Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (Matthew 14:13-21)

-->

This incident is one of the few that are recorded in each of the Four Gospels. This fact in itself tells us that it is a very important one. Each Gospel writer has his own concerns when mentioning it. John gives most details and he also includes subsequent developments in the attitude of the crowd. There is a place for combining the accounts and having an overall appreciation of what took place. Yet there is also a place for focussing on what each writer mentions. So, we will consider what Matthew records about this incident.

Jesus and time with God (Matthew 14:13)

Matthew records the response of Jesus to the news that his forerunner John the Baptist had been put to death by Herod. His response was to go away from the crowds for a short time. His disciples went with him (John 6:1-3), but that would not have prevented Jesus from spending time by himself once he was away from the crowds. According to other Gospel accounts, one reason for him making this arrangement was out of concern for his disciples and their need of having a break after an intense preaching tour (Mark 6:30-33).

Why did Jesus spend this time away from other people? The reason is obvious – he wanted to be alone with his Heavenly Father. Jesus did this all the time, so we should not be surprised at this mention of his practice. His decision to do this reveals the priority in his heart, which was to spend time in communion with God.

We might have assumed that Jesus could do this anywhere because he was sinless. Yet his example is a reminder that we need to put ourselves somewhere when we will not be distracted, even by good activities, from higher privileges. Jesus ensured that he would not be disturbed.

No doubt, there were particular reasons for Jesus wanting to be alone with his Father at that time. After all, Jesus would be sad at the death of a relative, which John was. Moreover, it was a time of change in the pronouncements about the kingdom because the forerunner, the announcer of its imminent arrival, was no longer here. Perhaps he wanted to pray for the disciples of John who had told him about what had happened to John. And he would have wanted to pray for his own disciples in case they were affected negatively by what had happened to John. They also were beginning to be his representatives and he would have prayed about that.

Whatever the reasons Jesus had for spending special time in the presence of God, he is our example in doing so. Therefore, we have to arrange the time and place of where we will do it. Often, it involves moving away from our usual situations in order to ensure that we have it. It can involve taking a weekend away or going to a conference. We can decide how, but we should be engaging in it.

The arrival of the crowd

It would not have been difficult for the crowd to see where Jesus was going – the Sea of Galilee is not a large lake and they could probably follow the direction he was taking. So they met up with him again. John 6 reveals that Jesus spent some time teaching the disciples and during that interaction the crowds re-appeared and he went to speak to them.

How did Jesus feel when he saw them? Was he angry that they had found out where he was? Did he resent their coming after him for inadequate reasons? They only wanted to see him perform miracles. And he performed some more when they were together again. Matthew tells that what Jesus felt when he saw the crowd was compassion for them.

Of course, we should not be surprised that this was the response of Jesus. After all, he was sinless and always did what was right. Nevertheless, there was a link between his time with God and his response to the crowd. Fellowship with God was a sharing of his priorities and plans. Jesus not only revealed his own heart, he also revealed the heart of his Father.

One of the concerns that people have with today’s society is that there is a reduction in acts of compassion where people go out of their way to help others. And sadly one of the concerns that surfaces in the church is a similar failure to show involvement with those who can be helped by us. We know that is the case, and perhaps we see here a cause for it. In order to do what God wants we have to spend time with him. We become like God by spending time in his presence.

Jesus showed compassion according to his abilities and we, in imitation of him, should show it according to our abilities. We can easily work that one out for ourselves and find ways of expressing it.

The proposal of the disciples

Obviously, the disciples had a concern for the crowd and their lack of resources. If something was not done soon, it would be too late for them to get food that day. They observed that Jesus had not done anything to deal with that issue. Maybe they imagined that he had forgotten. So they chose to mention it to him. I suppose we could regard their involvement as a kind of prayer, although giving advice to Jesus is never appropriate for disciples. Instead of saying to Jesus what they wanted him to do, they should have asked him what he was planning to do about the situation.

I suppose they came to Jesus with the wrong set of words. Instead of devising their own answer to the situation they should have asked him what he thought they should do with the crowds. Their assessment failed to take his abilities into account and therefore they were thinking at a lower level.

Obviously, their suggestion would fall into the category of common sense. Usually common sense is very helpful, but it is not helpful if it prevents the glory of Jesus from being seen. That can be a problem we face at times, and often we only know we have made a mistake after the event.

There was another problem for the disciples and that was that they too had failed to buy bread for themselves. We know from elsewhere in the Gospels that the little food they had was taken there by a young boy. He was happy for his meal to be used by Jesus, but the disciples were not convinced that it would do very much. The disciples had been careless, and carelessness can dull our vision. They actually failed in fully using common sense, otherwise they would have had some food with them.

The response of Jesus

I suppose we could say that Jesus had three possible responses here. He could have told the crowd to go and search for food, or he could have created sufficient food for them miraculously (as God did with the manna for the children of Israel in the wilderness), or he could use the food the disciples had and extend it for all present. We know that he chose the third one and we can wonder why he did so. So here some suggestions.

The first detail that Matthew mentions is that Jesus created a sense of expectancy. That must have been the effect of him arranging the crowds into groups. Why else would the crowds have done what he said? They would not know how he was going to solve the situation, but they realised that he was about to do something.

The second detail that Matthew records is that Jesus pronounced a blessing. He did so with upraised head and open eyes. I have often wondered why we don’t look at the food when we are thanking God for it. Jesus had the food in his hands as he thanked God for it. We can deduce from this that the Saviour wanted people to know that he was working in partnership with the Father.

The third detail that Matthew mentions is that it was Jesus who broke the food into pieces for the crowd to eat. So each person in the crowd could say that they had been fed personally by Jesus. In itself, that was extraordinary. It is also a picture of what happens today when spiritual food is distributed. Although he uses his servants, it is Jesus who decides what each person receives from him.

The participation of the disciples

As we can see from the account, the role of the disciples was to pass on to each person the food from Jesus. It looks as if each disciple had a basket in which he carried the food to each group. There would have been at least one hundred groups, which means that each disciple would have made repeated journeys, each time with a full basket for the next group. It must have been an extraordinary occasion.

It must have also been extraordinary to be involved in a miracle and yet not to be performing it. If someone had said to the disciples, ‘How are you doing this? Where are you getting the food from?’, all the disciples could do was point to Jesus. Of course, we are like the disciples in this regard. After all, the church is a place where Jesus does miracles and all people see is what his followers are doing as they serve him in different ways.

Is that not what happens when someone is converted? They hear a message from another person, whether oral or in a book. Is that not what occurs when someone understands a Bible passage? They hear it explained or else they read a commentary on the passage. Is that not what takes place when a prayer is answered? People intercede for an issue and those involved in it and usually God blesses their effort. It is crucial to be involved as much as possible in whatever Jesus is doing.

Often, our problem is that we want Jesus to perform the miracles of grace apart from us. We want to be observers rather than channels, to be watchers rather than instruments that he can use. Jesus could have fed the crowd without the disciples. He could have asked for each group to send an individual to get the food, or else make them line up in a very long queue and receive food from him directly. He did neither of these. Instead he wanted to use his disciples. He wanted them to do what they could do, and what would have happened if they had refused to do it?

The outcome

Matthew mentions three details as he concludes his description of what took place. The first is that there is never a shortage when Jesus is involved with the provision. In normal circumstances, the amount of food that they had was only enough for a young boy. Yet in the hands of Jesus it satisfied everyone present. Often we look at ourselves and conclude correctly that we cannot do much. When that happens, we should give our little to Jesus for him to make much of it.

Secondly, the disciples also received great blessing themselves. On the assumption that the baskets belonged to them, they each had a basketful. Serving Jesus enabled them to have full baskets instead of empty ones. There was no benefit for themselves and for others when they were walking around with empty baskets. It is worth noting that their personal provision came after they had served others. We can see in this the order that has often been observed by the three letters in the word JOY – Jesus first, others second, and yourselves third.  

Third, Matthew mentions how many were present. Maybe he did this because he was used to recording numbers in his previous employment. It would have been easy for him to do this because of the way Jesus had made the crowd sit in groups that could easily be counted. Obviously, Matthew was not averse to recording statistics. After all, they do indicate what is happening.

Connected to this is the way Matthew recorded the details. While it is not the way we would do so today (we would also mention how many women and children were present), he wrote in a manner that people of his time would understand. There is a lesson here for us in how we communicate the message of Jesus – we do it in a manner that does not take people away from thinking about him.