Today, we come to the heart of the feeding of the 5,000, one of two miracles recorded in all four gospels. This is one of those passages where the compassion and sympathy of the Lord Jesus is manifest on the biggest possible stage. In fact, this is, quantitatively, the biggest miracle Jesus performed.
The feeding of the 5,000 marks the highpoint of the Lord Jesus' Galilean ministry. This true story happened in April of the year. The Lord Jesus had been ministering in Galilee, but now, past the half-way point of His three-year ministry, He is about to leave the area. During all of this time He preached the gospel and performed miracles. His goal was to tell people of the wonderful good news of the forgiveness of sins and a personal relationship with God.
All of Galilee had listened to His messages but a small portion of Galilee believed. The feeding of the 5000 was His high point and the beginning of the end of His ministry in Galilee.
In Luke 9:12 we read, "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."
Now, this is a miracle about feeding people. And it exhibits again this amazing concern of God for the simple things in our lives. Many of these people were locals. And, although this isn't a place where they could get food, the disciples reminded the Lord Jesus to get rid of the crowd, so that they could go get something to eat. Perhaps, the disciples were more motivated by their own hunger. They knew they weren't eating til this crowd left. They had no idea the Lord Jesus' biggest miracle was about to happen.
In v.13 the Lord tells them to "give them something to eat." They had just come back from their mission of casting out demons, raising the dead, healing the sick, and preaching the gospel. Through that trip the disciples had access to the power of God to do the miraculous. But, as illustrated here, the disciples had a horizontal view of reality. They looked around at the 5,000 men, women and children (adding up to some 15,000) and they looked at the five barley loaves and two fish, which they had taken from a young boy (John 6:9).
According to John 6, Philip checked the money bag, and they only had two hundred denarii, two hundred days’ wages, not enough to feed the crowd. The training of the disciples was continuing, they were still in the classroom of the Lord Jesus, and they didn't realize it. God speaks to us through the most unexpected every day and we miss it, just like these disciples.
By the way, it was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, who found the little boy with the fish. In John 6:8-9 we read, "Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said, 'There's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many people?'" These “loaves” really were “biscuits.” And the fish were dried fish. With five biscuits and some dried fish, the Lord Jesus wowed them all.
In v.14 we read, the Lord Jesus "said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." Then in v.15, we read, "The disciples did so, and everyone sat down."
And then v.16, the miracle happens. "Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people." This is the One who made all things. At this moment He was making more from a little. Nobody questions this, and yet everybody there knew that there's no food except what He's creating and He's creating it so that it's distributed among the entire crowd. It's little wonder that they said in John 7, "This is the Christ. This is the Messiah."
According to v.17, "They all ate and were satisfied." There is the theme of John once again, "His fullness, man's emptiness." Except here, everybody is filled. The Greek word chortazō is used. It is also used in Revelation 19:21 which reads, "All the birds will be gorged with their flesh." The scavenger birds at Armageddon, the massacre at the end of the age, will gorge themselves on the flesh of the dead who were slaughtered by the returning Christ. They ate like they had never eaten before. These must have been the best fish and biscuits ever. They ate like they had never eaten before.
At the end of v.17 we read, "and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over." Now, this miracle was done for benefit of the twelve disciples. When the disciples collected the leftovers, there were exactly twelve baskets full, one for each disciple. The Lord Jesus provided for the twelve what they needed. You will remember, in the previous section there was a twelve year old dying girl, and a woman who had had an issue of blood for twelve years. And here, each disciple, all twelve of them was given a close up reminder of the miraculous provision of God and how He is the fulfillment of all our desires.
Do you suppose the Lord Jesus was expecting one of the disciples to consider all the possibilities? The disciples thought, “we have five loaves, two fish, and … Jesus!” Standing next to the disciples was the solution to their problems but they stopped their counting and worried. What about you and me? Are we counting our problems or are we counting on the Lord Jesus?
