The feeding of the 5,000
Calvary Lutheran Church
Plymouth. IN
God our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ His Son,
provides food for our bodies. Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves
and two fish. We usually address the miracles of Jesus in this manner -
Someone’s in trouble. Jesus helps. Everyone’s happy! End of story.
But, if you see only one miracle, you miss the point. This miracle
is so important that ALL four gospels record it. Today, we will look at this
miracle from Matthew’s perspective.
Only Matthew gives us the context of this miracle. And it’s
huge! This miracle is linked to the death of John the Baptizer. Herod had John
beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter… John’s disciples,
came, took away the body and buried it. And they went and told Jesus. When
Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.
Vv.12-13
Jesus is in mourning. For John. And for Himself. He knows
what’s coming. He will be the next to die. And it will be a violent death. Just
like John. He departs to pray. Only Matthew says that Jesus goes by Himself. To
a desert place. Yet He will turn this desert into a paradise! Whether Jesus
finds Himself, be it in an isolated space or whether the crowds surround him,
the cross always looms over Him. He can’t escape it. It’s always there. You can never separate
Jesus from the cross.
And Jesus’ disciples? They’re heartless as ever. When little
children were brought to Jesus, that He should put His hands on them. The
disciples rebuked them.[1]
When they see the crowd, they say to Jesus, literally, "destroy"
the crowd, “that they might find daily bread for themselves.”v.15 They
are weary. Tired. Annoyed. It had been a very long day. The last thing they
wanted to do was provide a meal for these unwashed masses, which had been
coming to them. Again!
–CS Lewis reminds us, “Pain insists upon being attended
to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts
in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”[2]
Here is the heartbeat of the miracle. It is a greater factor
than the power to bring food for 5,000 out of five loaves of bread. Because of His love for the hurting and the
hungry. Jesus is moved to help and heal.
Today we consider the permanent values in this miracle –
1.
Christ is able to feed us. Vv.19-20 -19
he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves
and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied.
Notice what Jesus does not do. He doesn’t snap His finger to
produce food. Rather He works through means. He takes what is given Him. He
took the five loaves and the two fish. He looks to heaven. And said a
blessing. He breaks the loaves. Gave them to the disciples. And the disciples
gave them to the crowds.
Jesus looked up to His Father in heaven. Who is the Father of
mercies. From whom every mercy and
blessing of life comes. He gave thanks to Him for the same.
Whatever our Lord blesses, it achieves the purpose for which
He gave it.
When our Lord blesses the food on your tables, it does its
job. It feeds and nourishes your body that you may worship God and serve your
neighbor.
Our Lord blessed the bread. And it fed them all. Even though
there was so little. Our Lord blesses the gifts He has placed on your
table. And those gifts feed us. Having
received our Lord’s gift of food, we return to the activities of life nourished
and prepared to serve those around us.
We’ve each been taught to pray – “Come Lord Jesus, be our
guest, and let Thy gifts to us be blessed.”
“Come, Lord Jesus,” We cry with the Church. Longing
for our Lord to return in glory and set us and this entire sinful world right.
“Be our guest,” We ask Him. Knowing that the house
that receives Jesus in faith receives His salvation.
“Let Thy gifts to us be blessed,” We pray. Trusting that the food on our tables will be sufficient
to nourish us to do the work the Lord has given us in this world.
It is such a simple prayer. And yet, it gives voice to so
many longings that our faith produces in us. We long for Jesus to come again.
We long for the salvation He brings. We long to be nourished to do the work He
gives us.[3]
2.
Christ is willing to feed us because of His great compassion. V. 14 When
he went ashore he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
His guts were churning. His stomach ached. His heart was
broken over them. An emotion not given to humans. He recognized them "As sheep w/o a
shepherd". (According to Mark) He is attending to their physical
needs.
The people are not in a position to help themselves. It is at
the end of the day. They are far from civilization. They are out of
supplies. To get food at that time, and
in that place, demanded a miracle. This account teaches that Jesus is not only
able but also willing to help.
The power of the miracle is Christ. The 5,000 are fed with
five loaves. He asks that the loaves and fish be brought to Him. He takes the
food, gives thanks and breaks the bread until all are fed. The tremendous truth
in this act is that man is little… but Christ can do great things.
3.. Christ uses human
instruments Vv.16-19
- But Jesus said, “They need not go
away; you give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the
grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and
said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and
the disciples gave them to the crowds.
Jesus reminds us, "they need not go away…you give
them something to eat.”[4]
Not only is a miracle about to take place. The disciples will witness it.
Better yet, they will participate.
"We have nothing here except 5 breads and 2 fish.” They
reply. "All we have is this!"
Jesus makes the common things holy. In His Holy Common
Bread/Wine, are offered. We receive His
Body/Blood. The impoverished widow, who had only a few pennies, gave more into
the treasury than all the rest. Jesus
noticed. He saw her. The very person whom she had prayed would help her! The
God of heaven was in His holy temple.
Just as she had prayed, He would be.
And He saw her. There in His house! Likewise! He knows of your
circumstance. He understands your situation. You are never asked to go it
alone. Never! He must sustain you. This is His nature.
He commands His disciples, "bring them here to Me." He will use this gift for His purposes. No matter how meager. No matter how small. He will use you, your gifts, and your talents for holy purposes. So continue. Continue to be used of Him. Continue to share Christ and Him crucified. The Faith is taught. It is also caught. Share Christ with all you know. Gossip the Gospel. Live your life as a redeemed child of God. For this is who you truly are.
4.
Christ provides abundantly. V 20 - And they took up twelve baskets
full of the broken pieces left over.
When Jesus commands the crowd, He is saying to them, "assume
the position for a feast,” which, of course, is completely out of place.
Five loaves and a few fish could barely be a meal for one. How could so many be
fed? Remember Christ’s action! He blessed it and broke it. When Christ blesses
something it is always given and received in abundance. At His first miracle,
six stone water jars, containing twenty to thirty gallons each, are turned into
wine. That’s 120-180 gallons! The first and last command given by God to man
was "come and eat." In Geneses, we read, “And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.”
–Genesis 2:16
And in Revelation, we read, "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” –Revelation 22:14
Unique also to Matthew’s gospel is
verse 21. – 5,000 are fed. Not including women and infants. What’s the seating
capacity of Mackey Arena in West Lafayette? 14,240! That’s close to the
assembled crowd on that day.
Passive Sentences –10%
Reading Ease – 85%
Reading Level – 3.6
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