FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH

“I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE”  JOHN 6:51

Feeding the 5,000.  There are so many beautiful details and life lessons to be learned from this story, but you must weave together the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to see the whole picture.

“NOW WHEN JESUS HEARD ABOUT JOHN, HE WITHDREW FROM THERE IN A BOAT TO A SECLUDED PLACE BY HIMSELF.” (MATTHEW 14:13)  “THE PEOPLE SAW THEM GOING, AND MANY RECOGNIZED THEM AND RAN THERE TOGETHER ON FOOT FROM ALL THE CITIES, AND GOT THERE AHEAD OF THEM.”  (MARK 6:33)

 Jesus had just learned that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been beheaded by Herod.  Coinciding with this, the apostles had just returned after having been sent out in pairs to minister in the nearby villages.  Scripture states that they were so busy that didn’t even have time to eat.  So Jesus promises them a little get away and some much needed rest. Can you imagine their disappointment?    Instead of seclusion, they step onto shore to see a sea of faces.

“when he went ashore HE FELT COMPASSION FOR THEM AND HEALED THEIR SICK.” (MATTHEW 14:14) “and he began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34)

The tenderness of Christ is on display here.  He is our example that in our grief and in our fatigue we can still minister outside of ourselves, if it driven by compassion.

“When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘This place is desolate and the hour is already late, so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”  (MATTHEW 14:15)

Jesus taught and healed until late in the day.  The disciples, surely tired and hungry themselves, suggested that it was time to send the crowds away.  They had ministered enough for one day.  The disciples came together as a united front—all 12 of them. They were looking to their circumstances and a practical, logical solution. Instead they should have been looking to the Manna of Heaven standing before them. He provides for us in our desolate places, like the Israelites of old in the wilderness.

 “BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT!’ AND THEY SAID TO HIM, ‘SHALL WE GO AND SPEND TWO HUNDRED DENARII ON BREAD AND GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT?”  (MARK 6:36)

What an enormous, impossible task!  This was not a “mere” 5,000 people that the story is commonly named for because in that day only the men were counted, not the women and children who were also there.  So the size of the crowd must have been double or triple the official count.  Can you hear a bit of the sarcasm and frustration in the disciples’ response?  One denarius was equal to about a day’s wages.  That means it was going to take 8 months of hard earned worker’s wages to buy some bread to ease the crowd’s hunger.

“THIS HE WAS SAYING TO TEST HIM, FOR HE HIMSELF KNEW WHAT HE WAS INTENDING TO DO.” (JOHN 6:6)

Sometimes He tests us, seeing who we will rely on: ourselves or our Savior.  He knows what lies ahead of us and He knows what He is intending to do.  It is a matter of trust.  It is a matter of faith.  

 “AND HE SAID TO THEM, ‘HOW MANY LOAVES DO YOU HAVE? GO LOOK!"      (mark 6:38)

By asking the disciples to do this, He wanted them to realize their own lack of resources.  He also wanted the disciples to participate and be  witnesses to the mighty miracle He was about to perform.

“ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES, ANDREW, SIMON PETER’S BROTHER, SAID TO HIM,  'THERE IS A LAD HERE WHO HAS FIVE BARLEY LOAVES AND TWO FISH, BUT WHAT ARE THESE FOR SO MANY PEOPLE?”

(JOHN 6:9)

This little boy was not even in the official count because he didn’t count.  The bread was barley bread, the cheap bread of the common people.  And two fish? Most of these disciples had been fishermen themselves who were familiar with catching boat loads of fish.  How embarrassing was that? 

“AND HE SAID, ‘BRING THEM HERE TO ME.” (MATTHEW 14:18)

When we bring the little bits of what we have to Jesus, however, He can perform a mighty miracle. This is very important because most of the time we are too embarrassed to bring our small portions to our Savior, but that is exactly the point: to humble ourselves before Him and admit we cannot do it in our own strength and our own power.  We can only accomplish His will through His blessing, His strength, His provision and His power.  He honors the widow’s mite.  He honors the 5 loaves and the 2 fishes.

 “AND HE COMMANDED THEM ALL TO SIT DOWN BY GROUPS ON THE GREEN GRASS. THEY SAT DOWN IN COMPANIES OF HUNDREDS AND OF FIFTIES.” (MaRK 6:39-40)

Earlier in Mark it said the Jesus had felt compassion for the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  Fear keeps sheep from lying down. But the crowd had already fed on the teachings of Christ and had witnessed the miraculous healings.  A hungry crowd can turn into a mob scene very quickly, but instead there was order and fellowship in the midst because they could put their trust in Him.

“AND HE TOOK THE FIVE LOAVES AND THE TWO FISH, AND LOOKING UP TOWARD HEAVEN, HE BLESSED THE FOOD AND BROKE THE LOAVES AND HE KEPT GIVING THEM TO THE DISCIPLES TO SET BEFORE THEM; AND HE DIVIDED UP THE TWO FISH AMONg THEM ALL.” (mark 6:41)

Jesus blesses what we give to Him, multiplies it and shows us that He will perform huge miracles through our small offerings, our small efforts, our small turning it over to Him.  It says in John that He “kept on giving”.  He does exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ever think or ask. And do not miss the practical portrait of The Bread of Life blessing and breaking the bread, a symbol of His provision and sacrifice of His body broken on the Cross for you and for me.

“AND THEY ALL ATE AND WERE SATISIFIED.” (LUKE 9:17)

To be satisfied is to be

·         1) content 

·         2) paid or discharged in full 

·         3) convinced beyond a doubt.

Jesus paid the price in full when He died on the cross for our sins.  When we are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt of this and place our trust in Him, He brings a deep contentment into our lives that the world cannot satisfy. It is the same word used in Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”  He wants to satisfy us spiritually just as the crowd was satisfied physically on that given day.

“when they were filled, he said to his disciples, ‘gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.”  (John 6:12)

When we are filled up with Jesus, The Lord picks up every fragmented piece of our lives and weaves them all into a life for His glory.  Not one single broken piece is wasted. There were twelve baskets full, one for each disciple to pick up and carry back to Him.   

How about you?  Are you a sheep without a shepherd? He is waiting for you to trust in Him.

Do you feel like you don’t count? He counts the very hairs on your head!

Do you humble yourself and offer up a sacrifice daily of what little bits of time, energy, and resources you have and then allow Him to multiply them beyond your wildest imagination?  Offer up some little bit of your life, the seemingly insignificant, today.

Do you minister out of compassion or out of duty? Ask Him for His tender mercies to flow through you to someone else today, even if you are tired and weary. 

Do you turn to Him in faith when He tests your heart to see if you will look to yourself or to Him for the solution?  He is the one and only true God who can keep on giving when we have nothing left to give ourselves.

Do you find satisfaction and contentment in His provision? Thank Him for His many blessings in your life today.   

Do you trust Him to take the broken pieces of your life and weave them into a beautiful tapestry? He picks up all of your broken pieces so that nothing is wasted in your life, not one.  Keep turning your disappointments over to Him, asking Him to complete the healing and the good work that He has already begun in you.

 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” (John 6:51)  Feast on Him today.