Jesus Receives the Boy's Loaves and FishBible World
6:38Mark 6:38
He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
Jesus commands His disciples to find how much food is already among the hungry crowd, and when they look they report only five barley loaves and two small fishes belonging to a lad. This takes place in the evening in a desert place where five thousand men besides women and children have listened all day to His teaching and healing until they are weary and hungry with no means to buy bread. He asks not because He lacks a way to provide, for He already knows what He will do, but to test the faith of the disciples who see the need as impossible. When the small supply is brought to Him He gives thanks and breaks it, and it is miraculously multiplied from hand to hand until all eat and are satisfied and twelve baskets of fragments are gathered that nothing be lost. Gifts however scanty, when offered with prayer and placed in His hands, are blessed to meet great need far beyond ordinary means, and those who receive from Him are to share what they receive while practicing faithful economy and stewardship.
Time Place and Crowd
This question belongs to the feeding of the five thousand, the same event recorded in Matthew, Luke and John. It took place near the Passover in a desert, retired place on the green grass in the evening after Jesus had spent all day teaching the people and healing the sick. Five thousand men besides women and children were there, having followed Him away from the cities.
They had come without invitation or command, drawn by the attraction and power of His words, and after listening so long to His instruction they were weary and hungry. They had no food to eat, their own food was used up, and some were fainting by the way as the day was far spent. Christ on foot was leading them, and He knew their hunger and was one with them in their need of food.
He looked from the hillside upon the moving multitude and was stirred with sympathy and moved with compassion toward them because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. Though interrupted and robbed of His rest He was not impatient but saw a greater necessity demanding His attention. He left His retreat for a convenient place where He could minister to them, teaching the multitude the way of salvation and giving the help the priests and rulers did not give. He healed the sick and relieved their necessities before sending them home, and the miracle was part of His mission expressing His love for humanity and showing His compassion and divine power to provide bread.
He was then a man of poverty walking from place to place with thousands following to hear His teaching. In His human nature He depended on His heavenly Father for the means to relieve the necessity, and the providence of God had placed Him where He was. The miracle was performed three times in different localities so that people in different parts might learn the lessons He would teach thereby.
Question and Small Supply
Jesus asks how many loaves are on hand and tells the disciples to go and see, commanding them to find out how much food can already be found among the crowd for the hungry multitude. The inquiry comes before the feeding and begins the provision, as He has them learn what supply is present and then report back what they knew.
When they knew they report five loaves, five barley loaves, and two fishes, two small fishes, a few small fishes. That food belonged to a lad and was found among the people by Andrew, who discovered the boy carrying it in the crowd. At His bidding the small amount thus brought to light is brought to Him to be broken and distributed through the disciples until all eat and are satisfied.
The store was meager and scanty, a slender supply scarcely sufficient for about twenty persons. It was nothing among so many for five thousand men besides women and children gathered hungry in the desert place. There no more could be obtained, and buying bread for so many was impossible.
Multiplying and Gathering Food
At His word and bidding the little store is brought to Him for the hungry multitude. He has all sit down in companies on the green grass, in ranks by hundreds and by fifties in long lines. A hymn is sung, and He looks up to His Father, gives thanks and asks blessing upon the food. Then He breaks the loaves in small pieces and divides the fishes and puts them into the disciples' hands to distribute to the multitude.
The provision grows under His hand and the small supply is miraculously multiplied as it is passed from hand to hand. It does not diminish, but as often as the disciples return to Him for a fresh supply it is furnished to them, with constantly increasing and fresh supply until all have sufficiency. So all eat until satisfied, and the disciples also eat from the abundance.
After all are filled He commands to gather up the fragments that nothing be lost. Twelve baskets full of fragments and of fishes are gathered in this feeding of the five thousand. In the other feeding seven baskets full are gathered, the miracle acted out right before them in the simplicity of true godliness.
Testing Faith and Divine Power
The question about how many loaves were on hand was not asked for lack of a way to feed the crowd, for the way of provision was already known before the disciples were sent to look. It was asked to test their faith, putting before them the need and then requiring them to discover what could already be found among the people. What was found was five barley loaves and two small fishes, belonging to a lad and reported by Andrew, a meager and scanty supply in a desert place for five thousand men besides women and children. Philip judged the need impossible to meet by ordinary means, yet that small amount, brought to Jesus, became the means by which the multitude was fed.
The miracle teaches dependence on God, for in His human nature Jesus was one with the hungry people in their need of food and depended on His heavenly Father for means to relieve it. His followers in all time are given the same lesson for strait places, when after listening long the people are hungry and faint and food is not at hand with apparently no means at command. They are to exercise wisdom and judgment in every action, not plunging into difficulty by neglect of provided means and faculties but using the best knowledge they have. When after that they are still compassed with difficulties, God will deliver them if in fullest confidence they depend wholly upon Him, seek wisdom from Him who has infinite resources, and neither fail nor give up in discouragement. So workers are to trust Him to supply what needy people require, seeking His help in emergencies while using the wisdom and means He has provided, with the physical bread pointing also to the spiritual bread of life for hungry souls.
The feeding demonstrated divine power and beneficence, strengthening belief that He was the Messiah and promised Deliverer. It was done because His humanity was united to divinity, making His earthly work the working of the Lord. It shows the same creative power by which God continually produces the harvest and provides daily food, sustaining people through both extraordinary miracles and everyday provision. Human work in growing grain and making bread cooperates with that divine agency, though the cooperation can hide the divine hand behind it. God's power can thus multiply scant provision and make a small ordinary supply more than enough, and His gifts are meant as blessings and not to be turned to selfish use.
Sharing What Is Received
The food handed to the disciples to distribute shows that gifts offered for God's work, however scanty, can be blessed and multiplied when placed in Christ's hands to meet great need far beyond ordinary means. Offered with prayer and thanksgiving and used as well as possible, the small supply of five loaves and two small fishes was blessed and increased until it was enough, putting sufficient supply in His servants' hands for their work. It is an object lesson that God can do great things through resources that appear too small, so what seems inadequate is not to discourage action in faith when in the Lord's hands it can restore and sustain His work.
As the disciples received bread from Jesus to give out, those who work with God receive grace to give to people in need, and the gift increases in the giving. What seemed insufficient became rich provision in Christ, increasing as they gave it out until all ate and were satisfied, with twelve baskets of fragments left over, and the disciples themselves also ate from the abundance. Followers are therefore to share what they receive from Him with the hungry, satisfying those who receive and leaving them something to share with others. They are to care for those who lack the truth and help carry it to others, helping and restoring people rather than discouraging or harming them.
To be connected with Christ is to do one's best however small it is and then cast the helpless soul upon Jesus as Saviour and Redeemer in a faith that works by love and purifies the soul. The miracle stands as the pattern for human life, calling for a faith that abides in Christ, lays hold on His power, obeys Him, and unites the soul to Him in self-denial and self-sacrifice. It means trust in God instead of unbelieving worry over impossibilities, with more faith in Him to do all things for His people and to meet great need from small supply through His disciples. From Christ's hand, through humble faith and prayer, His servants are to give the bread of life to needy souls rather than sending elsewhere for revival and food.
Small and scattered resources placed in missionary work will be multiplied by God as they are imparted to others, until all eat and are filled. Work is not to stop nor is advance to be measured by the means at hand, for that shows very limited faith, but is to be planned and carried forward in faith whether means are large or small to diffuse the gospel over the whole earth. God can provide beyond the resources at hand, and today He gives tact, skill, and understanding to those who work in harmony with Him as His human agents.
Economy Work and Compassion
After feeding the five thousand from five loaves and two fishes, Christ was careful that what remained should not be wasted, commanding that the fragments be gathered up that nothing be lost. That careful gathering teaches economy and thrift, order and faithful stewardship, that God's gifts are not to be wasted and there is to be no extravagance in anything. For those in charge of institutions it means acting wisely and refusing to spend one dollar that can be saved by frugality and thrift, helping one another safeguard the interests of the enterprise by putting Bible principles of economy and thrift into daily practice. It calls for plain and simple buildings with enough room in each place to care for people and impress them, for living within means, owing no man anything, and laboring diligently for small wages as well as large to place one's family above want and dependence by God-given strength.
The asking how much food was on hand and the feeding that followed show care for physical needs as well as spiritual needs, with provision of food alongside care for rest for the fainting multitude. Wherever He went He was attentive to those who came needing attention, being to them sanctuary and helper and great leading Physician, granting in Himself what they need. If His followers dedicate themselves to the Lord God of heaven He will give His Holy Spirit so they can communicate supply to those in necessity and work the very works He worked. His works are still to be manifested in the present day by message or by any helpful act to be held as a credit, teaching disciples to care for seekers of salvation by practical efforts for the weary and hungry and not neglecting them. Miracles of healing leave those healed with truth impressed permanently on their minds, so that every such act makes a lasting impression.
Though He had power to feed five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, He did not use divine power to lessen the burdens of daily labor while supporting His family. He possessed that same power while working patiently as a carpenter, yet contrasted the miracle with patient labor. His example shows that useful, patient work is honorable and that people should be industrious.
The provision He blessed was to be shared with others, including people who had not been present, and God-given means are to be imparted to the needy and not wasted. After all were satisfied and supply still remained in His hands as He kept imparting it, the command to gather the fragments so nothing is lost confirms that sharing. That blessing gives no right to gamble or to obtain means by conniving to rob another of means.
Jesus commands His disciples to find how much food is already among the hungry crowd, and when they look they report only five barley loaves and two small fishes belonging to a lad. This takes place in the evening in a desert place where five thousand men besides women and children have listened all day to His teaching and healing until they are weary and hungry with no means to buy bread. He asks not because He lacks a way to provide, for He already knows what He will do, but to test the faith of the disciples who see the need as impossible. When the small supply is brought to Him He gives thanks and breaks it, and it is miraculously multiplied from hand to hand until all eat and are satisfied and twelve baskets of fragments are gathered that nothing be lost. Gifts however scanty, when offered with prayer and placed in His hands, are blessed to meet great need far beyond ordinary means, and those who receive from Him are to share what they receive while practicing faithful economy and stewardship.
Time Place and Crowd
This question belongs to the feeding of the five thousand, the same event recorded in Matthew, Luke and John. It took place near the Passover in a desert, retired place on the green grass in the evening after Jesus had spent all day teaching the people and healing the sick. Five thousand men besides women and children were there, having followed Him away from the cities.
They had come without invitation or command, drawn by the attraction and power of His words, and after listening so long to His instruction they were weary and hungry. They had no food to eat, their own food was used up, and some were fainting by the way as the day was far spent. Christ on foot was leading them, and He knew their hunger and was one with them in their need of food.
He looked from the hillside upon the moving multitude and was stirred with sympathy and moved with compassion toward them because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. Though interrupted and robbed of His rest He was not impatient but saw a greater necessity demanding His attention. He left His retreat for a convenient place where He could minister to them, teaching the multitude the way of salvation and giving the help the priests and rulers did not give. He healed the sick and relieved their necessities before sending them home, and the miracle was part of His mission expressing His love for humanity and showing His compassion and divine power to provide bread.
He was then a man of poverty walking from place to place with thousands following to hear His teaching. In His human nature He depended on His heavenly Father for the means to relieve the necessity, and the providence of God had placed Him where He was. The miracle was performed three times in different localities so that people in different parts might learn the lessons He would teach thereby.
Question and Small Supply
Jesus asks how many loaves are on hand and tells the disciples to go and see, commanding them to find out how much food can already be found among the crowd for the hungry multitude. The inquiry comes before the feeding and begins the provision, as He has them learn what supply is present and then report back what they knew.
When they knew they report five loaves, five barley loaves, and two fishes, two small fishes, a few small fishes. That food belonged to a lad and was found among the people by Andrew, who discovered the boy carrying it in the crowd. At His bidding the small amount thus brought to light is brought to Him to be broken and distributed through the disciples until all eat and are satisfied.
The store was meager and scanty, a slender supply scarcely sufficient for about twenty persons. It was nothing among so many for five thousand men besides women and children gathered hungry in the desert place. There no more could be obtained, and buying bread for so many was impossible.
Multiplying and Gathering Food
At His word and bidding the little store is brought to Him for the hungry multitude. He has all sit down in companies on the green grass, in ranks by hundreds and by fifties in long lines. A hymn is sung, and He looks up to His Father, gives thanks and asks blessing upon the food. Then He breaks the loaves in small pieces and divides the fishes and puts them into the disciples' hands to distribute to the multitude.
The provision grows under His hand and the small supply is miraculously multiplied as it is passed from hand to hand. It does not diminish, but as often as the disciples return to Him for a fresh supply it is furnished to them, with constantly increasing and fresh supply until all have sufficiency. So all eat until satisfied, and the disciples also eat from the abundance.
After all are filled He commands to gather up the fragments that nothing be lost. Twelve baskets full of fragments and of fishes are gathered in this feeding of the five thousand. In the other feeding seven baskets full are gathered, the miracle acted out right before them in the simplicity of true godliness.
Testing Faith and Divine Power
The question about how many loaves were on hand was not asked for lack of a way to feed the crowd, for the way of provision was already known before the disciples were sent to look. It was asked to test their faith, putting before them the need and then requiring them to discover what could already be found among the people. What was found was five barley loaves and two small fishes, belonging to a lad and reported by Andrew, a meager and scanty supply in a desert place for five thousand men besides women and children. Philip judged the need impossible to meet by ordinary means, yet that small amount, brought to Jesus, became the means by which the multitude was fed.
The miracle teaches dependence on God, for in His human nature Jesus was one with the hungry people in their need of food and depended on His heavenly Father for means to relieve it. His followers in all time are given the same lesson for strait places, when after listening long the people are hungry and faint and food is not at hand with apparently no means at command. They are to exercise wisdom and judgment in every action, not plunging into difficulty by neglect of provided means and faculties but using the best knowledge they have. When after that they are still compassed with difficulties, God will deliver them if in fullest confidence they depend wholly upon Him, seek wisdom from Him who has infinite resources, and neither fail nor give up in discouragement. So workers are to trust Him to supply what needy people require, seeking His help in emergencies while using the wisdom and means He has provided, with the physical bread pointing also to the spiritual bread of life for hungry souls.
The feeding demonstrated divine power and beneficence, strengthening belief that He was the Messiah and promised Deliverer. It was done because His humanity was united to divinity, making His earthly work the working of the Lord. It shows the same creative power by which God continually produces the harvest and provides daily food, sustaining people through both extraordinary miracles and everyday provision. Human work in growing grain and making bread cooperates with that divine agency, though the cooperation can hide the divine hand behind it. God's power can thus multiply scant provision and make a small ordinary supply more than enough, and His gifts are meant as blessings and not to be turned to selfish use.
Sharing What Is Received
The food handed to the disciples to distribute shows that gifts offered for God's work, however scanty, can be blessed and multiplied when placed in Christ's hands to meet great need far beyond ordinary means. Offered with prayer and thanksgiving and used as well as possible, the small supply of five loaves and two small fishes was blessed and increased until it was enough, putting sufficient supply in His servants' hands for their work. It is an object lesson that God can do great things through resources that appear too small, so what seems inadequate is not to discourage action in faith when in the Lord's hands it can restore and sustain His work.
As the disciples received bread from Jesus to give out, those who work with God receive grace to give to people in need, and the gift increases in the giving. What seemed insufficient became rich provision in Christ, increasing as they gave it out until all ate and were satisfied, with twelve baskets of fragments left over, and the disciples themselves also ate from the abundance. Followers are therefore to share what they receive from Him with the hungry, satisfying those who receive and leaving them something to share with others. They are to care for those who lack the truth and help carry it to others, helping and restoring people rather than discouraging or harming them.
To be connected with Christ is to do one's best however small it is and then cast the helpless soul upon Jesus as Saviour and Redeemer in a faith that works by love and purifies the soul. The miracle stands as the pattern for human life, calling for a faith that abides in Christ, lays hold on His power, obeys Him, and unites the soul to Him in self-denial and self-sacrifice. It means trust in God instead of unbelieving worry over impossibilities, with more faith in Him to do all things for His people and to meet great need from small supply through His disciples. From Christ's hand, through humble faith and prayer, His servants are to give the bread of life to needy souls rather than sending elsewhere for revival and food.
Small and scattered resources placed in missionary work will be multiplied by God as they are imparted to others, until all eat and are filled. Work is not to stop nor is advance to be measured by the means at hand, for that shows very limited faith, but is to be planned and carried forward in faith whether means are large or small to diffuse the gospel over the whole earth. God can provide beyond the resources at hand, and today He gives tact, skill, and understanding to those who work in harmony with Him as His human agents.
Economy Work and Compassion
After feeding the five thousand from five loaves and two fishes, Christ was careful that what remained should not be wasted, commanding that the fragments be gathered up that nothing be lost. That careful gathering teaches economy and thrift, order and faithful stewardship, that God's gifts are not to be wasted and there is to be no extravagance in anything. For those in charge of institutions it means acting wisely and refusing to spend one dollar that can be saved by frugality and thrift, helping one another safeguard the interests of the enterprise by putting Bible principles of economy and thrift into daily practice. It calls for plain and simple buildings with enough room in each place to care for people and impress them, for living within means, owing no man anything, and laboring diligently for small wages as well as large to place one's family above want and dependence by God-given strength.
The asking how much food was on hand and the feeding that followed show care for physical needs as well as spiritual needs, with provision of food alongside care for rest for the fainting multitude. Wherever He went He was attentive to those who came needing attention, being to them sanctuary and helper and great leading Physician, granting in Himself what they need. If His followers dedicate themselves to the Lord God of heaven He will give His Holy Spirit so they can communicate supply to those in necessity and work the very works He worked. His works are still to be manifested in the present day by message or by any helpful act to be held as a credit, teaching disciples to care for seekers of salvation by practical efforts for the weary and hungry and not neglecting them. Miracles of healing leave those healed with truth impressed permanently on their minds, so that every such act makes a lasting impression.
Though He had power to feed five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, He did not use divine power to lessen the burdens of daily labor while supporting His family. He possessed that same power while working patiently as a carpenter, yet contrasted the miracle with patient labor. His example shows that useful, patient work is honorable and that people should be industrious.
The provision He blessed was to be shared with others, including people who had not been present, and God-given means are to be imparted to the needy and not wasted. After all were satisfied and supply still remained in His hands as He kept imparting it, the command to gather the fragments so nothing is lost confirms that sharing. That blessing gives no right to gamble or to obtain means by conniving to rob another of means.