Devotion 8.1.26

Matthew 14

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 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. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus is the God of abundance, and God is the God of abundance. He demonstrates this by feeding 5000 men, and women/children with five loaves of bread and two fish. 

This story is so remarkable at so many points that I just sit in awe of Christ and this miracle. First, when you need a break where do you go? The mountains, a nice state park or national park, a nice urban area with much to do (baseball games, restaurants, movies, plays, parks)? Jesus? He chooses a "desolate place" to go to and be by himself. 

Having heard the news about John, he withdraws - no doubt to pray to his Father having preached for a number of days. Yet when he gets to the "other side" of the sea (Mark 6), he is followed by the crowds, who have been moved at the loss of John (the Baptist). The disciples are in a permission-giving mood, and they affirm Christ - the day is about to end, and they are hungry (the crowd and the disciples no doubt). Send them home/away to go buy their own food. 

Christ is Christ though, and again demonstrates for us that the work of sharing the good news is never-ending.

He instructs the disciples to feed, and they respond, "We don't have much to eat." He shows them that was not the right answer, and he instructs them to sit the crowd in the area and begins to distribute the food. At the end of the serving, there are 12 baskets full of broken pieces of food. Matthew notes the number - 5000 men. And oh yes, women and children were present as well.*

Jesus is the messiah. Jesus (and the Father and Spirit) is the God of abundance (the harvest). Today, we minimize God and act as though he is to be distributed in manageable quantities. The mission fields are in abundance (high in number) and God is a God of abundance (large quantities - immeasurable). God gives me (and you) everything necessary to get the task done.

I've seen this play out in real life. God has worked miraculously in Hispanic ministries through his people. Language barriers are broken down and servants come from all walks of life, many holding down several jobs, to get the Word of God out (our daily bread) in desolate places (urban and rural) where the church withdrew. We saw it in the 1990s when the wall in East Germany fell and Russia opened itself up to the church. A friend described Russians tearing Bibles into books so one Bible could feed more than one person.

God, and his Word, are not to be managed. The crowds will be there. We are his people. We need to heed God's actions in the form of Christ and distribute his daily bread when the opportunity arises.

Pray with me: Gracious God, You are indeed a God of abundance. Forgive me when I fail to see that and use me and my talents you've given me, a poor, miserable sinner, to share your Word where I am. Help me to not wait on more perfect conditions and to share at that moment. In Christ's name, Amen.

*From the Study Notes

Jesus broke the crowd into serving groups of 50. This will take the hearer of Matthew's account to the Exodus, where Moses broke the nation into the same size groups. And in Old Testament accounts, men were traditionally counted in the number, women and children were not included.

Hope Men's Ministry is a ministry in service to Hope Lutheran Church and School. Our purpose is to grow, unite, and share God's Word to all men through meaningful activities. These activities center on fellowship, service, conversation, prayer, study and devotion as we seek to become men of God as He created us to be.