jESUS FEEDS 15000

¹³ When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
¹⁵ When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸ He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. ²⁰ So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. ²¹ Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

—Matthew 14:13–21

The feeding of the five thousand was one of the more spectacular miracles in the ministry of Christ. It was an occasion in which the disciples overemphasized the problem and underemphasized the resources, for they underestimated the Master! Jesus had come to this desert place to be alone with the disciples. They had just returned from the mission to which Jesus had sent them, and they needed time to process their experience (Mark 6:30–32). But as they crossed near Bethsaida to a desert place on the other side of the bay, a large crowd made its way around the bay and came to Jesus. Seeing them, He was moved with compassion and extended His ministry to their need, healing and teaching. At eventide the disciples urged Jesus to send the multitude away so that they could get bread, probably at Bethsaida.

Jesus amazed the disciples by saying, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” Upon their remonstrance that they had only five loaves and two fish, Jesus said, “Bring them here to me.” We bring what we have to the Master, and He will bless it. A little with God is more than much without Him. And yet they were staggered to look into the faces of five thousand men, plus women and children, and then look at this little lunch basket! But one expectation was that the Messiah, like Moses, would feed His people. This event may be associated with the messianic banquet spoken of by Isaiah (25:6).

In verse 19 we have the order of grace: He blessed; He gave to the disciples; they gave to others. The Lord works through His disciples, through his church. Reviewing the happening we recognize: (1) the promise—they don’t have to leave; (2) the commission—you give them something; (3) the power—bring them to me; and (4) the provision—they all ate. The conclusion is the abundance which satisfies, for there were twelve baskets full of fragments left over. The word for “basket” here is kophinos, meaning a smaller wicker basket. At the second feeding of four thousand the kind of basket was the spuris, a larger basket. The point of reference here is that there was more than enough.

This marks the climax of popular enthusiasm for Jesus, and of the desire to make Him King. But Jesus was not a bread-King, and according to John 6, Jesus followed up on this miracle by talking to the people about their need for spiritual sustenance. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). And in answer to their unbelief, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day… . Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me” (John 6:53–54, 57, niv). As food sustains the energy of the body, so living by the energy of identification with Christ is the only sustenance of spiritual life¹

The King and the crowd (14:13–21)

Jesus’ attempt to steal away for privacy and solitude does not work. Large crowds of people walk to him, hoping for a blessing from him. Matthew tells us that when Jesus saw the crowd ‘he had compassion on them’. This is an important indicator of the spirit that motivated Jesus to help needy men and women. B. B. Warfield points out that compassion ‘is the emotion which is most frequently attributed to him’. It conveys his reaction to the needs of people. ‘The sight of their desperate plight awakens our Lord’s pity and moves him to provide the remedy.’² Whatever people thought of him, he always thought to do people good.

The practical need to cater for such a large crowd is not lost on the disciples. As they see the evening approaching, they urge Jesus to dismiss the crowd (v. 15). They have no resources with which to feed them. All the food available to them is five loaves and two fish. That is not enough.

Or is it? Jesus takes the food and asks God to bless it. He begins distributing it to the disciples, who in turn give it to the crowd. The food keeps coming as Jesus miraculously multiplies the portion. The result is that ‘they all ate and were satisfied’ (v. 20). Twelve baskets full of broken pieces are left over. Although we often refer to this as the feeding of the five thousand, Matthew tells us that five thousand is only the number of the men present (v. 21).

Why twelve baskets? One commentator suggests that ‘each disciple had a basket of food left for himself, out of which he could share with Jesus’. It does seem as though the number of baskets relates to the number of disciples whom he would send out with the gospel.

The fact that there is so much left over is also a remarkable illustration of the point Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount, when he encouraged the disciples to trust him for their needs. He told them to pray for daily bread (6:11) and explicitly said to them that they should not be anxious about what to eat or drink (6:31). This miracle is as much for their benefit as for the benefit of the people.²

Jesus and His disciples desperately needed rest (Mark 6:31); yet the needs of the multitudes touched His heart. The word translated “moved with compassion” literally means “to have one’s inner being (viscera) stirred.” It is stronger than sympathy. The word is used twelve times in the Gospels, and eight of these references are to Jesus Christ.

Jesus was “moved with compassion” when He saw the needy multitudes (Matt. 9:36). They were like sheep that had been lacerated from brutal fleecing—torn, exhausted, and wandering. Twice He was “moved with compassion” when He beheld the hungry multitudes without food (Matt. 14:14; 15:32). The two blind men (Matt. 20:34) and the leper (Mark 1:41) also stirred His compassion, as did the sorrow of the widow at Nain (Luke 7:13).

Jesus used this word in three of His parables. The king had compassion on his bankrupt servant and forgave him his debt; and we ought to forgive one another (Matt. 18:21–35). The Samaritan had compassion on the Jewish victim and cared for him in love (Luke 10:25–37). The father had compassion on his wayward son and ran and greeted him when he came home (Luke 15:20). If our Heavenly Father has such compassion toward us, should we not have compassion toward others?

The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is recorded in all four Gospels (Matt. 14:13–21; Mark 6:35–44; Luke 9:12–17; John 6:4–13). It was definitely a miracle. Those who teach that Jesus only encouraged the people to bring out their own hidden lunches have ignored the clear statements of God’s Word. John 6:14 definitely calls the event a “sign” or “miracle.” Would the crowd have wanted to crown Jesus King simply because He tricked them into sharing their lunches? (John 6:14–15) Not likely!

It takes little imagination to picture the embarrassing plight of the disciples. Here were more than 5,000 hungry people and they had nothing to feed them! Certainly the disciples knew that Jesus was powerful enough to meet the need, yet they did not turn to Him for help. Instead, they took inventory of their own food supply (a lad had five barley loaves and two fish) and their limited treasury. When they considered the time (evening) and the place (a desolate place), they came to the conclusion that nothing could be done to solve the problem. Their counsel to the Lord was: “Send them away!”

How like many of God’s people today. For some reason, it is never the right time or place for God to work. Jesus watched His frustrated disciples as they tried to solve the problem, but “He Himself knew what He was intending to do” (John 6:6,nasb). He wanted to teach them a lesson in faith and surrender. Note the steps we must take in solving life’s problems.

Start with what you have. Andrew found a lad who had a small lunch, and he brought the lad to Jesus. Was the boy willing to give up his lunch? Yes, he was! God begins where we are and uses what we have.

Give what you have to Jesus. Jesus took the simple lunch, blessed it, and shared it. The miracle of multiplication was in His hands! “Little is much if God is in it.” Jesus broke the bread and gave the pieces to the disciples, and they, in turn, fed the multitudes.

Obey what He commands. The disciples had the people sit down as Jesus ordered. They took the broken pieces and distributed them, and discovered that there was plenty for everybody. As His servants, we are “distributors,” not “manufacturers.” If we give what we have to Him, He will bless it and give it back to us for use in feeding others.

Conserve the results. There were twelve baskets filled with pieces of bread and fish after the people had eaten all they wanted. But these pieces were carefully collected so that nothing was wasted (Mark 6:43; John 6:12). I wonder how many of the pieces the lad took back home with him? Imagine his mother’s amazement when the boy told her the story!

The Apostle John recorded a sermon on “the Bread of life” that Jesus gave the next day in the synagogue in Capernaum (John 6:22ff). The people were willing to receive the physical bread, but they would not receive the living Bread—the Son of God come down from heaven. The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 was actually a sermon in action. Jesus is the Bread of Life, and only He can satisfy the spiritual hunger in man’s heart. The tragedy is, men waste their time and money on “that which is not bread” (Isa. 55:1–7). People today are making the same mistake.

Jesus still has compassion on the hungry multitudes, and He still says to His church: “Give them something to eat.” How easy it is for us to send people away, to make excuses, to plead a lack of resources. Jesus asks that we give Him all that we have and let Him use it as He sees fit. A hungry world is feeding on empty substitutes while we deprive them of the Bread of Life. When we give Christ what we have, we never lose. We always end up with more blessing than when we started.

1 Augsburger, M. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Matthew (Vol. 24, p. 18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

2 Campbell, I. D. (2008). Opening up Matthew (pp. 88–89). Leominster: Day One Publications.