The Five Thousand Fed (Based on Matthew 14 amp; John 6)

Jesus went to a desert place near Bethsaida, and a multitude of people followed Him there. They came to hear Him preach, and they stayed many hours listening to what He said, but then it began to get dark. The disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to send the people away so they could buy themselves food because they had had nothing to eat all day. Jesus said, “No, I will not send them away fasting, for they might faint by the way. Give ye them food to eat.”

The disciples answered, “We do not have enough food for them. We have only five loaves and two fishes, but what are they among so many?”

Jesus told his disciples to make the people sit down. There were about five thousand men, as well as many women and children. They all sat down on the grass in groups of fifty. Then Jesus took the bread and the fishes, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and thanked God who had given them this food. He broke the bread into pieces and divided the fishes, and He told the disciples to feed the multitude, so the disciples took the bread and fishes and gave some to each person.

Did not the food run out quickly? No, Jesus made the five loaves and the two fishes into more than enough food for that great multitude; they all ate and were filled. When they had finished, Jesus told His disciples to gather up the crumbs and little pieces that were left so that nothing might be wasted. The disciples filled twelve baskets with fragments. This should teach us not to waste the food which God has given us. Any poor, hungry person would be very thankful for the little pieces of bread and meat which we do not want and sometimes carelessly throw away.

This was a very wonderful miracle. It may remind us of some miracles we read about in the Old Testament history—of the increase of the poor widow’s oil and meal which fed Elijah, the woman, and her son so many days and of the food which God sent to His servant Elisha and the sons of the prophets.

Was it the power of Elijah and Elisha that multiplied the oil, the meal, and the bread? No; when the prophets worked those miracles, they did so by the power of God. When Jesus increased the loaves and the fishes, however, He did it by His own power, for Jesus is God. A little time later, He again fed four thousand people with a few loaves and fishes. At that time seven baskets full of fragments were taken up. How kind He was to these hungry, suffering people.

God gives us bread to eat every day of our lives, and we should be very thankful to Him for it, but He can give us better food than this. He can give us food for our souls as well as for our bodies. What is this food? It is the Lord Jesus Christ; He is the “Bread of Life,” the “living bread which came down from heaven,” of which the manna in the wilderness was the symbol (John 6:35&51).

Christ is compared to bread because He can keep the soul from perishing, just as bread can keep the body from dying of hunger. However, bread will do our bodies no good if we do not eat it; so Christ will do our souls no good if we do not have a new heart into which to receive Him by faith. The bread we eat keeps our bodies alive only for a little time, but Christ can keep our souls unto eternal life. He says, “He that eateth of this bread shall live for ever” (John 6:58). Let us pray as the disciples did when they said, “Lord, evermore give us this bread” (John 6:34).

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