The Feeding

Intro

Good morning church family, if you have your Bibles you can turn this morning to Matthew 14:13-21. I want to spend just a few minutes talking to you about how we can place our trust in Jesus to provide for us.

As we have been on this journey through the life of Jesus we have been in a series titled the miracles of Jesus. Over the last three weeks we have seen how,

Jesus turned water into wine,

How Jesus healed the paralytic, and

how Jesus raised the dead young man.

Today, we are going to see how God provides food in a miraculous way.

If you have found your place in Matthew 14, would you say word? Let’s read it together.

Matthew 14:13–23 ESV

13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. 22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

1. The Humanity of Jesus.

Matthew 14:13-14, 22-23

It is incredibly hard for me to wrap my head around the humanity of Jesus. To think, that Jesus, who is God in the flesh is fully human, as much as you or I am human is just mind blowing. He is God, who decided to become human to save us. There are many times in Scripture where Jesus’ humanity is demonstrated. He needed sleep like us, he slept on the boat during the storm. He weeps over the death of Lazarus. We see his love for people. He was hungry like we are hungry. He was tempted as we are tempted. His humanity is on full display throughout the Gospels. In our passage, we see his humanity also on display.

Jesus’ desire for Isolation (14:13)

Look at Matthew 14:13

Matthew 14:13 ESV

13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

Explanation

Jesus hears of the report from John the Baptist’s disciples. A faithful man of God is dead at Herod’s hand. A wicked man has taken the life of the forerunner.

Our text tells us that “when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.”

The word for desolate can mean wilderness or desert. In other words, Jesus has left for a place away from everyone. He is seeking isolation.

Yet, his pursuit of isolation is interrupted.

The crowds heard of Jesus’ plan to go to the wilderness and they quickly take off to Jesus’ destination on foot. You’d think that the boat would have been quicker at arriving at the destination but the crowd beats the boat to the location.

Jesus’ compassion for others’ needs and his isolation interrupted.

Look at verse 14,

Matthew 14:14 ESV

14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Explanation

Talk about a moment. Jesus has set out to seek alone time and here is a crowd at the location in the wilderness, isolated from the towns.

Most of us if we were after solitude and isolation would have dismissed the crowd or found a way to slip away. Not Jesus, we see his loving compassion for the hurting come forward. He takes time to love on the people and heal their sick.

Jesus put the needs of others before his own. His selflessness demonstrates to us how we can have true compassion for others in seasons of need. Much like Samuel Mamou did:

Illustration

In 2021, after hurricane Ida hit Louisiana, a man named Samuel Mamou, a father of five helped lead the charge in getting much water, food, and cleaning supplies to people in need. In a season, where he could have been selfish and focused on just his family. He also carried the burden of others who were suffering after the storm.

Application

Even in seasons where we feel at the end of our rope, we can have compassion towards others. We can place other people’s needs before our own because our love for them is the overflow of love that God has given to us through his son! Our compassion ought to come from the compassion Jesus demonstrated in healing these people when he was seeking solitude.

Yet, what we see later in verses 22-23 is that Jesus still prioritizes his time in isolation.

Look with me at verses 22-23,

Matthew 14:22–23 ESV

22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

Jesus’ isolation for prayer.

Explanation

Notice that as soon as Jesus was finished ministering to the crowds, he sends his disciples away. I can imagine the Lord, placing his hand on the backs of the disciples slightly pushing them saying. Yep, so glad you were here to help with feeding this crowd. Sure, John we can talk about it later but I got other business to attend to. Yep, Peter, you can ask me that later but you and the rest of the guys are going to go on the boat I came in and leave for the other side. Okay? Okay, thanks. Andrew, asking how is he going to join us on the other side? Jesus, simply smiling saying, I’ll be fine see you later. I got the crowd you guys go ahead and leave. Thanks bye!

Then Jesus, turning to the crowd going. Alright everyone, time to go home and the crowd mumbling but I wanted to see more miracles as they slowly dispersed back to the towns in the region. I can even here the deep sigh of a tired man, breathing with some relief looking at the the mountain he had come to climb. With a deep breath he begins his ascent. Having reached the place he longed to be. Silence filled the air as a gentle spring breeze stroked his face. Then, he begins to pray.

What Jesus prays, we do not know. Yet, what we do know is that Jesus longed to be alone with his Father. He heard the terrible news and longed to be with the Father.

Application

Don’t miss this, if Jesus needed time to get away from the crowds to be alone. How much more important is it for those of us who are imperfect need to be alone to spend time with the Lord?

Jesus’ humanity serves to remind us that we need time with people, Jesus spent times with the crowd, time with the disciples, but also time in solitude with the Father. Don’t miss this, my extroverted friends. It is good and healthy for you spiritually to be alone and spend time with just you and God. Reading his Word, praying, singing praises to his name (even if you can’t sing, it is why we do it alone ;)) and sitting in silence. Yet, my more introverted friends in the room. You might find this time easy and enjoyable, but it is also equally important that you spend ample time with crowds of people sharing Jesus, worshipping Jesus and serving others. You do this with your careers, with neighbors, serving in the church, going on mission trips, and being an active member of the community. Jesus modeled for us a balanced approach to being with people and in isolation. We need both! Jesus’ humanity shows us the way.

Not only do we see Jesus’ humanity, we see the

2. The Providence of Jesus.

Matthew 14:14–20 ESV

14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

Jesus’ provides healing.

Explanation

Matthew 14:14 ESV

14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Jesus sees a need and he meets that need. As we saw with the Paralytic, when Jesus healed him of his paralysis, he healed him of his sins. Jesus’ primary concern is for the spiritual needs of the crowds. His messages he proclaimed to the people were filled with truth pointing them to the gospel message of salvation in him. He used his miracles as signs to point to the truth of who he is. Jesus’ deep compassion for the people is powerful and a reminder that God provides for his hurting people.

As Jesus is ministering there is a problem that arises,

Matthew 14:15 ESV

15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

We are not told what time it was when Jesus arrived but at this point he had been healing long enough that it is now evening and the disciples have concerns for the people.

As one Bible scholar notes, the disciples have caught and learned how to have compassion for the people. They want the people to be able to get food for themselves.

Yet, Jesus, who remember came to be alone, says in verse 16,

Matthew 14:16 ESV

16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

Not only is Jesus not ready to send them on their way, he tells his disciples to feed the crowd themselves. A few things we need to consider,

They were not prepared to feed a large crowd.

They sure were not prepared to feed five thousand men, not including the women and children.

This request would have been absurd to the disciples. Their response is simply, Matthew 14:17

Matthew 14:17 ESV

17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”

You can even hear their disbelief at the request. How can we feed these people? We are here with only enough to feed us.

See, a traditional loaf of bread would serve around three people. But the two fish would have likely been only enough for just a few people. In the best case scenario, it was enough to be snack for the 12 disciples and Jesus.

There would be no way to feed the crowd in front of them with their provisions. Yet, Jesus is the God of providence. He is going to provide for this crowd.

Look at what happens next,

Matthew 14:18–19 ESV

18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

Jesus provides nourishment for the crowd.

Explanation

Jesus tells them to bring them to him. I can see the disciples looking at each other and a few of them shrugging indicating they don’t know what he is going to do.

Jesus receives them, sets them aside for a moment then raises his voice for the crowd to hear telling them to sit in the grass. Then, he turns his attention to the food, blessing it and begins to break it up.

By the way, this is why we should always thank the Lord for our meals. Jesus took time to bless the food, so should we.

As Jesus breaks up the food, he gives it to his disciples. Can you imagine what they are thinking to themselves. Jesus is there breaking it and handing it to us to give out. Yet, he isn’t running out. It just keeps coming. One person after another, we give all we can, then once it is all given out, everyone is full, we are left with more food than we started with. Not just a little bit more, 12 basket fulls worth of food worth.

Jesus has provided in a miraculous way!

Illustration

Think back to how God provided Manna for the Israelites in the wilderness. God provided food and nourishment that sustained the people and filled them. Jesus’ miracle here reminds us that God provides for us.

Application

Some will wrongly state that God provides abundantly in this physical world for those who pray and seek earthly prosperity from him. However, God does not promise earthly prosperity for Christians, he promises eternal security in heaven for Christians. We need to remember that we serve a God who provides supernaturally for us by nourishing our soul when we feast at his table.

Not only do we see the humanity of Jesus and the Providence of Jesus, we also see,

3. The deity of Jesus.

Matthew 14:19–21 ESV

19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Explanation

It isn’t until the end of the account of the feed of the crowd we learn the size of the crowd. It is said about five thousand men, besides women and children ate. We call it the feeding of the five thousand but it is likely the number is much higher. In the culture they would have only counted the men. As some scholars have suggested at they believe that 10 thousand is a solid number but it could have easily reached into the 20 thousand range of total people who had gathered from the towns to welcome Jesus on the shore and ultimately received food with children and women included.

Think about it this way, if we filled this room shoulder to shoulder, we could get around 700 people in this room. Now do that 7 more times and add a few more men and we get to 5000 men, now if our culture was normative and the women and children went with their husbands then we can double that number then add another half. So that means we would need to fill this room around 17 times total.

Yet, Jesus feeds them with five loaves of bread and two fish worth of food.

Jesus creates additional food. Something that was impossible.

Illustration

I can remember growing up with magicians being extremely popular. They were doing as many tricks as possible, levitating, putting objects in glass without breaking it, making elephants disappear. In all of their flare, there was a scientific artistry used to make their tricks work. Ultimately, none of them were actually doing anything more than that, a trick. Yet, they were mesmerizing.

Argumentation

Yet, in this moment, Jesus without any tricks or hidden gimmicks is breaking bread and continuing to give it to his disciples. He is demonstrating something unrepeatable. He is not just making the bread spread out further with small pieces, he is making more bread from the bread, he is creating food where food should have ran out. It continues to provide until the whole crowd is filled.

Jesus proves his deity as he feeds the crowd.

Application

We can trust Jesus because he is like us, and he provides for us, but also, because he is God. Have you trusted him to fill your cup with his nourishing love. Have you sat at his table and dinned with him until you are spiritually full?

Conclusion

Jesus is human and shows us the importance of spending time with people and ministering to them and the importance isolation with the Lord in prayer.

Jesus is our provider who gives us rest and nourishment at his table. Are you allowing him to minister to your soul?

Jesus is God. He can provide supernaturally even when we do not expect it. He is worthy of our trust.

Call to Respond

will you trust him with your life?

Will you trust him in your tiredness?

Will you trust him to provide?

Will you commit to spending time in solitude?

Will you commit to spending time in service to others?