Feeding 5,000

Matthew 14:13-21

Immanuel – 8/18/24

If there is any place on earth where you might expect to feel welcome/ accepted/loved, it is home. But when Jesus went home to Nazareth, and taught in the synagogue there, He was violently expelled. Even His own family members did not receive Him.

Shortly afterwards, Jesus caught wind that His ministry had drawn unwanted attention from the treacherous ruler of Galilee, Herod Antipas. Herod was even wondering if Jesus was really John the Baptist, resurrected.

And then Matthew gives us a flashback. We go back, probably only a few weeks, perhaps a month or two, to a lavish banquet at Herod’s palace. It’s a terrible story of deceit, debauchery, incest, manipulation, injustice, and murder. It ends with the head of John the Baptist on a platter; served, ultimately, to Herodias.

Jesus hears of His martyred cousin, and it fills Him with tremendous grief. And so, as anyone would want to do, in sorrow He withdraws to seek solitude.

This is where our passage picks up. Keep in mind that we are still in Matthew’s flashback. In fact, this flashback is not only about John’s death and Jesus’ response to it, but also an account of an extraordinarily remarkable 48 hours in Jesus’ life. The flashback will only end as chapter 14 concludes.

In this flashback we move from the hedonistic banquet in Herod’s palace to one less decadent and far more wholesome. The event we study today, the feeding of the 5,000, is extraordinary enough that every Gospel writer records it. In fact, it is the only miracle of Christ’s (apart from the resurrection) that is in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Read vs 13

The Gathering

In this flashback, Jesus is still primarily operating out of Capernaum. Everyone knew that Capernaum was His home base, and crowds of people were constantly drawn to the lakeside city, hoping to benefit from the powerful miracle worker who was living there, wondering if He truly was Israel’s Messiah. Mark writes that the crowds were so intense that Jesus and the disciples couldn’t even take a break to eat (Mark 6:31).

So when Jesus hears that His beloved cousin is dead, and He desires to get some space, the only escape is to leave town and find some desolate place. Matthew doesn’t make it explicit, but the disciples are also with Him on the boat. The Gospel of Mark corroborates this.

The solitude Jesus seeks is not complete isolation, but one with His disciples. Though Jesus did sometimes seek solitude to pray, all of His life was lived in community. He loved people, He invested, He gave of Himself. Even in times of great grief, still He gave.

And since Jesus is the supreme example of a godly life, we too are called to give of ourselves, and give of ourselves, and give of ourselves – even in the midst of deep sorrows, even when you know there will be no return. God created us to flourish in community, and to generously invest in one another despite our own personal situations. Such is the day-to-day meaning of Jesus’ words:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

-John 15:12-13

Just as Jesus selflessly gave of Himself, so are we to give of ourselves. I know how easy it is to elevate “me time;” but that is the construct of a selfish world. Jesus knew of no such thing. He gave, and He gave, and He gave. He gave of Himself even to the point of death.

Read vs 14

Jesus could not escape the crowds, even on a boat. The people most certainly would have seen them launch from Capernaum’s docks. Jesus and the disciples would have been easy to spot on the lake. Watching from the shoreline, the crowd followed, passing through other lakeside communities. Word was spreading to these villages and beyond. More and more continued to join in pursuit of Jesus.

Though we don’t know exactly where Jesus and the disciples landed, it is reasonable to assume that they went somewhere to the east of Bethsaida. Here’s three reasons why:

1. The geography fits: It was desolate and mountainous.

2. It was outside of Herod’s territory, and therefore a little safer.

3. It was anywhere from 5-8 miles away, a reasonable distance from Capernaum for the crowds to follow.

Indeed, the crowds have come. Verse 21 says 5,000 besides women and children. On the conservative side, if there was one woman or child for every man – and I imagine women and children showed up without any men – the hillside was easily filled with 10,000 people. Here’s an image to help visualize the numbers Jesus may have seen as He approached the supposed desolate place.

They have come because they still need healing. Matthew, Luke, and John each emphasize the healings Jesus performed for them; which means that the crowds have brought with them their sick and disabled – likely not an easy task. This mass of humanity: sweaty, dirty, tired, and desperate to for Jesus. Thousands and thousands of them: far more than He left behind in Capernaum.

There was no disappointment in Jesus’ heart, no annoyance, no begrudged, “here we go again.” From verse 14: He had compassion on them. His own agenda, His own desires, His own emotions, were contentedly laid aside. As His boat neared the shore, and He beheld the sea of needy people, His heart broke for the people. In that moment, Jesus wanted nothing more than to serve them: to give and to give and to give again.

And as I behold that moment, I simultaneously see how much I love Jesus, how I want to be like Him, and how dramatically far I fall short. For such sincere, compassionate, generous love is the very essence of Christ’s own heart; gentle and lowly as it is.

Read vs 15-16

Bread That Satisfies

Matthew only tells that Jesus healed the sick. Mark tells us that Jesus also taught the crowds many things. Luke adds that He taught them about the kingdom of God.

It must have been morning when John’s disciples told Jesus the sad news. Because the boat ride, the healing, the teaching, it all must have taken hours and hours. It is now well past dinner time. Jesus doesn’t seem to be wearying, perhaps He might go all night. And He doesn’t seem to be losing the crowd, no one is dispersing.

The crowd is riveted. I imagine that very few of them had ever seen anything like Jesus before. As astounding as it all was, the disciples were more familiar with these things, and they were likely quite hungry by now. Apparently, they thought it was time for some pragmatic decision making, because they interrupt Jesus from healing and/or teaching, with some practical concerns.

The disciples basically say, “Everyone is hungry. Being a desolate place, there’s no possible way to feed them. It might be wise to bring things to a close. Send them off and let them fend for themselves.” Do you see that, in verse 15? The disciples command Jesus: “Send the crowds away.”

But despite all appearances, and all earthly common sense, Jesus says that the people do not need to go away. In other words, the crowd has everything they need right here. Then Jesus returns a command to the disciples: “You give them something to eat.”

Instead of just dismissing everyone – instead of being dismissive – Jesus invites the disciples into considering how they might help the situation. He invites them to look upon the mass of people with more than just their dismissive eyes.

But they are still unable to do that. They know Jesus can meet any need – He’s just been healing all these people – yet they fail to see with eyes of faith. Soon enough, Jesus will speak the words, “Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Such doubt is present before these hungry crowds.

Read vs 17

According to the Gospel of Mark, after Jesus told the disciples to feed the people, they went searching through the crowd for food. I imagine word quickly spread; Jesus was asking if anyone had food. In all those thousands and thousands of people, all the disciples could find was five loaves and two fish.

These loaves would have been roughly cupcake sized. John tells us that a young boy was offering the food. Likely, this came from a mother supplying her son with provisions for the afternoon.

Surely, there was more food in that crowd. In fear of going hungry, were people hiding food for themselves? Fear does lead people to hold back, but this boy, with slightly more than enough for himself seems to eagerly offer it up. So little for so many, but it was what he had; and the Lord was asking.

Jesus’ plans had been laid aside for the desires of the crowd. Now He begins to take control of the situation; and His control is exercised in a perfect display of compassion and generosity.

Read vs 18-20

Like the head of the household, Jesus gives thanks for the food on behalf of the thousands of people. He then broke up the loaves and fish and gave the pieces to the disciples. What was already a tiny meal has just gotten a lot smaller. He tells the disciples to distribute the bits of food.

Apparently, the miracle takes place in the hands of the disciples; for as they give, there is somehow more to give. What little they had becomes more, becomes abundant, becomes bountiful beyond all imagining. The disciples are giving, but it is more truly Jesus who is giving. The miracle is His alone, though He uses the hands of the 12.

And 5,000 are fed, and 10,000. 12 baskets left over: one for each of the disciples, one for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. You may remember from sermons past; the Jews consider 12 to be the number of the people of God. 12 baskets of abundance, an overflow to represent the full satisfaction of the people of God. It is a satisfaction found in the power of Christ as the people of Christ serve one another.

But there are more than miracles happening here, so much more. The past and the future are being echoed.

At the beginning of this sermon series, I pointed out that there are numerous times when Jesus relives Israel’s history. This is one of them. Consider when God used the great prophet, Elisha, to miraculously feed 100 men.

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, “Give to the men, that they may eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” So he repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ” So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord. -2 Kings 4:42-44

Elisha miraculously fed 100. Jesus fed overwhelmingly more. But there was another, even greater, miraculous feeding in the Old Testament. In a desolate place, on the side of a mountain, God rained bread from heaven for the hungry people of Israel – recently freed from Egypt. Under the leadership of Moses, God used manna to sustain His people in the wilderness for 40 years.

But it didn’t take long for Israel to complain. They were tired of bread and wanted some meat. They complained to Moses and Moses complained to God.

“Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once…Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?” And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” -Numbers 11:13-15,21-23

When Jesus saw the need of the people He felt compassion, and He perfectly trusted His Father, thanking Him, and He served the people with bread and meat. When Moses saw the need of the people he felt exasperation, inadequacy, despair; he had little faith and complained to God. Despite this, God sustained His people with bread and meat.

But just as the feeding of the 5,000 reveals, Jesus is the greater Moses and Elisha. He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. He is the greater sustenance. He is the Bread of Heaven. Just after John’s account of the miraculous feast, Jesus said to the people,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to Him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” -John 6:32-35

Jesus is the Bread of Life, come down from heaven. He is the sustenance we need. Like the crowds, we don’t need to worry about what we will eat. We just need to be near to Jesus. We need to be in His word and meditate upon Him. He is a feast for our souls! We come to Him and know His compassion, we feel His love, we experience His rest, we are flooded with joy. Jesus is heaven’s greatest food given to us!

But bread isn’t eaten for sitting around only thinking about things. It gives the energy of life. We need to get up, put away our pragmatic fears, and follow Jesus.

There are four very significant verbs in our passage today: take, bless, break, give, eat. Can you think of another time when these four verbs are used in the same sequence. It is no coincidence.

Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” -Matthew 26:26

When Jesus fed the 5,000, He was foreshadowing things to come. Of course, these words are from when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, communion. Jesus instituted this during Passover. Not coincidentally, in John’s account we learn that Jesus fed the 5,000 as Passover was at hand (John 6:4). Approximately one year before the Last Supper and the breaking of the bread, and the breaking of the body on a cross, Jesus gave up His grief to compassionately feed the mass of humanity.

There were echoes of the past and the future when Jesus fed the 5,000. But what we see, no matter where we look, is that Jesus gave of Himself, and He gave of Himself, and He gave of Himself.

He took the bread and He blessed it. He broke it and then He gave it to the disciples. They were to eat; but they were also to give the bread to others to eat. Just like their Lord, they were to give, and to give, and to give. And just like their Lord, each of the 12 would give their lives for the sake of distributing this bread from heaven.

But these 12 disciples started with so little. They were poor, or despised, ordinary, obscure, with nothing significant to offer. They were the ones of little faith, who constantly didn’t understand the man they followed. But they followed. They were eager. And whatever they had, like the boy with loaves and fish, they offered it to their Lord.

And Christ took what little they had, and multiplied it. Between the 12 of them (minus Judas plus Paul) they would take the gospel to the ends of the known world. Their testimony would impact billions – we read it even today. Even today, as we read Matthew, one of the 12 disciples passes to us this miraculous bread given by Christ.

Listen to what a commentator of Mark, James Edwards writes, “The miracle brings the Divine will to perfect expression, for God wills to fill His creatures with Himself, to meet their needs with His surplus, to expand their smallness by His greatness, and to transform mundane life into abundant life.”1

Jesus desires to expand your smallness with His greatness. Your life, short as it is, insignificant as it may feel, Jesus would transform into abundant life!

And though we need to address practical concerns, do not let your practical concerns stand in the way of Jesus’ divine will. Your ducks do not need to be in a row to serve Christ and His people. Your family, your bank account, your daily bread, none of it should stop you from following Jesus to give and to give and give.

There are hungry people in the Mohawk Valley who need bread. There are countless more starving for Jesus. There are people all over this planet perishing without Christ. Who will give them this bread? Who will tell them of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven? And even as I ask these questions, I imagine there are all kinds of practical concerns that cause you to dismiss me and say, “Not me.”

But look at how Jesus cares for His people. Look how He satisfies. See how generously, compassionately, selflessly, He gives, and He gives and He gives. And look at what Jesus can do with so little. What might He do with you, if you were to truly offer the very little that you have?

Remember, the power of Christ is displayed as the people of Christ love and serve one another; laying aside personal agendas, desires and emotions.

1Edwards, J. (2002). The Gospel According to Mark. Pg 196. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.