Feeding Five Thousand

Context

We just read about Herod’s confusion regarding Jesus’s identity and the death about John the Baptist

Jesus was last seen in Nazareth and was Rejected

They were found in unbelief

What happens next follows Jesus’s hearing of John being beheaded.

Matthew 14:12–21 “12 And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus. 13 When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. 14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. 15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. 16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. 17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18 He said, Bring them hither to me. 19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.”

John’s Death Reaches Jesus

John’s disciples have come and they told Jesus what had happened.

Jesus’s response is to separate himself, he gets into a ship and goes into the wilderness to be ALONE

The People Follow

Matthew 14:13 “13 When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.”

A massive contrast between Nazareth and the region of Galilee.

They were offended in Nazareth, yet these people pursued Jesus on foot, while he was in a ship.

Mark’s Gospel tells that the people on foot beat Jesus to the other side and met him on the shore (Mark 6:32-33)

Here we have Jesus going apart to mourn the death of John and spend time alone with his disciples.

Before he has a moment alone there is a multitude there to meet him on the shore.

Jesus’s Response to a Multitude

Matthew 14:14 “14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.”

Jesus does not get irritated. He doesn’t send them away or tell them to give him time and space to mourn.

Jesus is moved with compassion.

In the midst of his and his disciples own loss he pities the people who pursued him.

He heals their sick.

Mark and Luke additionally record Jesus teaching the multitude. Matthew who normally emphasizes Jesus’s teaching instead focuses on the healing and miraculous in this case.

The shift in Matthew’s typical focus seems to be that Jesus intends on teaching his closest disciples through his miracles rather than in addition to them.

Don’t let your schedule and plans blind you to the needs around you

Finding the time between

This goes on for the rest of the day and into the evening when his disciples approach him.

Jesus’s Speaks with His Disciples

Matthew 14:15–19 “15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. 16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. 17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18 He said, Bring them hither to me. 19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.”

Jesus asks them to do something beyond their ability.

They didn’t have food to feed themselves with, much less a multitude. Jesus knew that.

They were running on empty.

John had just been killed.

Jesus was taking them into the wilderness to be away for a time.

They clearly didn’t have food to feed a multitude.

Yet Jesus has compassion on the multitude and tells them to feed them.

Sometimes Jesus asks us to do things beyond our ability, so we learn to rely on him rather than our own abilities, wisdom, and resources.

The disciples bring what they have; five loaves and two fishes.

Insufficient in their hands, but plenty in Jesus’s

Matthew 14:20–21 “20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.”

There is more left over than there was to begin with and everyone was filled.

The people didn’t just have a little to calm their hunger, it says they were filled.

The disciples went from being concerned they couldn’t possibly feed the people to them each of the twelve standing by a basket of scraps.

This isn’t the first time a something like this is recorded in Scripture.

2 Kings 4:38–44 “38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not. 40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. 41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. 42 And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. 43 And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. 44 So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord.”

Notice the similarities in these situations.

Both have a lack of food.

In Matthew, because they had left to go after Jesus and not taken the time to provision themselves

In 2 Kings there is a famine

Bread is brought in, but not enough.

A word from the Lord says to feed the people

What was not enough to go around ended up being left over after the people had eaten.

In 2 Kings we see a miracle where 20 loaves fed 100, in Matthew we see 5 feed over 5,000.

What we have or don’t have is inconsequential, if he gives a command he will also provide the means to obey that command. We may not be able to see how.

Grace for the moment - CMA

We can be underqualified, under resourced, or going through something ourselves, but Jesus will always give us what we need to do what he requires of us.

What you hold in your hands does not matter nearly as much as knowing that Christ holds you in his.