The Feeding of the 5000
Notes
Transcript
One of the best known miracles
Probably because its about getting some food.
We all love to gather to eat right
Yet there are practical problems when we do that.
The Disciples had this problem
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.
14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 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.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said.
19 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.
20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
This is Matthew’s Account, but this is one of the few miracles that is in all four Gospels
Each Gospel helps us reinforce the idea that the Disciples are Practical.
15 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.”
37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
The Practical Disciples
The Practical Disciples
The Disciples were very practical.
They saw how late the day was getting
They saw how much it would cost
They saw that not only did the people need food but potentially lodging
They also had to find some bread and food and recruited some help
It is amazing how we can get like this right.
Economics project in High school—Pizza shop
We like to embody this kind of thinking
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
We like to get into our math and the way we do it.
Math is Fun
Math is Fun
How many of you actually like math?
I won’t lie I really enjoy math and that is why this kind of passage is so important for me.
The Disciples were doing their math and God was doing his math and the equations or the methods of how they got to the answer were very different.
God’s Math v. Our math
God’s Math v. Our math
Our math says I can’t afford to feed the people
Half a years wages!
God’s Math
God’s Math
I can’t afford not to
We aren’t just talking about physical feeding either here.
We have dreams about what we think this church could be or what we can do as Christians and we get scared
We put limitations
God’s Math
God’s Math
God’s Math is such that we have to recognize that only he is the one who can deliver it
Are we trusting or...
Are we Trusting or Fighting?
Are we Trusting or Fighting?
Are we ready to submit
are we ready to give him control
Now this doesn’t mean we sit back and just do nothing we get busy and follow the dream trusting he is going to take care of it.
Transition to Communion
