p. 338 | GIVE YE THEM TO EAT by W. S. Sadler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 29, 1900

“GIVE YE THEM TO EAT.”

By W. S. Sadler

W. S. SADLER.

“And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place. But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.” Luke 9: 10–13.

Christ had sent his apostles out on a missionary tour. Now they have returned, and with them he steps aside from the busy life which he lived, into a quiet place for a while. But this quietude did not last very long; for the people were soon inquiring for the divine teacher, and began to intrude their presence upon him once more. The Saviour was no doubt weary, but he did not manifest any impatience.

He received them—you do not find that he ever did anything else with fallen humanity. It did not matter whether they came like Nicodemus, all alone at night, or in multitudes of five thousand.

Now after the Saviour had all day long been teaching the people, his disciples noticed, as the day began to wear away, that Jesus was growing weary; and the multitude, although spiritually fed, had had no physical food all day. They were in a quiet place, away from human habitation, and they approached their Master, no doubt saying: Master, if you can not do it for your sake, do it for the sake of the people; send them away that they may get lodging and food. They are weary; you are weary; we are weary. They have been fed spiritually; now send them away that they may get physical food.

True, they had been fed spiritually; and the disciples thought that was enough. Now, said the disciples, let them go away that they may get physical food. But the Master said in rebuke to their narrow-mindedness, “Give ye them to eat.” You, my disciples,—you who must represent me when I am gone,—are to take just as much interest in looking after the physical needs of fallen humanity, as you take in their spiritual well-being. This calls into question our faith, our trust, and our confidence in Christ and his willingness to provide for us physically.

But why should they doubt his ability to provide for them?—The disciples had not yet learned the lesson that their daily bread was a daily miracle. It had not occurred to them that their Master who had fed them spiritual truths was also he who gave them their physical food. They said: Master, we can not feed this multitude. If you only require us to give them spiritual food, we can do that in a measure; but we are unable to feed this great company with the food of this world.

Now turn to John 6: 5–12; the story is a little clearer from this point onward: “When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley-loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes, as much as they would. And when they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”

Philip was a man who was always afraid to get away from the side of the Saviour for fear he should lose something. Philip was just like some of our students to-day. They fail to use an opportunity of saving a soul, in order to go to a class to learn how souls are saved. Never lose an opportunity to do a thing, in order to study how that thing is to be done. The way to learn to do a thing is by doing it, and not by studying about it, being told how to do it, or even by watching some one else do it. That is why missionaries are never made without their doing missionary work. One of the devil’s great delusions is that a trip across the ocean to a foreign land will make a missionary out of some mere professed Christian. He will be the same kind of man when he gets there that he was before he left home.

Philip was not in the habit of doing much personal work. The Master wanted to give Philip a chance to exercise his faith. Why did he ask Philip, and not John or Andrew? Did Jesus ever do anything without a purpose? Every trial and every triumph that befalls us has a divine object in it. Picture the multitude there: Christ holding a consultation with his disciples; Andrew out in the multitude, going from man to man, helping and praying with this one, explaining something to that one, when, suddenly, Jesus stops talking. Andrew comes up to find out the cause of silence. Did you ever stop to think how it was that Andrew knew about the lad with the barley loaves and fishes, while Philip did not? Andrew had been out among the multitude doing personal work. Perhaps he had been laboring with the lad himself, and, therefore, knew all about the solitary lunch basket and the nature of its contents.

The disciples were about to learn a great lesson. The same Master who could multiply their spiritual food was now to show his chosen twelve that the same divine power could provide physical food. He tells the people to sit down. Jesus is going to teach his disciples a great and vital truth; and that is, that when God says to you and me, whether it pertains to the physical or spiritual needs of humanity, “Give ye them to eat,” the power to perform the thing is conveyed in the command.

These hungry people had been standing all day, listening to the words of love as they fell from the Master’s lips. They had thought nothing about eating or drinking. He bade them sit down. Can not you imagine, in the meantime, Andrew searching among the crowd looking for the lunch basket, and when he

found the lad, saying: “The Master hath need of these”? See what that humble gift, which the lad consecrated to Jesus, did for the great multitude. Little as it was, with God’s blessing, it proved to be more than enough.

When Christ said, “Give ye them to eat,” he knew about the lone lunch basket of the lad. God has never yet made an unreasonable request of man, and he never will. Our Father in heaven is not a tyrant. When God makes a request of you, you have something to start with. All have at least one talent. The lad’s lunch basket was so multiplied in the hands of the Master that it satisfied all the needs of the multitude, and there was much left over.

He gave to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the multitude. Did the disciples eat first?—No. Let us seek the welfare of others, before that of ourselves. Let us seek to give truth to others, and take the overflow ourselves. Seek to give away to others all the good truths you come in contact with, and remember there will be basketfuls left over for us after they have all had enough. When God gives truth; when he gives us a ray of light, the first thing to do is to pass it out to the world. The hungry multitude must be fed first: you and I may have the basketfuls of fragments. They had far more left for their own use, than there was at first.

Another lesson must be taught them, and that is, “That nothing be lost.” The bread was easily made; but he who worked the miracle, said: “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” By his self-denial, and his all-day teaching, he showed them that he was willing to feed them spiritually. By this miracle that he worked before they went away, he showed them that he was willing to feed them physically. Every follower of Christ should be a student of the science of the body, as well as of the science of the soul. This gospel of the kingdom which we are to give to a fallen world, is a gospel of grace for the soul, and a gospel of health for the body.