Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
10 On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. 12 Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” 13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”15 And they did so, and had them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
Observations and Reflections
The story of Jesus feeding the 5000 is a curious one because it seems as though this story happened twice or it happened once and people were unsure if it happened twice or once. It would appear that whether or not it happened twice in real life, there is enough oral tradition that was recognized that when the gospels were penned, it was believed that Jesus fed massive crowds by multiplication, at least twice. In both Mark and Matthew it would appear that a crowd of 4000 and a crowd of 5000 were fed (Matthew 14&15, Mark 6 & 8).
Even though Matthew and Mark record two separate incidences, Luke only records the feeding of the 5000, not the 4000. The reason for Luke’s recording of only one of the feedings could be that he believed it to be one event. Of course, it is also possible that Luke only had enough room to record just the one feeding story, given that his gospel is already quite long. It could so be that Luke felt a second story would be redundant and felt that it was unnecessary to record it. In any case, however, we only have speculation.
It appears that there may also be some questions of logistics that need answered as well. For example, was it just the 12 disciples that handed out the food? If so, how could 12 men service such a large crowd? It seems as though Luke describes the method that they used and I believe it’s a viable solution. The crowd divided into groups of 50 which means 100 groups existed. That means the 12 disciples had to service less than 10 groups each. That is not an astronomical amount. Therefore, the logistics of the food seems to be realistic even if it would be a bit time consuming.
From a theological standpoint, it seems clear that Luke has positioned this even as a key moment in Jesus’ narrative. The previous passage had Jesus’ identity being inquired of by Herod. In the next passage, Peter correctly declares Jesus to be “God’s Messiah”. This is then followed by the transfiguration and Jesus’ prediction of death. Here Jesus is now being pictured by like as a messianic figure, performing miracles in mass and providing food in the desert just as God did for the Israelites.
Jesus was always looking for was to reach out the hearts of those who were lost. In this passage, we see how Jesus once again took the opportunity to show His love and Grace towards His people by choosing to meet both their spiritual and physical needs.
Its easy for us to look at this passage and focus on the actual physical miracle of Jesus miraculously turning five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food to feed five thousand people. That part is astounding but what is even more astounding is that Jesus does these things out of a heart that wants to show His listeners that He will not just provide for their physical needs but is able to meet every single need and void that we have in our lives and hearts.
How often do we go through life focusing on our temporary satisfaction instead of allowing for Jesus to work in our lives each day to remind us that He is all that we need. At the end of this passage, verse 17 says that “and they all ate and were satisfied”. That message goes so much deeper then being physically feed. Jesus wants for people to see that without Him there will always be a void and a longing for something to fill it.
We can go through our lives searching for the next big thing. Whether its in a relationship, new job, house, car or having another child, if we are not being consumed and fed by God’s word and what He can do each day then nothing in this world will ever satisfy us.
This passage serves as a reminder that the love of Jesus Christ is powerful enough to feed any hunger or thirst that we will ever face. Let us daily pursue a life that is seeking to be saturated by God’s word and allow for that to lead, guide and satisfy our hearts and lives while here on earth.