Luke 9:16, commentary and pictures

Looking up to heaven, Jesus took the five barley loaves and two small fishes brought from a lad, gave thanks and blessing, broke them into small pieces and placed them in the disciples' hands to set before the hungry multitude seated in companies on the grass in the desert place.
The small supply did not diminish but increased in His hands and as it was passed from hand to hand, with fresh supply furnished as often as the disciples gave out what they had, until all were filled and twelve baskets of fragments were gathered that nothing be lost.
The multiplication shows His divine, creative, omnipotent power, the same agency that continually works in the growth of crops and the provision of daily bread.
In a strait place with no apparent means, He depended on His heavenly Father, teaching that when workers obey implicitly and move forward in faith, God Himself will provide means from His infinite resources and the little wisely used increases in the very act of imparting.
Christ is the source of what His disciples give, and as they continue receiving from Him and sharing with those in need at His bidding, the gift increases in distribution.

Setting and Circumstances

The feeding belongs to about five thousand men besides women and children in a desert or wilderness place, in fields on a grassy plot far from home, when the day was far spent and evening and night were near. The number fed was five thousand men besides women and children, with twelve baskets of fragments remaining, and the place was a retired grassy plot away from the cities where the people had followed on foot.

The multitude had been with Jesus a long time, in one account three days, listening to teaching and receiving healing all day until they were weary, hungry, fainting by the way with food used up. They came without invitation or command to hear instruction, having no help from the priests and rulers, and many had no means to purchase food. Jesus was one with them in their need of food, ministering the way of salvation and healing the sick while providing for genuine physical need with simple ordinary fare.

Moved with compassion and love as part of his mission, Jesus would not send them home fasting or unrefreshed or suffer them to return fasting to their homes. He who had fasted forty days in the wilderness for their sake had refused to work a miracle to satisfy his own hunger, yet his compassion meant he would provide bread for the hungry multitude by divine power. Though sharing human need with no food or apparent means at hand, he depended on his heavenly Father to supply what was needed.

Before distributing, Jesus tested Philip about providing bread though he already knew how he would provide, and asked what food was at hand. Five barley loaves and two small fishes found with a lad were brought to him, and he told them to bring the food to him. He had the people sit down on the grass in companies of fifty and a hundred, with men and women seated and a hymn sung, to give rest, preserve order and let all witness the miracle.

The seating in groups kept order and allowed them to witness the miracle while giving the weary crowd rest. The wonderful miracle took place on a barren shore on the preceding day, after which the multitude left knowing no boat remained by which he could depart, while he watched their departure with compassionate eyes. News of the miracle spread far and near, and on the following morning the people returned early in large numbers by land and water to the spot where they had last seen him.

Miracle of Multiplication

Looking up to heaven, he took the five loaves and the two fishes, gave thanks and asked blessing upon them, then broke them into small pieces and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude, placing the pieces in their hands as the means by which the people were to be served. The disciples received the food from his hands and carried it to the waiting crowd, serving as his co-workers in the distribution. Seating the people in orderly groups allowed all to witness what was done.

The small supply did not diminish in the passing but increased in his hands and as it went from hand to hand. As often as the disciples gave out all they had and returned to him, a fresh supply was furnished, with just as much left in his hands as he kept imparting. The increase continued until every appetite after a day without food was satisfied and all were filled.

After all were filled he directed that the leftover pieces be gathered so that nothing would be lost. Twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fishes were then taken up. The gathering showed that nothing of the gift was to be wasted.

The food provided was simple, ordinary fare. In supplying genuine physical need and bodily necessities in this way, provision is made without catering to luxury or perverted appetite. The meal also gave the weary crowd rest and order, and pointed toward the life and healing that God provides. His hand of benevolence in meeting such need is not stayed, and he is not unmindful of the bodily necessities of his followers.

Christ's Divine Identity

The taking and blessing of the five loaves and two fishes displays God's own creative, miracle-working, omnipotent power and beneficence in meeting the need of five thousand people from a very small supply. It is the same divine agency that works continually in the growth of crops and in the provision of daily bread and harvest. The human share in cultivating grain and making bread tempts people to credit the result only to nature or to human effort, while the miracle lays bare the divine hand behind the gift, which is to be received as blessing and not turned to selfish use. When human agents do their part at His bidding, He can make a meager supply sufficient for all.

He who did this is the Coming One, the I AM before Abraham, greater than Moses, though walking the earth in lowliness and poverty. He is the same One who in Old Testament times fed one hundred men from twenty loaves with food left over, who guided His people in the wilderness and supplied them with bread and clear flowing streams and cast His glory upon them. From His resources He can spread a table in the wilderness for more than a million people. The grace of God upon a small portion makes it all-sufficient, and by the touch of His hand He increases scanty provision and can multiply it a hundredfold until it is sufficient for all.

Together with His teaching and healing, the unfailing supply that did not diminish as it was passed from hand to hand until all were satisfied, with twelve baskets of fragments showing nothing was wasted, confirmed the crowd's growing belief that He was the Messiah. His generous care won their hearts and convinced them that He possessed divine power. They wrongly took this as reason to make Him an earthly king to restore David's throne, though He did not seek a temporal kingdom.

The divine power by which He fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes was the same power that was His when He worked daily to support His family. He did not use it to ease His own daily toil, to lessen its burdens, or to make His labor easier, showing that useful, patient, industrious labor is honorable and a duty. His provision for bodily necessities shows His hand of benevolence is not stayed, and He can also give knowledge that helps provide food in different places.

Trust in God's Provision

Providence had placed Jesus in a strait place with five thousand men besides women and children in the wilderness far from home with night near, where food was not nigh at hand and there was apparently no means at command. The multitude had come without invitation, yet after listening long they were hungry and faint, many with no means to purchase food, and Jesus was one with them in their need of food. He who had fasted forty days in the wilderness for their sake would not suffer them to return fasting to their homes, but depended on His heavenly Father for the means to relieve the necessity.

When workers have followed God's directions and used wisdom and judgment, obeying His instructions implicitly without making self the center, and are then brought into strait places and trying circumstances, God will deliver them. They are not to give up in discouragement but in every emergency to seek help in fullest confidence from Him who has infinite resources at command. He will keep every soul brought into perplexity through trying to keep the way of the Lord.

If the work is of God He Himself will provide the means for its accomplishment, for the small supply in the hand of Christ remained undiminished until the famished multitude were satisfied. When what is in possession seems insufficient for the work, moving forward in faith believing in the all-sufficient power of God opens abundant resources, and He rewards honest simple reliance upon Him. The little that is wisely and economically used in the service of the Lord of heaven increases in the very act of imparting, so that if workers go to the Source of all strength with hands of faith outstretched to receive, they will be sustained in their work even under the most forbidding circumstances and enabled to give to others the bread of life.

What seems a meager supply can through Christ become enough to satisfy and to provide something to share with others, as five loaves and two small fishes fed five thousand men besides women and children with twelve baskets of fragments remaining. Christ can bless and increase scanty resources offered and used for His work, making them sufficient to meet the needs of many, and God's blessing can increase limited offerings so they accomplish a great work. Small contributions help meet great needs when people unite in faith and service, making the miracle an object lesson in trusting God and giving what is available.

Faith should lay hold upon God and expect success, for when scattered small supplies are placed in missionary work and imparted to others, God multiplies them until all eat and are filled. Believers must not stop work or measure advance in the work by the means at hand, for that shows very limited faith. As commanded to Moses, they are to go forward to diffuse the gospel over the whole earth whether means are large or small, planning and working in faith as God's human agents to whom He has given this great work. God will give tact, skill and understanding to those who seek Him wholeheartedly and come into line with Him.

Giving Through Christ's Supply

Christ blessed the small supply of loaves and fish and placed it in the hands of the disciples to set before the waiting crowd, making them co-workers with him in serving the people. His care for bodily need went with his teaching of spiritual truth, and under his blessing the food multiplied until all were satisfied, with more left over than at the start. The supply did not run out in his hands, and the fragments that remained filled twelve baskets. Disciples can give to others only what they first receive from him, and continued giving is joined with continued receiving.

Blessings received from him are to be shared with those in need, and the gift increases in the very act of distribution. As the food was passed on it grew until the tired, hungry crowd was fed, and the disciples themselves also ate from the provision. Those who serve others in this way receive divine grace to impart, and what is given out is replenished as it is shared.

His command to give to the needy carries with it power to supply what is required. By miracle-working power a very small supply of bread and fish was made enough to feed five thousand when human agents did their part at his bidding. Followers are therefore to give and serve even when means seem inadequate, trusting him and moving forward rather than holding back from fear.

Food entrusted to the disciples was blessed and multiplied so it became enough for the multitude, and in the same way gifts offered to advance gospel work are blessed and multiplied by God to meet the needs of people starving for the bread of life. Gifts sent in with thanksgiving and prayer receive this same blessing. When the best use is made of means available, he enables his people to feed multitudes, including soul-saving medical missionary work and the means and facilities needed to advance it.

What God gives, even a small supply, is to be imparted to others. Passing on the food illustrates passing on spiritual truth to those who do not have it, and those who receive the bread from heaven are to share beyond the feast what they have learned of God. The collected bread was shared with others beyond that day, showing generosity and faithful stewardship crowned by careful economy that lets nothing be lost, rather than selfish gain, gambling, or robbing another by conniving.

Faithful Stewardship in Practice

After the multitude was fed, the command to gather the leftover pieces so that nothing would be lost teaches care, thrift and close economy, especially needful in difficult circumstances. This economy applies to food and money, and also to spiritual opportunities and advantages that can benefit others. Those responsible for institutions are to save what can be saved through wise and frugal use of resources, for careful use of what God provides belongs to faithful stewardship. The bread that was collected was shared with people beyond the feast, showing that those who receive the bread from heaven are to pass on to others what they have learned of God.

Christ's procedure requires plain simplicity without extravagance, using simple inexpensive means and trusting God's blessing rather than making large investments in elaborate preparations. In building sanitariums this same principle still makes room to care for people and to impress them. His healing and miracles leave the impression of truth permanently in the minds of those who see them, and the gathering of the fragments means more than saving food. Every work of Christ manifested in the present day by the message or by any helpfulness is to be valued and held as a credit, and every such work is to make a lasting impression and let nothing be lost.

The miracle teaches disciples to care compassionately for people seeking salvation, as Christ as sanctuary, helper and great leading Physician cared for about five thousand besides women and children when some were fainting. Thoughtful efforts are to be made so that the weary and hungry can hear the word of life and are not sent away faint, discouraged, or burdened by needless obstacles on the way to Christ. Believers are to study and work the very works Christ worked, and if they dedicate themselves to God He will give His Holy Spirit so they can communicate to those in necessity. What God gives is to be imparted to others, teaching generosity and faithful stewardship rather than selfish gain, gambling, or robbing another by conniving, crowned by careful economy that lets nothing be lost.

Christ possessed divine power when He fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, the same power He had when He worked daily to support His family. He did not use that power to ease His own daily toil, to reduce His own burdens, or to make His labor easier. His example shows that useful labor is honorable and that patient industrious work is duty.