Jesus, The All Sufficient Lord

Introduction:

The miracle we have just read together here in Luke 9 where Jesus feeds the 5,000 represents a turning point in Luke’s gospel and it is also the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded in all four Gospels. It represents the end of Jesus Galilean ministry and his move to the coastal cities of Tyre, Sidon, Caesarea Philippi then onto the Transjordan region and eventually down to Judaea and Jerusalem.

What’s interesting in Lukes telling of this event is that it immediately follows Herod asking the question in vs.9

Luke 9:9 (ESV)

9 Herod said, “...who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him.

This miracle is a primary answer to that question becuase it reveals for us exactly who Jesus is, He is the all sufficient Lord.

Luke gives us a very brief introduction to this event in vs.10-11 in order to give us some context but, Mark’s telling of this event gives us more detail regarding the timing

Mark 6:30–31 ESV

30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

It seems that about the time that the disciples finished giving there reports to Jesus regarding their experiences on their short term mission trip that the crowds began to show up looking to be healed and to hear a sermon from the celebrity preacher, Jesus.

At a time when the disciples were seeking rest, they were being “peopled to death” by the same people who they had just spent the last several weeks maybe even months dealing with.

Can I just say, I love everyone in this room and it is the joy of my life to spend and be spent as your pastor, but sometimes, you just need to rest and that’s what the apostles were hoping to do.

Jesus had proposed a little countryside retreat on the north side of the sea of Galilee on the outskirts of Bethsaida. This was a little isolated spot out in the wilderness. Surely the apostles were like “finally, a place with no people.”

Jesus may have welcomed the crowd but the apostles sure didn't (we’ll see that in a minute).Jesus took the time to heal them and spoke to them at great length on the subject of the Kingdom of God until late in the day setting the scene for this amazing miracle.

In our time today were going to see:

The need. (v.12)

The miracle . (v.13-16)

The satisfaction. (v.17)

1.) The need . (v.12)

Jesus had been preaching and ministering until late in the day. When you study the timeline of Jesus ministry this likely took place in the spring, early April, when the sun in Palestine sets around 6PM. It was probably around 4-4:30 and the people were beginning to get hungry which led to the twelve apostles coming to Jesus and saying:

Luke 9:12 ESV

12 Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.”

Understand the apostles were not offering Jesus a simple suggestion or advice on what he should do, they were disrespectfully demanding Jesus send the crowds home. They were daring to give Jesus orders.

Now this strikes me a bit odd because by this point in their time with Jesus they had been his companions for a year and a half and seeing miracle after miracle. Yet, it didn't seem to strike them here that Jesus could solve the hunger problem of the crowd pretty easily.

Now, don’t get me wrong, sometimes when you yourself are tired and hungry, you don’t always think straight.

Even though they had seen Jesus meet need after need of the demanding multitudes and for them, they had a distorted and inadequate view of just who Jesus was and what he could do. Even after all this time.

Application: When I read the apostles reaction to the need of the hungry crowd, I see myself and maybe you see yourself.

How often are we dull to Christ and his way of doing things even though we have seen him provide time after time after time?

How many times does Jesus have to come through for us, in ways that, if were honest, are miraculous; and yet we till question his ability to provide and meet our need whenever we’re in a difficult spot?

How often do we question if God really can meet the need this time?

How often do we have the audacity to tell God how to do his job?

How often do we forget the all sufficiency of Christ?

The disciples were guilty of having “sufficiency of Christ” amnesia and we all to often are guilty of the same.

2.) The miracle. (v.13-16)

I love Jesus response to the apostles.

Luke 9:13 (ESV)

13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat...”

This was a problem for them, not Jesus. All they could see was their insufficient ability to provide meals not the all sufficient savior.

So, they responded

Luke 9:13 (ESV)

...They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.”

Jesus was trying to teach them a lesson that yes, they were helpless to meet the need. That human ability is always helpless.

John elaborates a little more than Luke as to the apostles response to Jesus

John 6:7–9 ESV

7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”

(200 denarii is about eight months worth of wages)

Jesus was teaching his apostles in the same way he often teaches us by bringing them to the end of their ability by calling them to do something really hard that only his provision can accomplish.

v.14 tells us the magnitude of the problem, there were 5,000 men there.

Luke uses the masculine term here in the greek, he was literally saying that there were 5,000 males present. He says nothing about women and children. Matthew does however

Matthew 14:21 ESV

21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The end of John’s telling of this even suggest there may have even been a little bit of a military flair to the gathering of people.

John 6:15 ESV

15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

This tells us the crowd was likely mostly male.

Scholars estimate this crowd could have been anywhere in size from 14,000-25,000 people present depending on just how many women and children were present.

Needless to say the little boys lunch of 5 crackers and 5 sardine size fish wasn't anywhere near enough to provide for a crowd this size.

v.14 goes on to tell us that Jesus commanded the apostles to have the people sit in groups of fifties then v.16 tells us

Luke 9:16 ESV

16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

It’s likely that Jesus gave the traditional blessing of the meal which would have been:

“Blessed be you, O Lord our God, king of the world, who causes bread to come forth from the earth” (Berakcot 6:1).

This prayer has been historically preserved for us in the Mishnah

Then when he finished praying the blessing on the sardines and crackers he began to break the loaves and distribute them along with the fish to the apostles to give to the people.

Gave-this is in the greek imperfect tense which literally means he “kept giving”. He have and gave and gave.

Alexander Maclaren in his “Expositions of Holy Scripture” says that

“The pieces grew under his touch, and the disciples always found his hands full when they came back with their own empty”

Application: Maybe we can learn something from that.

With his bare hands Jesus kept creating more barley loves and more fish. They literally were seeing the creative power of Jesus on display before their eyes.

Colossians 1:16–17 ESV

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

This certainly answers Herods question doesn't it? Who is this? He is the King who has come and will return. His kingdom is the one that has come and will come!

Revelation 4:9–11 ESV

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

3.) The satisfaction. (v.17)

Luke 9:17 ESV

17 And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

Jesus didn't just provide for the need, he provided more than enough. Each person there didn't just get a few crackers and a few fish, they ate until they were satisfied.

There is a difference in eating enough to no longer be hungry and enough to be satisfied. They ate enough until there stomachs were full, and then, the apostles gathered up 12 baskets full of leftovers that would sustain them for the next several days.

The whole point to this miracle was not to teach the multitudes but to instruct the twelve the Christ was sufficient to meet all the needs of their life.

A.) The provision of salvation.

That provision begins with the salvation he brings.

Christ death on the cross, atoning for the sins of mankind is sufficient to save all those who come to him from their sin.

The Apostle Paul would later write:

Romans 1:16 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Friend, no matter what we have done, no matter how pathological our sin, Christ is sufficient to save you. His blood is sufficient to wash away every stain that your sin has ever made on your soul and give you a life anew and eternal.

Expound on the miracle of salvation more.

B.) The provision for living.

Christ provision just doesn't stop with salvation though!

It would be enough if it did, but it goes beyond that.

Had Christ have just fed the 5,000 that would have been an amazing miracle, but he went further to provide sustenance for the 12 afterwards didn't he?

Friend this teaches us that Christ is sufficient not just for salvation but for any need in our lives.

Romans 8:32 ESV

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

There is nothing that Jesus wont or cant do to enhance the well being and satisfaction of his children.

Psalm 84:11 ESV

11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Your savior is sufficient for anything you may face.

Be it a broken heart

loneliness

rejection

depression

etc

He is sufficient to meet any and every need.

Conclusion:

Jesus caps off his ministry in Galilee in dramatic fashion declaring his all sufficiency.

If you want to know who Christ is, you need to look no further than his hands multiplying the bread and fishes.

As one poet put it:

Yesterday, God helped me,

Today He’ll do the same.

How long will this continue?

Forever—praise his name.

R. Kent Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 335.