Jesus Feeds The Five Thousand Plus The Women And Children
The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand is recorded in all four gospels. Each of them had a slightly different spin on the story, but all concluded that what they had seen was a miracle like no one had ever seen before.
Jesus had just heard about the beheading of John the Baptist, and because it was not yet his time, he departed by sea to remove himself from Herod's reach. The people saw him leaving and followed him on foot to the deserted place outside the cities. It was evening, and the disciples began to worry that the people might become hungry, so they asked Jesus to send them away so they could get food. However, Jesus had compassion for them and told the disciples to bring him what they had. John tells us that a boy had five loaves of bread and two fish. He commanded the people to sit down in the green grass, took the bread and fish, looked up to heaven and blessed it, broke the bread and gave it to the disciples to distribute. When they had all gotten their fill, the disciples gathered what remained and picked up twelve baskets full, which was more than they started with.
Here are a few of my observations:
- When the Bible says "this is a desert place," it doesn't mean it was sandy and dry like we picture a desert. It was just a place outside of town, a deserted area like out in the country.
- It was evening, nearing dark, but as a child, hearing this Bible story, I pictured it bright and sunny. This is the perfect reason we must read the scriptures for ourselves.
- Jesus wasn't polite; he didn't ask the people to sit down in the grass; he commanded them to sit down. I'll bet therewas a lot of murmuring, and when he commanded them to sit, it probably got quiet.
- How did that many people hear him, or even see what he was doing? That was a miracle within a miracle.
- One account says that Jesus told the disciples to divide the people into groups of fifty. Maybe he wanted a count because that would become significant when the writers recorded this miracle.
- This particular miracle is unfathomable. My mind cannot even imagine so many people, much less twelve men, distributing such a small amount of food and all of them eating until they were full.
God can take what little we have to offer and multiply it for the benefit of His plan. Never underestimate what He can do. One little act of kindness, while mentioning the name of Jesus, could bring many people to Christ.
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. Matthew 14:20
Pictured is the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate in Monaco City, Monaco. Princess Grace Kelly, the American actress, is buried in this building.
