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17 And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish." 18 He said, "Bring them here to Me." 19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21 Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. ~ Matthew 14:17-21
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 14 where the Lord Jesus has been pursued all day by people who were looking for that one thing that fulfills. They were so locked in on this quest that they even forgot to eat. Previously, since night was upon them, the disciples had suggested that the crowds be sent back to the villages for their physical needs to be met. Even the disciples were quite myopic that day. The people were so hungry for truth that they ran eight miles around the northern end of the lake to listen to the Lord Jesus. In fact, they ran so fast that they arrived at the other side before He and His disciples got there, even though they had taken a boat.
So often we discover that our appetites dictate the direction of our lives. It just depends upon what we crave in a given moment. Most often we value our temporal needs more than our spiritual. We often miss our hunger and our thirst for the Lord because they most often come in the unwanted moments of life. Those moments when our feelings of emptiness and loneliness abound. The type of stuff that we most often run from. When we learn to value the unwanted annoyances of life, it is then that we will pursue Him. The problem comes when we frantically start looking to the wrong things of this world to try to fill up our emptiness. It is always on the heels of this that we discover there is nothing in this world that truly fulfills.
In v.17-18 of today's passage we read, "17 And they said to Him, 'We have here only five loaves and two fish.' 18 He said, 'Bring them here to Me.'"
According to John's gospel, as the crowd approached, the Lord Jesus said to Philip, the quiet disciple, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" Philip immediately turned his mind to what he trusted most, money. As he estimated the resources available, he made known to the Lord they could not feed all of the people who were there. Some estimate there were at least 15,000 people there that day including the women and the children.
It was at that moment that Andrew identified a small boy who had five small barley loaves and two small fish. Andrew is always seen bringing people to the Lord. The provision was small but small is all the Lord Jesus needed to do the unimaginable. So, the Lord had the small boys small meal brought to Him. This is so typical for God throughout history. The Bible is full of these types of examples: There’s teenage David, who took on the giant Goliath with nothing more than a slingshot in his hand and the name of the Lord on his lips. Moses, a simple shepherd, challenged the most powerful man on earth and led a nation through the Red Sea to the Promised Land. In the New Testament, we have young, unwed Mary, who gracefully submitted to an unwanted pregnancy and the subsequent humiliation that came with it. All of the disciples of the Lord Jesus were unschooled and ordinary people, a motley crew through whom the Lord Jesus has reached billions.
In v.19 of today's passage we read, "Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes."
Throughout the three year ministry of the Lord Jesus, He performed many miracles. The miracle recorded in today's passage is the only miracle recorded in all four gospel accounts. And, the feeding of the 5000 was His most massive miracle. This was the most visible miracle because He kept multiplying the five loaves and two fish and He handed it from hand to hand for all to see. In this case seeing was believing. After this miracle, the Lord Jesus taught the crowds occasionally but most of His focus was on teaching His twelve disciples.
In v.20-21 of today's passage we read, "20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21 Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children."
All of the miracles of the Lord Jesus were demonstrations of His compassion for human suffering. They reveal the broken heart of God over the pain of mankind proving that God is compassionate. He fed the 5,000 because they were hungry. But, this miracle was primarily for the disciples. Often the Lord allows us to be on the brink of total embarrassment and at that moment He does something miraculous. He had long before this called the Old Testament prophet Hosea to purchase his adulterous wife for thirty pieces of silver but Hosea only had half of what he needed. Then the Lord made Himself very tangible to Hosea as He provided the remaining amount, allowing Hosea to buy his wife from prostitution. Oh, the humiliation.
Well, the day the Lord Jesus fed the 5000 He made it obvious that He was the only explanation for the meeting of our needs. After the feeding of the multitude, there were twelve full baskets of leftovers, one for each disciple. Within each basket there was more food than they had when they started. Close to their hearts each disciple had proof of the miracle, reminding each that they didn't need to rely on anything other than the Lord Jesus.
In a world of cause and effect, God wants us to build our lives on Him and His perfection. He wants us to experience Him and His unconditional care and compassion for ourselves because until that happens we surely will not be in the place to extend care and compassion to others. It was God’s compassion for you and me that drove Him to send the Lord Jesus to His death. It was His compassion for you and me that led Him to search us out when sin had condemned us to an eternity away from Him. And, it’s God’s compassion that drives Him even now to pour out His unfathomable love and affection over you and me. Often He takes us to the lean place before He provides for us His abundance. He knows that we will never be convince that He is all we need until we know that He is truly all we have.
