Matthew 14.13-21 (NRSV)
Feeding the Five Thousand
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in
a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they
followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a
great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When
it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place,
and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the
villages and buy food for themselves.’ 16Jesus said to them, ‘They
need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ 17They replied,
‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ 18And he said,
‘Bring them here to me.’ 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on
the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and
blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples
gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they
took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21And
those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Of all the miracles of Jesus, this is one of the few that is
mentioned in all four of the gospels. Yet, many people find it difficult to
accept and have tried to rationalise it. But, as Balmforth writes:
It is best on the whole to admit
that no easy 'natural' explanation can be given, and to leave the door open for
an acceptance of the story as it stands ... [There is] nothing irrational in
the supposition that our Lord worked such a miracle.[1]
There were more than likely many more people there than five
thousand. In chapter 9, verse 14 Luke states that there were 5 000 men. With their wives and children,
there would have been a vast crowd of possibly 10 000 people or more.
Jesus started with what the people had - a few loaves and
fishes, probably received from a small boy who was willing to share his meagre
lunch.[2]
Jesus got the people to sit in groups of 50, said a blessing and gave the food
to the disciples to distribute to them. Verse 20 concludes: ‘And all
ate and were filled’. Note the last comment - What was left over filled twelve
baskets. Everybody had enough and even the 12 disciples, after their work was
completed had their needs supplied.[3]
In this miracle it is obvious that Jesus cared for people's legitimate physical as well as their
spiritual needs. From this passage, the modern church learns its obligation to
minister to those who are hungry and who have other physical needs as well. But
more importantly, Luke (and the other evangelists) places this incident with
the disciples' confession of Jesus' Messiahship - which will form the focus of
the next study.[4]
Jews believed that the coming of the Messiah would be heralded
by a large banquet - which was an image Jesus himself used in his teaching.
Miller writes:
The feeding of the five thousand,
then, is an enacted parable announcing the arrival of the Messianic Age.
The majority of people, however, were only concerned with
their physical needs and did not see the greater significance of this wonderful
event. And this remains true for many today.
The following day, in John's account of this miracle,[5]
Jesus spoke about himself as 'the bread of life' and urged the people to
receive him in the same way as they had received the bread and fish the
previous day. Wiersbe comments:
But the people were more
interested in their stomachs than their souls, and completely missed the
spiritual impact of the miracle. Their desire was to make Jesus king so he
could give them bread for the rest of their lives! (John 6:14-15)[6]
If I had to stand in church and promise people material
prosperity, all the money and material goods one would ever need - and if I
could deliver on these promises, we would never be able to build sufficient
places to contain all the people that would flock to church. People are willing
to risk everything placing a higher value on their bodies and material goods
than on their souls, by emphasising their physical well-being at the expense of
their spiritual well-being.
Humankind is powerless and spiritually starving. Jesus is
ready, able and willing to provide for all people's needs. And the food Jesus
offers is Himself - the bread of life and in large helpings as contained in His
Word - the Scriptures. We are appointed to set before all people the provision
that Jesus Christ has made for people's souls. The majority of people refuse to
eat the bread at all - and so they die. Many others maintain starvation rations
and so battle to survive.
We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. And this faith comes
from hearing the message. Paul writes
in Romans 10:17: ‘No one can have faith without hearing the message about
Christ.’
Jesus explained in the parable of the sower, how important
it is to hear the message with openness and receive it like a seed being sown
in good soil. And this seed needs to be nurtured and cared for. Coming to
Christ is described as being 'born again'. Unless the new born person is
nurtured and cared for they too will die. Even adults, if they do not get
enough food, will find themselves becoming increasingly physically compromised
- able to do less and less. Spiritual adults also require a balanced diet of
spiritual food.
How are we doing spiritually? Are you barely surviving by
coming to hear the word of God on rare occasions? If so, it should not be
surprising that you are battling to cope. You need more food. Even if you come
to church every Sunday, don't expect to know the fullness of spiritual life, if
that is all you do - because it is impossible to expect to grow on one meal a
week. We need to dine daily in our personal study of Scripture and prayer. If
we want to grow spiritually, we need to take every opportunity to feed on the
Bread of Life. Bible study groups should be bulging at the seams; the prayer
times in the church should be so crowded that people should be requesting more
opportunities. Instead of having only a few faithful one's coming to the
evening service, people should be requesting yet more services on Sundays, and
even during the week.
There are opportunities to eat your fill. There is no need
to starve or even go hungry. There is no need for desperation, there is no need
for depression, there is no need for frustration, there is no need for guilt,
there is no need for worry, there is no need for anger - in short, there is no
need for any of the sin that causes us and others to suffer because Jesus
defeated sin on the Cross, when he was raised from the dead. But coming to
Christ is only the beginning. The faith that saves us needs to be nurtured and
cared for. When Christians, start seeing sin manifest in their lives it is a
sign that they need to have a spiritual meal. When this happens we need to draw
aside and eat of the ‘Bread of Life’.
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