Jesus and the Disciples Feed the Five Thousandby Doc122469
14:16Matthew 14:16
But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
Jesus refused to send the hungry multitude away to the villages to buy food lest they faint by the way, and He charged the disciples themselves to feed the crowd with what they had instead of waiting for another agency. His question about obtaining bread was asked only to test their faith, though He already knew how He would provide. He had the small store of five barley loaves and two fishes brought to Him, blessed and broke it, and placed it in the disciples' hands to distribute until more than ten thousand ate and were filled and twelve baskets of fragments were gathered. The act reveals His compassionate care for bodily need, His dependence on His heavenly Father in strait places, and His creative, divine power as the great Provider. He still makes His followers the channel between Himself and the people, receiving the bread of life from Him and imparting it to starving souls, so that even a slender gift brought to Him in faith is multiplied to satisfy many.
Setting and Circumstances
The command belongs to the feeding of the five thousand in a desert place beyond the sea from Capernaum, near Galilee and by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had sought seclusion there with His disciples, and in the evening He led the gathered multitude to a grass plot and had them seated before He afterward sent the crowd away and went apart to pray. The place was secluded and deserted, far from villages where food could be bought, and night was at hand.
Those present were five thousand men besides women and children, thus more than ten thousand people in all. Among them were pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover, who with the rest had pressed about Him all day eager to hear His words, see His works, and be taught and healed. They had come without invitation or command to be in His presence, had listened all day to His instruction and received His compassionate healing of their sick, and were now far from home, hungry, faint and weary. Many had no means to purchase food, and no food was nigh at hand.
The only food to be found was five small barley loaves and two small fishes belonging to a lad. That store was barely enough for a score of people, so that apparently there was no means at command to feed so many and the disciples thought feeding them impossible. In one account the people are described as having followed Him into a secluded place and having been with Him for three days when the available food was only five loaves and a few small fish.
Meaning of the Command
They need not depart means He would not send the hungry multitude away fasting to the villages to buy food, to find refreshment, or to fend for themselves, lest they go home unrefreshed and faint by the way. The disciples had come asking permission to dismiss the crowds who had pressed about Him all day eager to hear His words and see His works and who were now faint and weary as evening fell, for they thought feeding so many impossible with only five small barley loaves and two small fishes at hand. He amazed them by refusing and directing that the small amount of food available be brought to Him to be blessed and used.
Give ye them to eat charged the disciples themselves to feed the crowd and provide for them with what they had, entrusting them with serving the people and putting them to work. They were to serve the people rather than eat themselves first or send them away, and were not to wait for someone of greater ability, for an organization, or for someone to come from afar to do it. Though their strength and resources seemed feeble and slender against the need, they were to use the means, time, and ability possessed now and bring them to Jesus.
The command tested their faith, for His question to Philip about obtaining bread was asked only to test them, since He already knew how He would provide. Their earlier experience at Bethsaida had not overcome unbelief, and prejudice also hindered them from offering what they had in faith. The food they found appeared far too little for five thousand men besides women and children, yet they were to seat the people in order and receive food from His hands after He gave thanks.
Christ does not send needy people away, and He does not Himself pass among them to place supply in their hands, but blesses what is brought to Him and gives it to His disciples to place in the hands of the hungry. Those men minister for Him, so the people take provision from His appointed agencies as if taking it from His own hand, and grateful thanks spoken to them is accepted by Him as given to Himself. Ministers, evangelists, teachers, friends and companions, all as various instrumentalities, thus become workers together with God to carry what He provides, receiving from the Father through Christ and passing it to the multitude.
How the Multitude Was Fed
Jesus had the scanty supply — five barley loaves and two small fishes belonging to a lad — brought to Him, and He led the people to a grassy plot and had them seated in orderly companies of fifty and one hundred so that all could witness what was done. A hymn was sung, and He gave thanks, asked the blessing, blessed, broke, and divided the food into small pieces. He divided it to His disciples and told them to distribute it to the multitude.
He placed the pieces in the disciples' hands, and they carried them to the people and put food in the hands of the hungry, serving the people rather than eating themselves first. The store multiplied in His hands and kept increasing by continual imparting as they distributed it, never diminishing as often as they returned for fresh supply. The hands of the disciples as they reached out to Christ were never left empty, and they came back for more until all ate and were filled and satisfied.
When all had eaten, twelve baskets full of fragments were gathered in this feeding, and seven baskets full in the other feeding, with as much left as at the start. Christ and the disciples afterward ate of the heaven-supplied food. The gathering showed that nothing was to be lost or wasted.
What the Miracle Reveals
“They need not depart; give ye them to eat” reveals compassionate concern, tender care, benevolence and pity for bodily need, for He would not send the hungry crowd away but charged His disciples to feed them themselves. Wherever He went He was attentive to those needing help as their sanctuary, helper and great leading Physician, and on this occasion with five thousand men besides women and children, some fainting, He led them to a grassy plot to be seated and had the disciples distribute what He divided until there was enough for all. Though exhausted and hungry Himself He would not leave while people still needed mercy, but continued to care for the crowd, fed the hungry, and worked for their comfort rather than His own distinction or benefit. His generous feeding shows tender care and benevolence, His care for the hungry and sick sets an example of practical compassionate service, His tender pity rebukes selfishness and heartlessness, and His care exemplifies ministry to the poor and needy.
Though providence had placed Him where He was in the wilderness with five thousand men besides women and children far from home with night at hand, He who for their sake had fasted forty days in the wilderness would not suffer them to return fasting to their homes. They had come eager to be in His presence without invitation or command, and after listening all day to His instruction they were hungry and faint, many with no means to purchase food and with food not nigh at hand and apparently no means at His command, yet He depended on His heavenly Father for means to relieve their necessity. When brought into strait places help is to be sought from God who has infinite resources at His command, and after following Christ’s direction His workers are in every emergency and in difficulties to seek help from God, trusting His provision. He came to minister to the suffering and needy, using His Father’s power to work miracles for the help and uplifting of mankind, though He left the royal courts, laid off His kingly crown and royal robes, and clothed His divinity with humanity, suffering the inconveniences of poverty so He could discern the needs of the poor.
The miracle reveals creative, almighty, divine power continually at work in the harvest and in daily bread, proving Him the great Provider and heavenly Provider who knows and meets His followers’ bodily needs. The power that multiplied the loaves also multiplies seed and provides food from the earth every day, and the same divine care works in the harvest people use for daily bread and in the miracle that fed the multitude, though human work in caring for grain and making bread can obscure God’s agency and God’s gifts can be turned to selfish uses instead of blessings. The disciples distributed the small supply He blessed and it proved sufficient for everyone with food left over, showing His power and care for the people, and His generous feeding convinced the people that He is the Messiah and that His power is divine. The feeding was a miracle like the multiplication of food for a hundred men in the time of Elisha, where God’s power made a small supply sufficient for many, and people should recognize God as the giver of their provision and give Him the glory. He used that power to bless suffering humanity, meeting the crowd’s genuine need for food and involving His disciples in providing it.
The food was plain and simple and sufficient for need, showing His power and tender care in ordinary necessities rather than luxury to attract or indulge or a desire to indulge luxury. The simple meal assured them of His power and care in life’s common needs, and as He fed the crowd with physical food He also gave them the bread of life. Following Him does not guarantee worldly luxuries, for His followers may have plain or scanty food and live in poverty, but He pledges to supply their needs and gives them the greater comfort of His abiding presence.
He who had refused to work a miracle to satisfy His own hunger in the wilderness would work one rather than let the multitude suffer for lack of food, lest the five thousand men besides women and children who had followed Him to a desert place and been with Him all day while He taught and healed them should go home unrefreshed and faint by the way. He fed five thousand with five loaves and two small fish, showing He had power to satisfy His own hunger in the wilderness, but using that power for Himself would not have accorded with the plan of salvation, for He used that power to bless others and to bless suffering humanity, not to relieve His own hunger. He did not use His power to lessen the burdens of His own daily labor, though by divine power with a few loaves and fishes He supplied the needs of a multitude faint with hunger. His life proves that higher education does not mean gaining popularity, securing worldly advantages, having all temporal wants abundantly supplied, or being honored by the titled and wealthy of earth.
Bread of Life Shared
As He fed the crowd with physical food He also gave them the bread of life, refusing to send the hungry multitude away without food but charging that they be cared for with what was available even when resources seemed small. He met genuine physical need as well as spiritual need, for He would not dismiss the five thousand after teaching them but provided for bodily need while giving spiritual instruction. He knew a tired, hungry throng could not receive spiritual good in that condition, so He did not forget their physical hunger but wrought a miracle to feed them and make His teachings interesting to them. The food was plain and sufficient for need, showing His power and tender care in ordinary necessities rather than desire to indulge luxury.
Christ made the disciples the channel of communication between Himself and the people, for Christ receives from the Father and gives to the disciples and the disciples give to the multitude. So all who are united to Him receive from Him the bread of life, the heavenly food, and impart it to others, passing on to those in need what they receive from Him unto both temporal and spiritual blessing. Even the most intelligent and spiritually minded can supply nothing for the needs of the soul of themselves, but can bestow only as they receive and can receive only as they impart, and as they continue to impart they continue to receive, receiving more the more they impart. In full reliance on God He took the small store and set the disciples to serve the people first rather than eating themselves, and the food multiplied in His hands so that the hands of the disciples reaching out to Christ, Himself the Bread of Life, were never empty until the little store was sufficient for all. Christ and His disciples ate afterward from the gathered fragments, for He is the great Center and Source of all strength whose gift is increased in its distribution. Those who thus work with God lift up, encourage, and restore others, reflecting His care for human souls.
The food represents the word of life shared with perishing, starving souls, who in turn can reach out to feed other hungry souls, and God does not forget those who labor in love to do this. When people use what they have as well as they can, God can enable them to feed multitudes who are spiritually hungry for the bread of life, for what is given to the disciples is multiplied and blessed by the Lord. His command still binds His followers to feed the multitude now starving for the Bread of Life, so that the small means believers have, when given with thanksgiving and prayer and used to the best of their ability in intelligent, self-denying, self-sacrificing medical missionary work for soul-saving, will be multiplied and blessed as the food put into the disciples' hands was multiplied. In this way God supplies the means and sends earnest disciples whose hands are filled to give food to the starving, enabling His people to supply what the spiritually hungry need and to fulfill the gospel commission even when the work appears slow or impossible.
His power to furnish food in a miraculous way did not teach that people are to put forth no effort to provide the necessities of life, for through the miracles He was seeking to impart spiritual truths of vital importance to the salvation of their souls. In the same way the fact that the Lord heals the sick in answer to prayer is no sign that institutions for the suffering should be abolished, for the Lord will not always work miracles to keep people alive. The sick are to be placed where they can have the benefit of hygienic living and treatment, and these agencies must not be despised. His disciples, in His almighty power and compassion, must care for people seeking salvation by making practical efforts so the weary and hungry can hear the word of life without being neglected or discouraged.
Practical Lessons for Service
“Give ye them to eat” means to take up the work at hand with the means, time and ability now possessed and bring them to Jesus, instead of sending the needy away or waiting for someone of greater ability, an organization, or help from afar. Even when strength and resources seem feeble and slender against the needs of the poor, ignorant and afflicted, what is available is to be used faithfully, thankfully and prayerfully to care for those in need, trusting Christ to supply what is lacking. Though the store may seem enough for only one, placed in His hands five small barley loaves sufficed to feed the multitude, for the food multiplied in His hands and the disciples’ hands reaching out to Him were never left empty until all ate and were satisfied. In this way He multiplies the gift and rewards honest, simple reliance, turning a meager supply into a rich feast that satisfies, leaves twelve baskets full, and leaves something to share with others. The same lesson is that He can do great things for His people even when what they have seems far too little, and that the little offered becomes abundant to meet many needs and to give others the bread of life.
The feeding teaches not to worry and fret over what cannot be helped but to go from strength to strength in trust that Christ will supply need from a meager supply. With only five loaves and two fishes for five thousand men besides women and children, seated on a grassy spot and fed through the disciples until all had enough, it proves what Christ can do with little when trusted and calls for more faith in Him. What seems a meager supply becomes abundant through Christ, satisfying those who receive it and leaving something to share. When His people give and serve from pure, unselfish motives He blesses and multiplies what little they have until it meets the needs of many and advances His work, and He gives tact, skill and understanding to those who work in line with Him.
The command to gather the fragments is as essential as creating the food and is striking evidence of divinity. It teaches God’s standard of economy in saving food as well as money, that the bounties of Providence are not to be squandered or used in an aimless or wasteful manner because there is use for it all. His workers are to build plainly and simply with no extravagance, waste nothing, take nothing by wrong means, let no temporal opportunity or spiritual advantage slip, and lose nothing that would benefit a human being or relieve the necessities of the hungry, in spiritual as in temporal things. The remaining food was carefully gathered rather than wasted, with twelve baskets full in this feeding and seven in the other, and the lesson applies in difficult times when close economy is necessary. In this He leaves a model for practical, economical service and a lasting impression of truth, that every such work be done by self-denial and willing sacrifice to supply the wants and necessities of needy and suffering ones.
The baskets of fragments were distributed among the eager throng and carried away into all the region round about for friends at home to share in the blessed bread. This means those fed by Christ are to give to others the bread that comes down from heaven to satisfy hunger of soul and to repeat what they learned of His wonderful things, sharing what they possess including the truth with those who lack it. In spiritual as in temporal things nothing that would benefit or relieve the hungry is to be lost, and those in right relation to God will know self-denial and willing sacrifice to supply the needy. The miracle shows dependence on God for life, means, health, food and the very air breathed, and His own industry and frugality require careful use of every gift, saving in order to give.
The feeding shows the heavenly Provider supplies necessities and gives His people knowledge of how to prepare suitable food for different times and occasions. His benevolence continues in imparting knowledge by which they find ways to obtain food, for He knows and meets His followers’ bodily needs. His command is also a promise that disciples giving what they have for others in faith will have their hands filled, and in this giving the gift is increased. Those softened and subdued and sanctified by His Holy Spirit are to work the works He worked, and if dedicated to the Lord God of heaven He will give them of His Holy Spirit so they can communicate to those in necessity what they need in Jesus Christ, lifting up, encouraging and restoring others.
Jesus refused to send the hungry multitude away to the villages to buy food lest they faint by the way, and He charged the disciples themselves to feed the crowd with what they had instead of waiting for another agency. His question about obtaining bread was asked only to test their faith, though He already knew how He would provide. He had the small store of five barley loaves and two fishes brought to Him, blessed and broke it, and placed it in the disciples' hands to distribute until more than ten thousand ate and were filled and twelve baskets of fragments were gathered. The act reveals His compassionate care for bodily need, His dependence on His heavenly Father in strait places, and His creative, divine power as the great Provider. He still makes His followers the channel between Himself and the people, receiving the bread of life from Him and imparting it to starving souls, so that even a slender gift brought to Him in faith is multiplied to satisfy many.
Setting and Circumstances
The command belongs to the feeding of the five thousand in a desert place beyond the sea from Capernaum, near Galilee and by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had sought seclusion there with His disciples, and in the evening He led the gathered multitude to a grass plot and had them seated before He afterward sent the crowd away and went apart to pray. The place was secluded and deserted, far from villages where food could be bought, and night was at hand.
Those present were five thousand men besides women and children, thus more than ten thousand people in all. Among them were pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover, who with the rest had pressed about Him all day eager to hear His words, see His works, and be taught and healed. They had come without invitation or command to be in His presence, had listened all day to His instruction and received His compassionate healing of their sick, and were now far from home, hungry, faint and weary. Many had no means to purchase food, and no food was nigh at hand.
The only food to be found was five small barley loaves and two small fishes belonging to a lad. That store was barely enough for a score of people, so that apparently there was no means at command to feed so many and the disciples thought feeding them impossible. In one account the people are described as having followed Him into a secluded place and having been with Him for three days when the available food was only five loaves and a few small fish.
Meaning of the Command
They need not depart means He would not send the hungry multitude away fasting to the villages to buy food, to find refreshment, or to fend for themselves, lest they go home unrefreshed and faint by the way. The disciples had come asking permission to dismiss the crowds who had pressed about Him all day eager to hear His words and see His works and who were now faint and weary as evening fell, for they thought feeding so many impossible with only five small barley loaves and two small fishes at hand. He amazed them by refusing and directing that the small amount of food available be brought to Him to be blessed and used.
Give ye them to eat charged the disciples themselves to feed the crowd and provide for them with what they had, entrusting them with serving the people and putting them to work. They were to serve the people rather than eat themselves first or send them away, and were not to wait for someone of greater ability, for an organization, or for someone to come from afar to do it. Though their strength and resources seemed feeble and slender against the need, they were to use the means, time, and ability possessed now and bring them to Jesus.
The command tested their faith, for His question to Philip about obtaining bread was asked only to test them, since He already knew how He would provide. Their earlier experience at Bethsaida had not overcome unbelief, and prejudice also hindered them from offering what they had in faith. The food they found appeared far too little for five thousand men besides women and children, yet they were to seat the people in order and receive food from His hands after He gave thanks.
Christ does not send needy people away, and He does not Himself pass among them to place supply in their hands, but blesses what is brought to Him and gives it to His disciples to place in the hands of the hungry. Those men minister for Him, so the people take provision from His appointed agencies as if taking it from His own hand, and grateful thanks spoken to them is accepted by Him as given to Himself. Ministers, evangelists, teachers, friends and companions, all as various instrumentalities, thus become workers together with God to carry what He provides, receiving from the Father through Christ and passing it to the multitude.
How the Multitude Was Fed
Jesus had the scanty supply — five barley loaves and two small fishes belonging to a lad — brought to Him, and He led the people to a grassy plot and had them seated in orderly companies of fifty and one hundred so that all could witness what was done. A hymn was sung, and He gave thanks, asked the blessing, blessed, broke, and divided the food into small pieces. He divided it to His disciples and told them to distribute it to the multitude.
He placed the pieces in the disciples' hands, and they carried them to the people and put food in the hands of the hungry, serving the people rather than eating themselves first. The store multiplied in His hands and kept increasing by continual imparting as they distributed it, never diminishing as often as they returned for fresh supply. The hands of the disciples as they reached out to Christ were never left empty, and they came back for more until all ate and were filled and satisfied.
When all had eaten, twelve baskets full of fragments were gathered in this feeding, and seven baskets full in the other feeding, with as much left as at the start. Christ and the disciples afterward ate of the heaven-supplied food. The gathering showed that nothing was to be lost or wasted.
What the Miracle Reveals
“They need not depart; give ye them to eat” reveals compassionate concern, tender care, benevolence and pity for bodily need, for He would not send the hungry crowd away but charged His disciples to feed them themselves. Wherever He went He was attentive to those needing help as their sanctuary, helper and great leading Physician, and on this occasion with five thousand men besides women and children, some fainting, He led them to a grassy plot to be seated and had the disciples distribute what He divided until there was enough for all. Though exhausted and hungry Himself He would not leave while people still needed mercy, but continued to care for the crowd, fed the hungry, and worked for their comfort rather than His own distinction or benefit. His generous feeding shows tender care and benevolence, His care for the hungry and sick sets an example of practical compassionate service, His tender pity rebukes selfishness and heartlessness, and His care exemplifies ministry to the poor and needy.
Though providence had placed Him where He was in the wilderness with five thousand men besides women and children far from home with night at hand, He who for their sake had fasted forty days in the wilderness would not suffer them to return fasting to their homes. They had come eager to be in His presence without invitation or command, and after listening all day to His instruction they were hungry and faint, many with no means to purchase food and with food not nigh at hand and apparently no means at His command, yet He depended on His heavenly Father for means to relieve their necessity. When brought into strait places help is to be sought from God who has infinite resources at His command, and after following Christ’s direction His workers are in every emergency and in difficulties to seek help from God, trusting His provision. He came to minister to the suffering and needy, using His Father’s power to work miracles for the help and uplifting of mankind, though He left the royal courts, laid off His kingly crown and royal robes, and clothed His divinity with humanity, suffering the inconveniences of poverty so He could discern the needs of the poor.
The miracle reveals creative, almighty, divine power continually at work in the harvest and in daily bread, proving Him the great Provider and heavenly Provider who knows and meets His followers’ bodily needs. The power that multiplied the loaves also multiplies seed and provides food from the earth every day, and the same divine care works in the harvest people use for daily bread and in the miracle that fed the multitude, though human work in caring for grain and making bread can obscure God’s agency and God’s gifts can be turned to selfish uses instead of blessings. The disciples distributed the small supply He blessed and it proved sufficient for everyone with food left over, showing His power and care for the people, and His generous feeding convinced the people that He is the Messiah and that His power is divine. The feeding was a miracle like the multiplication of food for a hundred men in the time of Elisha, where God’s power made a small supply sufficient for many, and people should recognize God as the giver of their provision and give Him the glory. He used that power to bless suffering humanity, meeting the crowd’s genuine need for food and involving His disciples in providing it.
The food was plain and simple and sufficient for need, showing His power and tender care in ordinary necessities rather than luxury to attract or indulge or a desire to indulge luxury. The simple meal assured them of His power and care in life’s common needs, and as He fed the crowd with physical food He also gave them the bread of life. Following Him does not guarantee worldly luxuries, for His followers may have plain or scanty food and live in poverty, but He pledges to supply their needs and gives them the greater comfort of His abiding presence.
He who had refused to work a miracle to satisfy His own hunger in the wilderness would work one rather than let the multitude suffer for lack of food, lest the five thousand men besides women and children who had followed Him to a desert place and been with Him all day while He taught and healed them should go home unrefreshed and faint by the way. He fed five thousand with five loaves and two small fish, showing He had power to satisfy His own hunger in the wilderness, but using that power for Himself would not have accorded with the plan of salvation, for He used that power to bless others and to bless suffering humanity, not to relieve His own hunger. He did not use His power to lessen the burdens of His own daily labor, though by divine power with a few loaves and fishes He supplied the needs of a multitude faint with hunger. His life proves that higher education does not mean gaining popularity, securing worldly advantages, having all temporal wants abundantly supplied, or being honored by the titled and wealthy of earth.
Bread of Life Shared
As He fed the crowd with physical food He also gave them the bread of life, refusing to send the hungry multitude away without food but charging that they be cared for with what was available even when resources seemed small. He met genuine physical need as well as spiritual need, for He would not dismiss the five thousand after teaching them but provided for bodily need while giving spiritual instruction. He knew a tired, hungry throng could not receive spiritual good in that condition, so He did not forget their physical hunger but wrought a miracle to feed them and make His teachings interesting to them. The food was plain and sufficient for need, showing His power and tender care in ordinary necessities rather than desire to indulge luxury.
Christ made the disciples the channel of communication between Himself and the people, for Christ receives from the Father and gives to the disciples and the disciples give to the multitude. So all who are united to Him receive from Him the bread of life, the heavenly food, and impart it to others, passing on to those in need what they receive from Him unto both temporal and spiritual blessing. Even the most intelligent and spiritually minded can supply nothing for the needs of the soul of themselves, but can bestow only as they receive and can receive only as they impart, and as they continue to impart they continue to receive, receiving more the more they impart. In full reliance on God He took the small store and set the disciples to serve the people first rather than eating themselves, and the food multiplied in His hands so that the hands of the disciples reaching out to Christ, Himself the Bread of Life, were never empty until the little store was sufficient for all. Christ and His disciples ate afterward from the gathered fragments, for He is the great Center and Source of all strength whose gift is increased in its distribution. Those who thus work with God lift up, encourage, and restore others, reflecting His care for human souls.
The food represents the word of life shared with perishing, starving souls, who in turn can reach out to feed other hungry souls, and God does not forget those who labor in love to do this. When people use what they have as well as they can, God can enable them to feed multitudes who are spiritually hungry for the bread of life, for what is given to the disciples is multiplied and blessed by the Lord. His command still binds His followers to feed the multitude now starving for the Bread of Life, so that the small means believers have, when given with thanksgiving and prayer and used to the best of their ability in intelligent, self-denying, self-sacrificing medical missionary work for soul-saving, will be multiplied and blessed as the food put into the disciples' hands was multiplied. In this way God supplies the means and sends earnest disciples whose hands are filled to give food to the starving, enabling His people to supply what the spiritually hungry need and to fulfill the gospel commission even when the work appears slow or impossible.
His power to furnish food in a miraculous way did not teach that people are to put forth no effort to provide the necessities of life, for through the miracles He was seeking to impart spiritual truths of vital importance to the salvation of their souls. In the same way the fact that the Lord heals the sick in answer to prayer is no sign that institutions for the suffering should be abolished, for the Lord will not always work miracles to keep people alive. The sick are to be placed where they can have the benefit of hygienic living and treatment, and these agencies must not be despised. His disciples, in His almighty power and compassion, must care for people seeking salvation by making practical efforts so the weary and hungry can hear the word of life without being neglected or discouraged.
Practical Lessons for Service
“Give ye them to eat” means to take up the work at hand with the means, time and ability now possessed and bring them to Jesus, instead of sending the needy away or waiting for someone of greater ability, an organization, or help from afar. Even when strength and resources seem feeble and slender against the needs of the poor, ignorant and afflicted, what is available is to be used faithfully, thankfully and prayerfully to care for those in need, trusting Christ to supply what is lacking. Though the store may seem enough for only one, placed in His hands five small barley loaves sufficed to feed the multitude, for the food multiplied in His hands and the disciples’ hands reaching out to Him were never left empty until all ate and were satisfied. In this way He multiplies the gift and rewards honest, simple reliance, turning a meager supply into a rich feast that satisfies, leaves twelve baskets full, and leaves something to share with others. The same lesson is that He can do great things for His people even when what they have seems far too little, and that the little offered becomes abundant to meet many needs and to give others the bread of life.
The feeding teaches not to worry and fret over what cannot be helped but to go from strength to strength in trust that Christ will supply need from a meager supply. With only five loaves and two fishes for five thousand men besides women and children, seated on a grassy spot and fed through the disciples until all had enough, it proves what Christ can do with little when trusted and calls for more faith in Him. What seems a meager supply becomes abundant through Christ, satisfying those who receive it and leaving something to share. When His people give and serve from pure, unselfish motives He blesses and multiplies what little they have until it meets the needs of many and advances His work, and He gives tact, skill and understanding to those who work in line with Him.
The command to gather the fragments is as essential as creating the food and is striking evidence of divinity. It teaches God’s standard of economy in saving food as well as money, that the bounties of Providence are not to be squandered or used in an aimless or wasteful manner because there is use for it all. His workers are to build plainly and simply with no extravagance, waste nothing, take nothing by wrong means, let no temporal opportunity or spiritual advantage slip, and lose nothing that would benefit a human being or relieve the necessities of the hungry, in spiritual as in temporal things. The remaining food was carefully gathered rather than wasted, with twelve baskets full in this feeding and seven in the other, and the lesson applies in difficult times when close economy is necessary. In this He leaves a model for practical, economical service and a lasting impression of truth, that every such work be done by self-denial and willing sacrifice to supply the wants and necessities of needy and suffering ones.
The baskets of fragments were distributed among the eager throng and carried away into all the region round about for friends at home to share in the blessed bread. This means those fed by Christ are to give to others the bread that comes down from heaven to satisfy hunger of soul and to repeat what they learned of His wonderful things, sharing what they possess including the truth with those who lack it. In spiritual as in temporal things nothing that would benefit or relieve the hungry is to be lost, and those in right relation to God will know self-denial and willing sacrifice to supply the needy. The miracle shows dependence on God for life, means, health, food and the very air breathed, and His own industry and frugality require careful use of every gift, saving in order to give.
The feeding shows the heavenly Provider supplies necessities and gives His people knowledge of how to prepare suitable food for different times and occasions. His benevolence continues in imparting knowledge by which they find ways to obtain food, for He knows and meets His followers’ bodily needs. His command is also a promise that disciples giving what they have for others in faith will have their hands filled, and in this giving the gift is increased. Those softened and subdued and sanctified by His Holy Spirit are to work the works He worked, and if dedicated to the Lord God of heaven He will give them of His Holy Spirit so they can communicate to those in necessity what they need in Jesus Christ, lifting up, encouraging and restoring others.