Luke 9:10-17

Miracle of Feeding the Five Thousand

Luke 9:10–17

One of my favorite things we do as a church is our monthly fellowship dinner.

I love the fellowship, sharing of the Lord’s Supper, and eating a meal together.

However, one of the thoughts that always looms over my mind is the worry about if there is going to be enough food.

It’s only been a problem like once or twice, but still its a fear I have with the lunches.

What if we have a boom in attendance that Sunday and people stick around to eat.

What if no body brings anything

What if all people bring are desserts…I guess that wouldn’t be too bad.

And it never ceases to amaze me that each time we eat together we always have enough food, and most of the time it’s more than enough.

Now this is b/c of the generosity of our congregation and the oversight of our hospitality team.

In God’s providence today is one of those amazing days of food and fellowship.

And we are going to look at Jesus feeding the 5000.

This is a special miracle in the gospels.

Other than the resurrection, this is the only miracle that is recorded in all 4 gospel accounts.

Meaning that it was important enough to not be left out of any of the accounts.

The fullest retelling of the story comes from John’s gospel.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t see Jesus working in this passage as well.

As we begin looking into this account, I want us to keep in the back of our mind the question that Luke has been addressing since he began his gospel.

The question is: Who is this Jesus?

Just to highlight a few of the episodes where this questions was highlighted.

John ask’s Jesus if he is the messiah or if they need to wait for someone else.

The disciples were confounded and asked this question after Jesus calmed the wind and the waves.

And most recently, Herod asked it in 9.9.

Luke is hitting this question hard and it will come to a head in 9.20 that we will look at next week.

The information we have so far is that Jesus is the one who will be called the Son of God.

He is Lord over nature, we see that in the calming of the wind and waves.

He is Lord over the supernatural, which is seen when he cast out the evil spirits.

He is Lord of life as he restores the bleeding woman from her ailment.

He is Lord over death as he raised the little girl to life after her spirit left her.

And this morning we will see that he is Lord over all creation.

One thing I don’t want us to lose sight of though is that this miracle isn’t primarily for the crowds.

This miracle is for the disciples.

And we’re going to see that on full display.

In this miracle, Jesus displays his compassion, providence, and lordship.

It’s a beautiful picture of the fullness of Jesus’ divinity.

We are going to look at it in 3 parts this morning:

First, in vs. 10-11 we are going to see the Return of the Disciples and the welcome of the people.

Second, in vs. 12-14 we will see an impossible situation where faith is tested.

Finally, in vs. 15-17 we will witness Jesus providing for the crowds and disciples by blessing and breaking bread, and satisfying the crowds.

Let’s pray and ask the Lord to open our eyes.

Luke 9:10–11 CSB

10 When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus all that they had done. He took them along and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds found out, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.

Return and Welcome

Luke begins by telling us that the 12 have made their way back to Jesus.

In case you missed it, they were sent off by Jesus earlier in chapter 9 to go and preach the gospel and to heal the sick.

I can only imagine this ragtag group of the 12 apostles coming back to Jesus stoked to tell him about what happened on their travels.

They had witnessed Jesus healing and teaching, and now they were able to go about and do the same.

They were able to teach and heal b/c they were equipped and empowered by Jesus to do so.

We aren’t told how long they were gone.

Luke isn’t all that interested in if it was days, weeks, or months, but we can tell by Jesus’ attempt to get alone with them that they had been gone for a significant amount of time.

It was time for the Disciples and Jesus to debrief and rest from preaching and teaching.

He takes them to a private place outside of Bethsaida.

Other manuscripts say that Jesus took the disciples to a deserted place.

Both Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus and the Disciples went to a remote place.

They obviously needed a break and some rest.

But there’s no rest for Jesus and the disciples.

Instead, the crowds found out about Jesus and the disciples meeting and show up.

They don’t just show up, but they follow Jesus and the disciples around.

They want to hear this man speak about the kingdom of God.

They want to witness and get the healing of their sickness.

They want Jesus to bless them with the good news and with healing.

And though Jesus and his disciples were tired.

Though they were most likely worn out from ministry and travel.

Jesus has compassion on the crowds.

He didn’t shew them away.

He didn’t ask them to leave and come back at another time.

He didn’t complain about be tired and beg for the crowd to leave them alone.

No, instead he graciously ministered to the crowds.

Jesus welcomed the crowds.

He welcomed them and spoke about the kingdom of God and healed those who were hurting and sick.

He was always willing and ready to preach about the kingdom of God.

This shows a priority to his mission rather than physical comfort or preferences.

Jesus understood the urgency and priority of the gospel.

We shouldn’t let things get in the way of ministering to people.

We have to do it right, but we also need to have the same sense of urgency as Jesus does.

We need to know and see the importance of telling our friends, family, and neighbors about the good news of Jesus.

Listen, I’m as guilty as the next person.

I use excuses like, I’m busy. I’m tired. I’m done with people today.

I just want to rest, take my time, and do my own things.

But instead we need to imitate Jesus.

We need to see that there are people out in the world that are longing for Jesus.

There are people that you know that need to hear the good news of the gospel.

That feel hopeless, broken, and unloved.

They need to know about the God loves them and died for them.

We must not let our own conveniences get in the way of preaching the gospel.

Jesus didn’t.

He had every right to tell the crowds to come back tomorrow.

He had the power to command them to leave him alone, but instead he demonstrated the perfect love and compassion of God.

He did this by proclaiming the kingdom of God and healing the sick.

I know that I sound like a broken record, but notice the ordering of Jesus’ ministry to the crowd.

He taught them spiritually and then healed them physically.

Jesus’ primary concern was the state of their spiritual lives.

He wanted them to know the depth of their need for restoration with God and to serve that message, he then met their physical needs.

We will see that even more as this story progresses.

The miracle always lives in service to the message.

This is still true today.

Though God does still heal people today of physical diseases.

We have witnessed it as a church that God has graciously healed people of cancer and other sickness within our own congregation.

And though that is amazing.

We can not choose to shortchange the gospel of Jesus for miracles.

The message of the gospel is always of primary importance for the church.

I want us to pray for healing.

I want us to petition God to do the impossible when our loved ones are on death’s doorstep.

I want us to know and believe that God still performs miracles.

But I don’t want us to forget that the greatest miracle.

The miracle that causes heaven and the angels to rejoice isn’t cancer disappearing.

Isn’t a miraculous cure that spares the life of our friends and family.

What causes heaven to rejoice and resound is the sinner repenting and turning toward God.

What causes heaven to rejoice is when a sinner goes from being dead in their sin and trespasses to being made alive in Christ.

Don’t hear me try to downplay miracles, rather hear me magnify the message of the gospel.

The gospel has the power not just to change a sick or broken body, but to heal, restore, and renew a broken soul.

And not just temporarily, but for all eternity.

This is why it’s so important for us to continually run back to the message of Jesus.

The gospel saves us and sustains us.

It is in the message of the kingdom of God that we find spiritual sustenance.

That we find hope, healing, and best of all the Love of God.

As followers of Jesus we shouldn’t be enamored with miracles, we should be captivated by the gospel.

And continually run back to it for sustenance.

I don’t think it’s right for us to downplay what Jesus so readily highlighted.

There’s power in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We can never forget that.

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As Jesus is teaching and healing, it’s starting to get late and the disciples are getting worried about the crowds.

Luke 9:12–15 CSB

12 Late in the day, the Twelve approached and said to him, “Send the crowd away, so that they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find food and lodging, because we are in a deserted place here.” 13 “You give them something to eat,” he told them. “We have no more than five loaves and two fish,” they said, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 (For about five thousand men were there.) Then he told his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did what he said, and had them all sit down.

Impossible Situation

We all know how it is.

You’ve been sitting there listening to a guy teach for a few hours and you start to get hungry.

You start to get shifty in your seat.

And you stop listening b/c of the growl in your stomach.

Jesus had been ministering to the crowd for a long time.

Evening was coming.

Supper time was approaching.

And it was time for the church-wide potluck.

Except, no one brought anything.

The Disciples were aware that it was approaching supper time.

They were also aware that the crowd was huge.

And they wanted to send the people away before they got hungry and angry.

This meal was typically the largest meal of the day for most of the people during Jesus’ time.

So feeding them and satisfying them would be impossible.

This is honestly the most humanly rational thing to do, right?

Send the 5000+ people away from the deserted place to the next nearest town or back home so that they can get the sustenance they need.

I want us to see the presumption in the disciple’s tone here in v. 12.

“Send the crowd away...” It wasn’t a question or a suggestion.

No, it was impertinence.

They were telling Jesus what to do.

No doubt, they too were hungry and tired, but they still can’t tell their Rabbi what to do.

And though Jesus doesn’t correct them on their action, it just goes to show you that the disciples still had an inadequate understanding of who Jesus is.

Jesus does respond to them, and instructs them to feed the people.

This isn’t said in jest.

Jesus is truly instructing them with an emphatic command to give the crowd something to eat.

Now the question arises from this emphatic command: Did Jesus actually mean what he said?

Could the disciples have fed the people?

There are two prominent interpretations of this command.

The first is that Jesus was simply pointing out the disciples own inadequacies.

He wanted them to see where true power and provision comes from.

They were unable to make it happen so they had to rely on Jesus to do something.

The other interpretation is that they could have fed them.

And Jesus is putting the onus and responsibility on them to feed the crowd.

Remember they just got back from a trip where they performed many miracles.

Where Jesus had equipped and empowered them to do mighty works in the name of the Lord.

Could it be that in the name of Jesus, they could have fed the crowd?

It’s at least open for consideration.

Nevertheless, the Apostles believed that there was nothing they could do.

They didn’t have the money, time, or resources to feed this many people.

All they had were 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.

These loaves would have been made out of barley.

They wouldn’t have been very big maybe the size of a hockey puck.

The fish, most likely, would have been a paste to smear on the bread rather than whole fish.

So in all honesty, according to our rational minds, they had nothing.

They could have given food to the first 3 people, but it wouldn’t have been enough to satisfy and it wouldn’t have gone further than that.

For the crowd to be fed, a miracle would have to occur.

In John’s gospel, we are told that the amount of money needed to feed this crowd would have been 8 months wages.

But on top of that, they weren’t near a super market.

They weren’t in a town that could provide this amount of food.

They couldn’t go down to their local Chili’s and cater a meal.

It was a hopeless situation.

Now the disciples suffer from something that all followers of Jesus suffer from at least every once and a while.

We suffer from amnesia.

We forget what God has done and what he can do.

We forget the goodness, grace, mercy, and power of God.

We forget that in the difficult times he gets us through.

We forget that in the good times he’s the one who has blessed us.

We forget the gospel and the power of salvation.

We forget.

I see this and have experienced it as well.

When I was a teenager, I went to several church camps, disciple nows, and other spiritually vibrant activities.

I saw God work in miraculous ways.

I saw God call people to himself and save them from their sin.

I experienced the overwhelming presence of God.

Then I get back home and forgot about God’s goodness.

I went back to work or school and quickly forgot about the fact that God is with me at all times.

That he’s the same God here who was at camp.

This is what’s happening with the disciples.

They forgot the power of Jesus that they had witnessed.

And even more than that, the power they participated in.

So what’s the remedy for this type of Spiritual Amnesia?

I think the disciples show us.

They approached him went to him with a problem.

Then they listen to him.

look at v. 14-15 again with me.

Luke 9:14–15 CSB

14 (For about five thousand men were there.) Then he told his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did what he said, and had them all sit down.

He gave them an instruction and they obeyed.

Sometimes listening to and doing what Jesus commands is the best remedy for amnesia.

They had no idea what Jesus was going to do.

They didn’t even think about the command they were given.

Rather they did what he asked.

Sat the people down in groups of 50.

I want us to see here that obedience to Jesus sometimes proceeds understanding.

We don’t have to know Jesus’ reasons for anything that he asks us to do.

We don’t have to have all the answers.

He asks that we simply obey.

And when we obey his command he goes to work.

Luke 9:16–17 CSB

16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke them. He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 Everyone ate and was filled. They picked up twelve baskets of leftover pieces.

Blessed, Broken, Given

Jesus does the impossible.

He performs a miracle.

He creates much out of nothing.

Jesus prays over the bread and fish.

He gives thanks to the Lord.

Probably praying the common prayer of thanks: “Blessed be you, O Lord our God, King of the world who causes bread to come forth from the earth.”

I can imagine that as Jesus concludes this prayer all 5000+ of those in attendance saying with one voice Amen.

What an amazing sight that would have been.

Then he began to break the bread.

Most of the early church saw this as a precursor to the Lord’s Supper.

A meal that Christians for all generations will enjoy.

So It’s like Jesus is sharing a piece of himself with the crowd.

Obviously we can’t narrow it down to simply a foreshadowing of the Lord’s Supper, but it does hold some weight.

Especially when read in light of John’s gospel account.

Jesus interprets this miracle for us in John 6:35, saying “35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.”

He is the sustenance and grace given by the Lord to fill the hungry souls seeking reunion with God.

But how does this event answer the question: Who is Jesus?

I want you to think back to the way that Herod asked about Jesus.

Luke 9:7–8 CSB

7 Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was going on. He was perplexed, because some said that John had been raised from the dead, 8 some that Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the ancient prophets had risen.

Herod thought that Jesus was possibly a prophet or maybe even John the Baptist.

Here in the Feeding of the 5000 we see that Jesus is not merely a prophet.

Both Moses and Elisha provided bread when there was a need.

Through God Moses provided the Israelites with manna, the bread from Heaven.

In 2 Kings 4, Elisha commands his servant to feed a hundred men when there wasn’t enough food.

So both Moses and Elisha were associated with bread being provided to feed the hungry people.

Now one of the things that the Gospels are trying to show is that Jesus isn’t simply a new prophet.

He isn’t simply the new Moses, but he is greater than Moses.

Jesus comes along and does things that Moses couldn’t do as well as similar things to Moses.

So there is a connection there, but we are to see that Jesus is the promised one of whom Moses spoke in Deut. 18.

So there are intentionally some parallels here between Moses and Jesus.

First, where are the people?

They are in the dessert or wilderness.

They are tired and hungry.

Bread is then provided for them through a miracle.

So though there are similarities, How is Jesus different from Moses?

Jesus takes the bread that was provided and he multiplies it right then and there.

This wasn’t bread from heaven that showed up overnight, but the bread came from the hands of Jesus.

As I was reading and studying for this sermon, something stuck out that I had never noticed before.

Look at what it says in v. 16

Luke 9:16 “16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke them. He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd.”

This is often overlooked in some translations, and usually says “he gave them to the disciples.” But the Greek for he gave is an imperfect indicative.

Meaning that it wasn’t a one and done giving, but he kept on giving.

He was the source and provider of the bread.

Imagine it this way.

Jesus held the bread in his hands and as the disciples approached he would hand them more bread to pass out.

The disciples had to pass it out, but Jesus was literally creating bread and fish in his hands to pass out to the people there.

I can only imagine how astounding this miracle would have been to the disciples.

Don’t forget, this would have taken a long time to pass out.

Feeding 5000 people is no small feet.

I remember waiting tables on 100-200 people and the amount of time it would take to just pass out the food was ridiculous.

So the already tired disciples would have been extremely exhausted by the end of this miracle.

Nevertheless, they participated in the passing out of the bread and fish.

And everyone present had their fill.

They were all satisfied.

No one left hungry.

And, in fact, there wasn’t just enough to feed the 5000, there was enough left over for the 12 to take their own basket with them along the Journey.

God’s grace isn’t just sufficient, it is abundant.

They started with nothing, but were satisfied with the gifts from Jesus.

So I told you earlier that this miracle was primarily for the disciples.

That though the crowd benefited, the disciples were the ones the lesson was pointed towards.

What did they learn that day?

They learned that Jesus is truly the provider.

He may or may not provide for us physically, but his spiritual provision is more than enough.

There is a faith building exercise that went with the obedience of the disciples.

They got to see Jesus’ grace on display.

They got to see that the problems they face are never bigger than the God that they serve.

This is a truth that we can cling to too.

Our issues, problems, and circumstances are never bigger than the God we serve.

He will always provide the grace, peace, and protecting we need if we look to and rely on him.

This story tells both us and the disciples that we do have a part to play in the mission of Jesus.

The disciples part was to pass out the bread.

To make sure that all the people were fed.

Jesus was the provider, but the disciples were the distributors.

Jesus very well could have distributed himself, but he invites the disciples to participate in what he’s doing.

You see Jesus doesn’t just want us to sit back and have salvation.

He want’s us to participate in the work he’s doing in the world.

We get to be the distributors of the good news of his perfect kingdom

We don’t provide the salvation.

We don’t provide the transformation.

We simply relay the message and the God of provision gives us the tools necessary to accomplish the mission he has set us out on.

In this distribution of the message, we also have to continue to rely on Jesus’ provision.

We can only give away what he’s provided for us.

Trying to create our own thing will always end up with people leaving with empty hands, heads, hearts, and stomachs.

But what does this passage teach us about Jesus?

It proves his divinity.

He is God in the flesh, able to create bread and fish through his power and grace.

He is the provider of substance and sustenance.

Like the manna in the wilderness with Moses, Jesus is the source of life and a gift from the Father.

This bread that Jesus’ supplies isn’t just there to prove that he can create something to fill our stomachs.

But bread often in the OT refers to something much more.

It refers to God providing spiritual substance.

Again this miracle is in service to the message of spiritual renewal and resurrection.

Jesus is the only source we can run to that will satisfy our souls.

He is the only one through whom redemption is possible.

Yes, he cares about our physical needs, but he wants us to repent of our sins and find spiritual renewal more.

If you haven’t dined on the bread of life, then today is the day.

Today is the day to turn from your sins and embrace Jesus as Lord of your life.

Leave the life you have lived behind and come to the one who loves and sustains you.

He’s set the table for you: will you come?

Let’s pray