Feeding the Thousands -
Matthew 14:14-21, NIV - When Jesus landed and saw
a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
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.”
Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give
them something to eat.”
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,”
they answered.
“Bring them here to me,” he said. 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. They
all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of
broken pieces that were left over. The
number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and
children.
This is one of the most well-known
miracles of Jesus. Since it’s recording
in all four gospels (few stories are) it has been referred to as the feeding of
the five thousand. We really should stop
calling it that. The story itself says
that there were five thousand men, but there were women and children present
besides. The story comes from a time that,
when talking about an event, the only important attendance number was how many
men were there. However, Jesus
miraculously fed not just the men, but everyone there. Even by conservative estimates, we’re talking
more than ten thousand people – the modern day equivalent of a smaller stadium
full of folks.
Interpretations
of this story have varied greatly. At
one extreme, there have been interpreters that downplay the supernatural aspect
of this story, suggesting that the “miracle” was that everyone shared food they
already had. In this scenario, it was a
miracle of human kindness. This is
highly unlikely because if that was what happened, at least one of the Gospel
writers would have described it that way.
At the other end of the interpretation spectrum is that this was purely supernatural
spectacle to show Jesus’s power. Jesus manifested thousands of pounds of loaves
and fish for the hungry crowd with the same flair that David Copperfield would
make the Statue of Liberty disappear. All
four gospel accounts fall short of this interpretation as well. While no purely logical of scientific
explanation has been ever proposed that would convince many that this feat wasn’t
spectacularly miraculous, Jesus doesn’t perform this miracle to show off His
power. He does it because people are
hungry and need food. He provides for
them in a matter-of-fact way. He takes
what is available and simply begins feeding people and somehow, in the
abundance of God’s provision, everyone eats their fill.
It’s
clear in Matthew’s telling of this story that what he wants to highlight here
is the abundance available to those who follow Jesus. Not only was everyone fed, there were plenty
of leftovers. In addition, Matthew, as
we have discussed before, sees this event as one that also shows us the nature
of the kingdom of heaven. God can take
whatever little amount of resources are available and somehow, in his
miraculous economics of the kingdom, it will be more than enough. This miraculous provision has been repeated
countless times since this feeding occurred. Where humanity sees scarcity, God
sees abundance.
The encouragement
today is to make this kingdom principle personal to you today. All of us encounter
situations where we become worried about whether there will be enough. We see limitation and maybe even dead
end. The invitation of Jesus is to see
the situation from Jesus’s perspective.
Question: Where you
see limitation and scarcity right now, what does God see?
Prayer: God of Abundance,
give us vison to see our lives, our relationships, and our communities the way
you do. Help us to trust in the resources
you will provide to meet the obvious needs around us. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray for
people who are hungry today.
Song: The Lord Will Provide – Matthew Smith
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