Today’s reading in my Harmony of the Gospels study plan is on the feeding of the five thousand, a popular miracle I’ve heard taught many times on a Sunday morning in church. The account may be found in Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:1-13. What struck me this time is the backstory leading up to Jesus having the disciples feed five thousand men plus women and children with five loaves of bread and two fish.
By looking at the accounts side be side, we learn that Jesus had recently received news that his cousin John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herod the tetrarch. He was removing himself to an isolated place in response. We also learn that the disciples had recently returned from their mission of being sent two by two to preach about the kingdom of God. They had experienced success with healing the sick and casting out unclean spirits. Jesus suggested to them that they should also remove themselves to rest and recover from the intensity of ministry without even a break to eat. As Jesus and his disciples move to a deserted place to tend to these needs, the crowds follow them.
In my mind, both Jesus and his disciples understandably needed time alone to recover. The details of John the Baptist’s execution were outrageous, reprehensible, and difficult to swallow even from the pages of a book. How might the righteous judge of the earth respond? The disciples had been working hard and there would always be multitudes. What would have been wrong with waiting until the next day to address this multitude? Yet we read that Jesus was moved with compassion about their issues. He taught them about the kingdom and healed their sick.
We read that most of the day had passed when the disciples approached Jesus to suggest the crowd be send away to fend for themselves. Again, I am struck with Jesus’ compassion for the needs of the people when he responds by instructing His disciples to feed the crowd. If we are to see Jesus as a reflection of God our loving Father, we must understand that while we could go to the surrounding villages to fend for ourselves, we have a provider who is willing to feed us Himself.
The disciples move to obey Jesus by assessing their natural resources and expecting them to perform as always. Jesus urges them to consider what they have while looking to God in thanksgiving. The result is enough food to satisfy a massive crowd, and overflow for the disciples who served. Their resources, in the hands of God met everyone’s needs. We learn from one of the accounts that disciples had taken the five loaves and two fish used to feed the multitude from a lad in the crowd. It occurs to me that without Jesus’s intervention, the disciples didn’t even have enough in their hands to feed themselves.
In this account Jesus truly embodies words spoken by David long ago, that He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love (Psalms 145:8). As I read through this account, looking for a personal application, I realized that the Lord is often leading me to a compassionate response. I find myself limited by the cares of this life, and a false assessment of my personal resources. Like the disciples, what I have is logically inadequate but through faith in God’s word I can function as one who has placed said resources in the hands of the Lord. Jesus had the example of Elijah who asked his servants to feed 100 men with 20 loaves of barley bread with the expectation that there would be leftovers (2 Kings 4: 42-44). The same principle worked just as well to feed five thousand.