on them. The disciples suggested that Jesus send the crowd away so that they could just buy their own food, since providing them with food would be impossible. Are the disciples wrong for thinking in this way? Actually, not really. The disciples realized that even if they wanted to feed all of these people, it would be impossible. They did not have that kind of money. The disciples very practically suggested that the crowd just buy food for themselves. It is fair for the disciples to think that there was no way to feed the crowd, since they really couldn’t. Compare this to our lives. After we recognize that there is a spiritual need in people around us, can we do anything to fill it? Is there anything we can do to satisfy the need of the multitudes of people around us? The answer is no. We actually can’t even satisfy the spiritual need of one person. Just like the disciples, we come to the realization that there is nothing we can do to satisfy the needs of others. Of course, I am talking about when we try to fill the need on our own.
So what is the next step the disciples take in this passage? Let’s read verses 16 and 17 together. “Jesus replied, ‘they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ ‘We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ they answered (Matthew 14:16-17).” The disciples offered whatever they had in obedience to Jesus’ command. If we look at John’s gospel again, we find that it is actually the disciple Andrew who offers Jesus the five loves and two fish. He says to Jesus, “here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many (John 6:9)?” We see that Andrew offered Jesus some bread and fish that he took from a boy. I wonder if it was socially acceptable in Jesus’ time to take a little boy’s dinner in order to feed others. In any case, we see that the disciples offered what little they had to Jesus. They did this in obedience to Jesus’ command for them to give the crowd something to eat. Andrew offers Jesus the small amount of food, but is still confused as to how Jesus plans to feed the huge crowd. Andrew probably felt foolish offering such a small amount of food to such a large crowd. He asks Jesus, “how far will they go among so many?” Often times, this is our attitude towards offering what we have to Jesus. When Jesus commands us to go and make disciples, we think to ourselves, “there are so many people who need Jesus, how far will my effort go among so many?” We have so little to offer Jesus, and we might even think it’s foolish to offer such a small amount to fulfill such a great need. However, Jesus’ command to us is to “give them something to eat”. Therefore, offer whatever you have, in obedience to Jesus’ command.
Let’s read verses 18-20 together please. “‘Bring them here to me,’ He said. And He directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over (Matthew 14:18-20).” The next thing the disciples did was let Jesus multiply what they offered Him, and let Jesus work through them. How many loaves of bread did the disciples have? And how many fish? Five loaves and two fish. How many people were in the crowd? Well over 5,000. However, we just read that Jesus and the disciples were able to feed all of them until they were full. Not only did everyone eat, everyone was satisfied. Jesus took the small amount of food that the disciples offered Him, and He used it to feed over 5,000 people. Jesus did something that was impossible for the disciples to do on their own. An interesting thing to notice in the verses we just read is that Jesus worked through His disciples. Jesus easily could have just made food magically appear in everyone’s lap, but He instead let the disciples distribute the food among the people. What does this tell us? This reveals that Jesus wants to work through us. He wants us to offer whatever we have, and He wants to use us to satisfy the needs of those around us. He doesn’t want to us sit back and watch Him work, He wants us to be working right alongside Him. A key step in our faith is to let Jesus multiply what we offer to Him, and to let Him work through us.
There is more step that I believe the disciples took, or they should have taken. None of the gospels actually record this last step, which is unfortunate. They last thing the disciples did should have been to marvel at Jesus’ work and to give thanks God. I assume that the disciples must have been amazed at Jesus’ ability to multiply such a small amount of food to feed such a large amount of people. I’ve reiterated this many times already, but it was impossible for the disciples to have fed the multitude of people on their own. The five loaves and two fish would have barely been enough to feed themselves. However, Jesus took the bread and fish and was able to not only feed the multitude, but to satisfy them. What is more amazing is that there were twelve basketfuls of bread left over! I’m pretty sure that was more than the disciples started off with. The disciples must have marveled at this amazing miracle that Jesus performed in their midst. It’s clear that all of the gospel writers were amazed at this miracle. What is unfortunate is that the disciples don’t seem to give thanks to God for this miracle. If we see how Jesus was able to multiply the bread, we find that He actually prayed and gave thanks to God. The disciples should have followed suit, and given thanks to God for feeding the crowd of people. Perhaps the disciples were too amazed to understand what had happened, but they should have given thanks to God. This applies to us too. When we see Jesus work in a powerful way, our response should be gratitude to God. God is the ultimate provider, and we should thank Him for all the ways He works in our lives.
I want to take some time to talk about Jesus. He is the main character of the gospel, is He not? The first logical question to ask about Jesus is- “why did He want to feed the crowd?” Let’s read verse 14 together please. “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14).” Jesus was trying to withdraw to a solitary place, because He had just heard that John the Baptist was beheaded. However, when He stepped out of His boat, He saw a great crowd around Him. A natural response would have been to be upset at the crowd, since Jesus was trying to spend some time alone. Was Jesus upset? No. In fact, He had compassion on the crowd, and started healing the sick. Jesus’ compassion is further seen when He tells the disciples to feed the crowd. Like I said earlier, it was completely logical for Jesus to take the disciples’ suggestion and send the crowd away to buy their own food. Jesus understood that. However, Jesus saw the crowd who had been with Him all day until evening, and He had compassion on them. They probably could have gotten their own food, but they were all tired from being around Jesus all day. Jesus didn’t want them to have to spend more energy in order to get food. Jesus wanted them to be fed here and now. Sometimes, when I contemplate whether or not to go fishing, I will ask myself- “why do I have to do this?” To be honest, I do not really like talking to other people about Jesus. Often times, I feel like the disciple Andrew. It seems like the little amount I have to offer is not nearly enough to satisfy. I even sometimes feel foolish for offering so little. However, this passage reminds me that Jesus wants me to minister to others because He has compassion on them. Jesus doesn’t want them to stay hungry and to never be satisfied. Another thing to note is that the crowd did nothing to deserve the food that Jesus provided. Jesus simply fed them because He had compassion. Nothing the crowd did made them deserve food from Jesus. In fact, they probably deserved to be dismissed because they bothered Jesus all day. It’s tempting to give up on others because we think they don’t deserve Jesus. This is indeed true, they don’t deserve Jesus, but Jesus still has compassion on them.
We talked earlier about the fact that Jesus wanted to work with the disciples. Jesus invited His disciples to participate in His work. Why? Jesus easily could have done everything on His own. Interestingly, I think the answer to this is the same as the answer to why Jesus fed the crowd. Jesus had compassion on them. The disciples didn’t have a lot of faith at this point of their lives. Even though were with Jesus a lot, they didn’t fully understand the full extent of His power. They also didn’t fully understand the full extent of His love and compassion. Think about what would have happened if Jesus fed the crowd without the help of the disciples. The disciples would have just been a part of the crowd. They would be amazed at the miracle, but they wouldn’t really grow in faith. Jesus had compassion on the disciples for their lack of faith, and He wanted to help them grow. This why Jesus tells the disciples to give the crowd something to eat. He is testing their faith. When the disciples start to doubt themselves because they have so little to offer Jesus, Jesus multiplies what they offered Him. Jesus then tells the disciples to distribute the food, so they would be part of His ministry. This helps the disciples grow in their faith. Sometimes we think that Jesus’ compassion is reserved only for those of little or no faith. We think that Jesus only has compassion on those who are part of the crowd. However, Jesus has compassion on all people, including us. He wants to help us grow in our faith, no matter the amount of faith we have now. He wants us to work alongside Him to bring others spiritual food to fill their spiritual hunger. This not only so that others come to know Jesus, but that we would experience Jesus more, and grow in our faith.
Let’s recap the steps of faith that the disciples took in this passage. The first step was to recognize a need. This is always the first step, and is the easiest as well. The need for Jesus is evident in people around us. We have to recognize this need if we are to grow in our faith. The second step was to realize that there is nothing they could do to satisfy the overwhelming needs of the crowd. This realization naturally happens when we understand the spiritual need of others, and our inability to fulfill that need. An important thing to remember is that this is not a bad realization to have; it forces us to depend on Jesus and not on ourselves. The next step they took was to offer Jesus whatever they had, in obedience to His command. While the disciples knew that the small amount of food they found was nowhere near what was required to feed the crowd, they still offered it to Jesus. They obeyed Jesus’ command to feed the multitude to the best of their ability, by offering whatever they could find. The disciples then let Jesus multiply what they offered, and they let Jesus work through them. Jesus took the bread and the fish, multiplied them, and commanded the disciples to distribute the food among the crowd. Jesus did not feed the crowd on His own, He worked with the disciples. Jesus wants to work with us and through us. He is able to multiply what we offer Him, and is able to satisfy the needs of others through us. The last step was to give thanks to God. The disciples may or may not have done this, but it is not recorded in the passage. Regardless of whether they thanked God or not, we should always give thanks to God for what He does through us. Just as Jesus gave thanks for the bread, we should give thanks for what God gives to us.
There are multitudes of people who need Jesus today. The amount of people who need Jesus far exceeds the 5,000 found in the passage we studied today. It’s easy for us to think like the disciples and to have a dismissive attitude towards the needy. However, Jesus commands us to “go and make disciples”. We should offer whatever we have in obedience to His command. Jesus has compassion on the needy. This not only includes the crowd, but His disciples, which extends to us today. If we offer what we have, Jesus will multiply our efforts, and our faith will grow as a result. The Spring Bible Conference is in five days. Let’s pray that through the conference Jesus would work through the messengers and life testimony speakers, and multiply their efforts to touch everyone who attends. Let us offer to Jesus whatever we have, and let Him work through us. He is able to do so much more than we could ever imagine, so let’s put our faith in Him. Let’s read the key verse again, verse 16. “Jesus replied, ‘they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat (Matthew 14:16).”
-Smart
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