Lovers of God

Jesus feeds 5000 plus women and children

Mt 14:13-21 13 Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14 When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." 16 But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!" 17 They said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish." 18 And He said, "Bring them here to Me." 19 Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, 20 and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. 21 There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

Mk 6:30-44 30 The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) 32 They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and it is already quite late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 37 But He answered them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?" 38 And He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." 39 And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

Lk 9:10-17 10 When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. Taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a city called Bethsaida. 11 But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing. 12 Now the day was ending, and the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place." 13 But He said to them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people." 14 (For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, "Have them sit down to eat in groups of about fifty each." 15 They did so, and had them all sit down. 16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people. 17 And they all ate and were satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full.

Jn 6:1-15 1 After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?" 6 This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. 7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little." 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?" 10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. 12 When they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost." 13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15 So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

This is the only miracle that is recorded in all four gospels.

Another interesting thing about this miracle is that in it Jesus uses something that others bring (like the loaves and fish) instead of just doing it all Himself.

This miracle is symbolic of how God is able to take our little talents and time and money and multiply its effect to serve others and build His kingdom. We just need to be faithful and allow Him to use what we have.

John was a relative, and quite possibly a good friend of Jesus. Hearing of his beheading must have tempted Jesus to be very angry. He tried to find time alone to process the information, but the people wanted His time; they wanted healing.

Sometimes, a parent of young children needs time to process the happenings at work, or among relatives, but may not be able to have such time due to the demands the children make.

Jesus felt compassion for these people and put their needs ahead of His own. He healed their sick. When they needed to eat, He provided for them. Further, as He helped them, He took the opportunity to teach them about the kingdom of God.

He used what the disciples had, and He multiplied it. Can you imagine the expression on the faces of the disciples as He kept giving them fish and bread to distribute to the people?

Are you like Andrew, or like Phillip when God asks you to do something for His kingdom? Do you say, "Its an impossible task!" or do you say, "Here’s what we have, and it is available for You to do a miracle."?

The disciples must have taken some time to count approximately how many people came to receive food.

Jesus gave thanks for the food and blessed it. We too should give thanks for the things that God has generously given us.

People were allowed to eat as much as they wanted rather than just being given a limited amount.

Mark says that the people sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties but Luke says that they sat down in groups of fifties. There is no contradiction here because a group of hundred is two groups of fifties; so two such groups of fifties sitting close by would be a group of hundred.

5000 men, and their women and children were fed. Twelve baskets of food remained. While twelve baskets are a lot in terms of absolute quantity, they are a pretty small amount when compared to what is needed to feed 5000 men, and their women and children. Assuming one basket feeds two people, twelve baskets feed 24 people, which is less than half a percent of 5000. God is not wasteful – He produces just enough, and slightly more, for the occasion. Further, even those twelve baskets of leftovers were not left to rot but were collected and used.

When the people realized what had happened they wanted to make Jesus king, but He withdrew alone into the mountains.

Are your eyes opened to envision the great things God can do with the fish and loaves of bread that you bring to the table? Or are you so pessimistic that you don’t think God can do anything with you? According to your faith, may it be done unto you.