Jesus Feeds the Multitude With Loaves and Fishby CBPepper
14:21Matthew 14:21
And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
About five thousand men ate besides women and children, making the whole company larger than ten thousand people. They were in a desert, out-of-the-way place far from home, hungry and faint in the evening after spending all day with Jesus hearing His teaching and receiving healing. With only five small barley loaves and two small fishes brought by a lad, He had the people seated in orderly companies, gave thanks and blessed, broke and gave through His disciples until every appetite was satisfied, and then had twelve baskets full gathered so nothing was lost. The wonder shows His compassion that would not send them home unrefreshed, His divine omnipotence as the world's Redeemer, and His tender care in ordinary needs by the same creative power that multiplies seed into harvest. The feeding pictured the bread of life received from the Father by Christ, imparted to the disciples, by them to the multitude and by the people to one another, increasing in distribution so all who unite with Him receive only as they impart. A meager supply in His hands suffices and leaves more, calling for dependence on God, economy against waste in temporal and spiritual things, and practical service in giving what little is shared to feed the hungry and starving for truth.
Crowd Size and Circumstances
About five thousand men ate, besides women and children, so the whole company fed together as one great multitude was larger, numbering above ten thousand people. The count is given as about five thousand men, not counting the women and children, with women and children in addition.
The feeding was in a desert, wilderness, out-of-the-way place away from the villages and far from home, where Christ had been opening the Scriptures. He led them to a grass plot and had them seated on the grass, and by sunset many had eaten nothing since morning and some were faint for want of food. They had spent all day beside the sea listening to His plain, healing words and receiving healing for the sick, so heaven-like that they did not notice their hunger, and the disciples wanted them sent to surrounding towns and villages for food. Jesus knew that after listening to His teaching for a long time the uninvited crowd would be hungry and faint, and He would not let them return home fasting.
People had gathered from near and far to see Jesus, many on foot with children in their arms, drawn by His words and understanding what He taught. Among them were pilgrims traveling toward Jerusalem for Passover. There were no sanitariums then where the sick could come to be healed, but they appealed to Christ and He healed them of their infirmities, and those He healed joined the crowds that followed Him from place to place, until on one occasion the gathering grew so large.
The place was a desert place beyond the sea from Capernaum, on the shore of Galilee at Bethsaida, on a grassy eminence where Jesus taught the multitude and healed the sick and afflicted brought to Him. It took place after Christ led the people away from the cities to a quiet place. The feeding took place the day before the people returned to find Jesus on the shore. After the people had been fed, Jesus sent them away and sent His disciples across the lake.
Miracle Details and Order
The entire supply to be found among that vast company was five small barley loaves and two small fishes, brought by a lad. They were the daily fare of Galilean fisherfolk, a meager store sufficient only for His own family of disciples. About five thousand men ate from that little store, besides the women and children with them, all fed together as one great multitude.
At His direction the people were seated upon the grass in orderly parties of fifty and one hundred, to preserve order and that all might witness what was done. A hymn was sung, and He took the bread, looked up to heaven, gave thanks and blessed, broke the bread and divided the fishes. He placed the pieces in the hands of His disciples, and they put the food in the hands of the hungry and kept coming back for more, giving through to the multitude and the people to one another. The food multiplied in His hands and sufficed for them all, imparted and imparted until every appetite was satisfied without diminishing.
After all were filled and none had returned home fasting, He commanded that the fragments be gathered so that nothing would be lost. Twelve baskets full were taken up from what remained. Those twelve baskets belong to this feeding, distinct from the seven baskets gathered at the other feeding.
Christ's Power and Care
Jesus was moved with compassion for the multitude gathered in a desert, out-of-the-way place away from the villages, where He had been opening the Scriptures in simplicity to receiving minds and sowing truth among souls who had not yet heard it. He taught and cared for people who had received no help from their religious leaders, healing their sick and ministering to all classes after they had spent all day with Him listening and receiving healing until many were faint for want of food. As evening came He led them to a grass plot and would not send them to their homes unrefreshed nor let them faint by the way on their return. The plain meal He supplied from five loaves and two fishes until all ate and were filled showed His power and tender care in the ordinary needs of life.
The feeding of about five thousand men besides women and children in the wilderness far from home, hungry and faint after listening all day, teaches dependence on God, for Jesus relied on His heavenly Father to provide what was needed when no food was apparently available. He acted as the representative of the Father and did the works of the Father, and the passing of the food from hand to hand until it multiplied to more than enough, with twelve baskets of fragments gathered afterward, stands with His healing and ministering as evidence that He is in the Father and the Father in Him. The miracle shows His divine power and omnipotence as the world's Redeemer and His tender care, the same creative power that multiplies seed into harvest and feeds millions from the earth, so that daily food is to be received with gratitude as God's gift rather than used selfishly. The wonder strengthened the people's conviction that He was the Messiah and promised Deliverer, leading them to plan to proclaim Him king.
Though He had power to feed thousands at once with five loaves and two small fishes, He had refused to work a miracle to satisfy His own hunger in the wilderness temptation and used the crowd's need instead to test the faith of His disciples. He did not use that same power on His own account or to satisfy Himself, because His mission was to save others and to bear the suffering of humanity, and doing so would not have accorded with the plan of salvation. He already possessed that divine power when He spent the greater part of His earthly life in patient toil in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth, going to and from humble labor in the garb of a common laborer to help support the family, yet He did not employ it to lessen His own burdens or lighten His toil. Having taken humanity with all its ills and lived in a peasant's home clothed with coarse garments among the lowly, His restraint proves it is man's duty to be industrious and that useful, hard and wearisome labor is honorable and made safe by the Redeemer's footprints.
Having laid off His royal crown and robe in heaven and clothed His divinity with humanity to be born as a little child to poor parents, He suffered poverty's inconveniences that He might stand close to humanity and discern the needs of the poor. He came not to gain popularity or secure worldly advantage, not to have temporal wants abundantly supplied, be honored by the titled and wealthy, wear priestly robes, or possess earthly riches, but for the work of ministering to the suffering and needy to help and uplift mankind. Though living amid poverty He used divine power to meet bodily hunger and multiply small means until hunger was satisfied, teaching that those entrusted with God's gifts must impart what He has given and waste nothing. The simple, plain meal from the daily food of Galilean fishermen was an assurance of His power and tender care for everyday needs, pledging supply for need and the abiding comfort of His presence rather than luxury or worldly goods.
Spiritual Bread Through Disciples
The feeding pictured the bread of life, for Christ received from the Father and imparted to the disciples, they imparted to the multitude, and the people imparted to one another. In full reliance on God He took the small store, only a small supply for His own family of disciples, and did not invite them to eat but began to distribute to them and bade them serve the people. The food multiplied in His hands, and the hands of the disciples reaching out to Christ Himself the Bread of Life were never empty, so the little store was sufficient for all. After the wants of the people had been supplied the fragments were gathered up, and Christ and His disciples ate of the precious heaven-supplied food. The plain meal was sufficient for need, showing His power and tender care in the ordinary needs of life, and teaching that even with little to share people should give what they have and trust Christ to supply lack.
All who are united with Christ receive from Him the bread of life, the heavenly food, and impart it to others. The disciples were the channel of communication between Christ and the people, for Christ is the great Center, the Source of all strength, and His disciples are to receive their supplies from Him. The most intelligent, the most spiritually minded can bestow only as they receive, and of themselves can supply nothing for the needs of the soul. We can impart only as we receive, and we can receive only as we impart. As we continue to impart we shall continue to receive, and the more we impart the more we shall receive, for the gift increases in its distribution.
Christ labored to sow the seed of truth among souls who had not yet heard it, traveling slowly and opening the Scriptures in simplicity to minds that would receive the truth. He had been opening the Scriptures in a desert, out-of-the-way place away from the villages, moved with compassion toward the multitude and healing their sick, and when some were faint for want of food He led them to a grass plot, bade them be seated, and fed about five thousand men besides women and children from five loaves and two fishes until all ate and were filled. All these circumstances make His work known to those who after His crucifixion and resurrection would be His disciples. He used the feeding to impart spiritual truths of vital importance to the salvation of souls.
His command to provide for others is backed by the same power that supplied their food, and God provides what is needed and sustains those who labor for others even when the work appears slow or impossible. Those who dedicate themselves to the Lord God of heaven will be given the Holy Spirit to communicate to those in necessity and to work the very works Christ worked. He can minister, teach, guide into truth, and help in every wrestling and trial, and calls for more faith in Him as the mighty One who gives everlasting life in the kingdom of glory to the overcomer. The miracle does not mean people are to put forth no effort to provide the necessities of life, nor that institutions for the suffering using hygienic living and treatment should be despised or abolished, because the Lord will not always work miracles to keep people alive.
The disciples were to give the people the bread of life and depend on Christ for the supply they needed to do so. At Bethsaida they had seen Jesus bless their small supply and feed this multitude through their hands with food Christ supplied. Yet afterward they failed to trust that He could provide for the Gentile crowd in Decapolis.
Trust Economy and Service
The feeding teaches dependence on God, for Jesus Himself relied on His Father to provide when the multitude was in a wilderness far from home, hungry and faint after listening all day with no means to buy food, and would not send them home fasting. Placed in Christ's hands the five small loaves sufficed to feed about five thousand men besides women and children until all were fully satisfied, leaving twelve baskets of fragments, proving that a meager supply becomes abundant under His blessing. God can do great things even when resources seem too small, enlarging what is offered in faith, giving skill and the fruit of labor, and blessing work today. The same creative power that multiplied the loaves multiplies seed into harvest and feeds millions from the earth, yet human cooperation in tending grain and preparing bread can hide His agency, so daily food is to be recognized as His gift received with gratitude and used as blessing rather than selfishly. Even a small supply put into missionary work will be multiplied when entrusted to Him.
His command to gather the fragments so nothing would be lost is as striking evidence of divinity as creating the food, teaching economy and careful stewardship against extravagance and waste in both temporal and spiritual things. Nothing is to be wasted, no temporal opportunity or spiritual advantage let slip, nothing that would benefit a human being or relieve earth's hungry ones, for He places value on blessings of life, means, health, food and even the very air breathed, and His own industry and frugality teach careful use of gifts received at His hand. The lesson calls for plainness and simplicity, such as in building sanitariums and managing institutions, especially in difficult circumstances. Helpful acts done in His name are to be valued and preserved, and the baskets carried away into all the region round about to friends at home mean those fed must repeat what they learned and give to others the bread that comes down from heaven to satisfy hunger of soul.
The example guides practical service to give what little is shared to those in need and trust Christ to supply lack, showing hospitality and His power and tender care in ordinary needs in a plain and sufficient meal that also pictured the bread of life. What people have should be shared with those in need, for disciples receive from Him what they pass on and the gift increases in distribution. Those who work with God are to help and encourage others rather than discourage or harm them, to care for the hungry and sick, and to use the best means available to feed multitudes starving for the Bread of Life. From the heavenly Provider may be learned how to prepare suitable foods and health foods for different times and occasions, and His methods guide practical food work. God will not always work miracles to keep people alive, so the miracle does not excuse withholding effort to provide necessities nor abolish institutions using hygienic treatment.
Those entrusted with God's gifts must impart what He has given and waste nothing. They have no right to gamble or to get means by conniving that robs another, but must help and encourage others.
About five thousand men ate besides women and children, making the whole company larger than ten thousand people. They were in a desert, out-of-the-way place far from home, hungry and faint in the evening after spending all day with Jesus hearing His teaching and receiving healing. With only five small barley loaves and two small fishes brought by a lad, He had the people seated in orderly companies, gave thanks and blessed, broke and gave through His disciples until every appetite was satisfied, and then had twelve baskets full gathered so nothing was lost. The wonder shows His compassion that would not send them home unrefreshed, His divine omnipotence as the world's Redeemer, and His tender care in ordinary needs by the same creative power that multiplies seed into harvest. The feeding pictured the bread of life received from the Father by Christ, imparted to the disciples, by them to the multitude and by the people to one another, increasing in distribution so all who unite with Him receive only as they impart. A meager supply in His hands suffices and leaves more, calling for dependence on God, economy against waste in temporal and spiritual things, and practical service in giving what little is shared to feed the hungry and starving for truth.
Crowd Size and Circumstances
About five thousand men ate, besides women and children, so the whole company fed together as one great multitude was larger, numbering above ten thousand people. The count is given as about five thousand men, not counting the women and children, with women and children in addition.
The feeding was in a desert, wilderness, out-of-the-way place away from the villages and far from home, where Christ had been opening the Scriptures. He led them to a grass plot and had them seated on the grass, and by sunset many had eaten nothing since morning and some were faint for want of food. They had spent all day beside the sea listening to His plain, healing words and receiving healing for the sick, so heaven-like that they did not notice their hunger, and the disciples wanted them sent to surrounding towns and villages for food. Jesus knew that after listening to His teaching for a long time the uninvited crowd would be hungry and faint, and He would not let them return home fasting.
People had gathered from near and far to see Jesus, many on foot with children in their arms, drawn by His words and understanding what He taught. Among them were pilgrims traveling toward Jerusalem for Passover. There were no sanitariums then where the sick could come to be healed, but they appealed to Christ and He healed them of their infirmities, and those He healed joined the crowds that followed Him from place to place, until on one occasion the gathering grew so large.
The place was a desert place beyond the sea from Capernaum, on the shore of Galilee at Bethsaida, on a grassy eminence where Jesus taught the multitude and healed the sick and afflicted brought to Him. It took place after Christ led the people away from the cities to a quiet place. The feeding took place the day before the people returned to find Jesus on the shore. After the people had been fed, Jesus sent them away and sent His disciples across the lake.
Miracle Details and Order
The entire supply to be found among that vast company was five small barley loaves and two small fishes, brought by a lad. They were the daily fare of Galilean fisherfolk, a meager store sufficient only for His own family of disciples. About five thousand men ate from that little store, besides the women and children with them, all fed together as one great multitude.
At His direction the people were seated upon the grass in orderly parties of fifty and one hundred, to preserve order and that all might witness what was done. A hymn was sung, and He took the bread, looked up to heaven, gave thanks and blessed, broke the bread and divided the fishes. He placed the pieces in the hands of His disciples, and they put the food in the hands of the hungry and kept coming back for more, giving through to the multitude and the people to one another. The food multiplied in His hands and sufficed for them all, imparted and imparted until every appetite was satisfied without diminishing.
After all were filled and none had returned home fasting, He commanded that the fragments be gathered so that nothing would be lost. Twelve baskets full were taken up from what remained. Those twelve baskets belong to this feeding, distinct from the seven baskets gathered at the other feeding.
Christ's Power and Care
Jesus was moved with compassion for the multitude gathered in a desert, out-of-the-way place away from the villages, where He had been opening the Scriptures in simplicity to receiving minds and sowing truth among souls who had not yet heard it. He taught and cared for people who had received no help from their religious leaders, healing their sick and ministering to all classes after they had spent all day with Him listening and receiving healing until many were faint for want of food. As evening came He led them to a grass plot and would not send them to their homes unrefreshed nor let them faint by the way on their return. The plain meal He supplied from five loaves and two fishes until all ate and were filled showed His power and tender care in the ordinary needs of life.
The feeding of about five thousand men besides women and children in the wilderness far from home, hungry and faint after listening all day, teaches dependence on God, for Jesus relied on His heavenly Father to provide what was needed when no food was apparently available. He acted as the representative of the Father and did the works of the Father, and the passing of the food from hand to hand until it multiplied to more than enough, with twelve baskets of fragments gathered afterward, stands with His healing and ministering as evidence that He is in the Father and the Father in Him. The miracle shows His divine power and omnipotence as the world's Redeemer and His tender care, the same creative power that multiplies seed into harvest and feeds millions from the earth, so that daily food is to be received with gratitude as God's gift rather than used selfishly. The wonder strengthened the people's conviction that He was the Messiah and promised Deliverer, leading them to plan to proclaim Him king.
Though He had power to feed thousands at once with five loaves and two small fishes, He had refused to work a miracle to satisfy His own hunger in the wilderness temptation and used the crowd's need instead to test the faith of His disciples. He did not use that same power on His own account or to satisfy Himself, because His mission was to save others and to bear the suffering of humanity, and doing so would not have accorded with the plan of salvation. He already possessed that divine power when He spent the greater part of His earthly life in patient toil in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth, going to and from humble labor in the garb of a common laborer to help support the family, yet He did not employ it to lessen His own burdens or lighten His toil. Having taken humanity with all its ills and lived in a peasant's home clothed with coarse garments among the lowly, His restraint proves it is man's duty to be industrious and that useful, hard and wearisome labor is honorable and made safe by the Redeemer's footprints.
Having laid off His royal crown and robe in heaven and clothed His divinity with humanity to be born as a little child to poor parents, He suffered poverty's inconveniences that He might stand close to humanity and discern the needs of the poor. He came not to gain popularity or secure worldly advantage, not to have temporal wants abundantly supplied, be honored by the titled and wealthy, wear priestly robes, or possess earthly riches, but for the work of ministering to the suffering and needy to help and uplift mankind. Though living amid poverty He used divine power to meet bodily hunger and multiply small means until hunger was satisfied, teaching that those entrusted with God's gifts must impart what He has given and waste nothing. The simple, plain meal from the daily food of Galilean fishermen was an assurance of His power and tender care for everyday needs, pledging supply for need and the abiding comfort of His presence rather than luxury or worldly goods.
Spiritual Bread Through Disciples
The feeding pictured the bread of life, for Christ received from the Father and imparted to the disciples, they imparted to the multitude, and the people imparted to one another. In full reliance on God He took the small store, only a small supply for His own family of disciples, and did not invite them to eat but began to distribute to them and bade them serve the people. The food multiplied in His hands, and the hands of the disciples reaching out to Christ Himself the Bread of Life were never empty, so the little store was sufficient for all. After the wants of the people had been supplied the fragments were gathered up, and Christ and His disciples ate of the precious heaven-supplied food. The plain meal was sufficient for need, showing His power and tender care in the ordinary needs of life, and teaching that even with little to share people should give what they have and trust Christ to supply lack.
All who are united with Christ receive from Him the bread of life, the heavenly food, and impart it to others. The disciples were the channel of communication between Christ and the people, for Christ is the great Center, the Source of all strength, and His disciples are to receive their supplies from Him. The most intelligent, the most spiritually minded can bestow only as they receive, and of themselves can supply nothing for the needs of the soul. We can impart only as we receive, and we can receive only as we impart. As we continue to impart we shall continue to receive, and the more we impart the more we shall receive, for the gift increases in its distribution.
Christ labored to sow the seed of truth among souls who had not yet heard it, traveling slowly and opening the Scriptures in simplicity to minds that would receive the truth. He had been opening the Scriptures in a desert, out-of-the-way place away from the villages, moved with compassion toward the multitude and healing their sick, and when some were faint for want of food He led them to a grass plot, bade them be seated, and fed about five thousand men besides women and children from five loaves and two fishes until all ate and were filled. All these circumstances make His work known to those who after His crucifixion and resurrection would be His disciples. He used the feeding to impart spiritual truths of vital importance to the salvation of souls.
His command to provide for others is backed by the same power that supplied their food, and God provides what is needed and sustains those who labor for others even when the work appears slow or impossible. Those who dedicate themselves to the Lord God of heaven will be given the Holy Spirit to communicate to those in necessity and to work the very works Christ worked. He can minister, teach, guide into truth, and help in every wrestling and trial, and calls for more faith in Him as the mighty One who gives everlasting life in the kingdom of glory to the overcomer. The miracle does not mean people are to put forth no effort to provide the necessities of life, nor that institutions for the suffering using hygienic living and treatment should be despised or abolished, because the Lord will not always work miracles to keep people alive.
The disciples were to give the people the bread of life and depend on Christ for the supply they needed to do so. At Bethsaida they had seen Jesus bless their small supply and feed this multitude through their hands with food Christ supplied. Yet afterward they failed to trust that He could provide for the Gentile crowd in Decapolis.
Trust Economy and Service
The feeding teaches dependence on God, for Jesus Himself relied on His Father to provide when the multitude was in a wilderness far from home, hungry and faint after listening all day with no means to buy food, and would not send them home fasting. Placed in Christ's hands the five small loaves sufficed to feed about five thousand men besides women and children until all were fully satisfied, leaving twelve baskets of fragments, proving that a meager supply becomes abundant under His blessing. God can do great things even when resources seem too small, enlarging what is offered in faith, giving skill and the fruit of labor, and blessing work today. The same creative power that multiplied the loaves multiplies seed into harvest and feeds millions from the earth, yet human cooperation in tending grain and preparing bread can hide His agency, so daily food is to be recognized as His gift received with gratitude and used as blessing rather than selfishly. Even a small supply put into missionary work will be multiplied when entrusted to Him.
His command to gather the fragments so nothing would be lost is as striking evidence of divinity as creating the food, teaching economy and careful stewardship against extravagance and waste in both temporal and spiritual things. Nothing is to be wasted, no temporal opportunity or spiritual advantage let slip, nothing that would benefit a human being or relieve earth's hungry ones, for He places value on blessings of life, means, health, food and even the very air breathed, and His own industry and frugality teach careful use of gifts received at His hand. The lesson calls for plainness and simplicity, such as in building sanitariums and managing institutions, especially in difficult circumstances. Helpful acts done in His name are to be valued and preserved, and the baskets carried away into all the region round about to friends at home mean those fed must repeat what they learned and give to others the bread that comes down from heaven to satisfy hunger of soul.
The example guides practical service to give what little is shared to those in need and trust Christ to supply lack, showing hospitality and His power and tender care in ordinary needs in a plain and sufficient meal that also pictured the bread of life. What people have should be shared with those in need, for disciples receive from Him what they pass on and the gift increases in distribution. Those who work with God are to help and encourage others rather than discourage or harm them, to care for the hungry and sick, and to use the best means available to feed multitudes starving for the Bread of Life. From the heavenly Provider may be learned how to prepare suitable foods and health foods for different times and occasions, and His methods guide practical food work. God will not always work miracles to keep people alive, so the miracle does not excuse withholding effort to provide necessities nor abolish institutions using hygienic treatment.
Those entrusted with God's gifts must impart what He has given and waste nothing. They have no right to gamble or to get means by conniving that robs another, but must help and encourage others.