Jesus Feeding The 5,000!!
Because of the apparent importance the gospel writers placed on this miracle, modern day scholars and theologians have spent much time as well trying to figure it out.
Jesus looked at the gathered crowds, and wanted to feed them, physically, and spiritually. In his miracle of feeding them, there are lessons for us, ready for us to explore more deeply. Jesus feeds the 5,000 with only a five loaves of bread and two fish.
Jesus had proven that not only could he heal people of their illnesses, he could provide their basic needs, such as food, as well. And to do this, he used what little a young boy could provide. It doesn't matter how much or how little we have, Jesus can use us for his work. We simply must be willing to do what we can for Him
Jesus is teaching on a hillside - there are over 5000 people there, and when evening approaches the disciples become concerned, they fear that the crowd will go hungry, and their solution is to ask Jesus to send the crowd away so that they will not have to worry about them.
But Jesus says to them, you feed them! Jesus asks Philip, a disciple, what they will give them all to eat. In John's account, it is Jesus who raises the question, perhaps further emphasizing the disciples' inability to see a creative solution to the hunger of the gathered masses.
But Philip is skeptical: "Six months wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." Andrew at least makes an attempt at a solution, bringing up a boy who has five loaves and two fish, but pessimistically responds that they will do nothing among so many hungry. Jesus doesn't hesitate - he just tells the disciples to get the crowds seated. He blesses the food, and passes it around. We read that all ate and were satisfied, and twelve baskets of food were left over.
Now, open your Bibles to Matthew 14:13-21, and follow along.
Matthew 14:13-21, 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.
How can we do all we're being asked to do? Enough is enough! We're already overextended, we've already done all we can, given all we can, answered as many calls from God as we can. So often we opt for the safe floating along in the shallow end of the predictable, taking no risks, never going outside our comfort zone, we cannot afford it, we say.
The feeding of the 5000 is, for one, a miracle about how we use our resources. How do we make what seems like too little and not enough meet the needs of everyone present. How do we use our resources? Do we use what we have been given in a way that makes sure that all are provided for?
Jesus concern is for filling the hungriness that touches our very souls. Jesus wants to touch people's spiritual emptiness, to fill the void in so many lives he confronts. For Jesus, cost is not a factor that slows things down, be it the financial cost that might have been involved in feeding the crowds with bread, or be it the deeper costs of his time, energy, heart, even his life.
We are called to do likewise, to live in this way like Christ. The hungry crowds await us too, making demands on our time, making demands on our love, making demands on our resources, and making demands on our lives
The world is full of people who are hungering for something deeper, who are hungering for meaning and love. We are so rich, richly blessed with abundant life, abundant resources, and abundant love from the God who created us, redeemed us, and continue to sustain us.
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This is a sermon I just gave this Sunday. I was asked if I would post it, for y'all. So here y'all go, please be nice as this is the first real Sermon, I have really given.
Resting in the hands, of the Lord.
Bob
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