Feeding of the 5 Thousand

Matthew 14:13-21

The feeding of the five thousand was a sign to Israel that the Messiah was able to feed all the people even when there was no food available. The fact that there were twelve baskets left over indicates that He could meet the needs of all twelve tribes of Israel. The feeding of the four thousand, recorded in Matthew 15:32-39 and Mark 8:1-9, Jesus was showing the people that as Messiah He could provide food for the nations too. The account of the feeding of the four thousand follows the miracle done for the Canaanite woman, with the lesson that the dogs, Gentiles, will take the scraps that fall from the table, what the Jews reject. According to Scripture, there were seven nations living in the land when Israel arrived; this may well explain the symbolism of seven baskets of leftovers collected afterwards.

The focal point of the miracle is meeting a need. The key word is “compassion.” Compassion is one of the characteristic attributes of God. Compassion is also one of our characteristic attributes that we have been given in our nature and so must act upon. Compassion is that internal yearning of sympathy and concern for people with great needs. It is such a deep emotion that it cannot be easily ignored or we can easily walk away from. Here Jesus had compassion on the people, and so He began to heal them.

The compassion will also extend to His feeding the people. Note that Jesus’ compassion moved Him to do things for the people. He did not stop to ask which were righteous and which were not, who squandered their finances and who did not, whether a person was Jew or Gentile. He had compassion on them all, and without making inquiry or setting conditions, He went about healing, and then fed them all.

The events leading up to the feeding of the five thousand

Matthew records a number of parables in chapter 13, and then in chapter 14 he returns to the description of some of Jesus’ mighty works that portray Him not simply King of the Jews but Lord of all creation. Chapter 14 begins with a report that Herod, not Herod the Great who died just after Jesus was born, but one of his sons, had had John beheaded in prison. This is the first significant sign of the growing opposition to Jesus and John. As a result, Jesus begins to widen His appeal to include the Gentiles more and more. First, in chapter 14, Jesus will do mighty deeds in Jewish land; then in chapter 15, He will be in Gentile territory. He will present Himself as Lord of all.

In Matthew 15:29-39 we have an account of the feeding of the four thousand. Most liberal, critical scholars conclude that there was only one event, and that the telling of the event was altered a bit over the years and different telling of it was preserved in the same gospel as if they were separate events. Of course, there is also the assumption that Matthew did not write the gospel, but that it was the product of the Christian community fifty or so years later and they did not get all their facts straight.

If the material did come from Matthew, we are dealing with the record of an eyewitness, and not a later community that was trying to sort out what people remembered. If there was only one event, then the gospel accounts are lacking continuity, the passages are not the same. The differences lead to the conclusion that there were two separate, but similar miracles performed. The feeding of the five thousand takes place in Jewish territory, on the western side of the division of the river Jordan flowing into the Sea of Galilee. It was a sign to Israel that the Messiah was able to feed all the people even when there was no food available. The fact that there were twelve baskets left over indicates that He could meet the needs of all twelve tribes of Israel, the feeding of the four thousand takes place more to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. The region in the east was not under Herod Antipas, but under his brother Philip; it was a heavily Gentile population. Therefore, by doing the miracle there as well, Jesus was showing them that as Messiah He could provide food for the nations too. The account of the feeding of the four thousand follows the miracle done for the Canaanite woman, with the lesson that the dogs, Gentiles, will take the scraps that fall from the table, what the Jews reject. According to Scripture, there were seven nations living in the land when Israel arrived; this may well explain the symbolism of seven baskets of leftovers.

One additional point is Luke says it happened in the region of Bethsaida, which would put it more to the north of the Sea; the other writers do not identify the place.

The other gospel writers record more of the conversation between Jesus and the disciples than Matthew does. When the question of food came up, Jesus asked the disciples what they would feed the people, testing them. Then, when they said they had no food to give the people, Jesus told them to go and see what was available. They found one little boy with the loaves and fish.

John’s account of the feeding of the five thousand (John 6), is followed by the account of Jesus walking on the water, and then a lengthy discourse by Jesus, “The Manna from Heaven.” This sermon by Jesus was intended to explain in more detail the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. The multiplication of the loaves was a sign to Israel, for it compares the provision of bread with the Manna that their fathers ate. However, Jesus uses it to explain that He is the bread of life that came down from heaven. Therefore, this shows the “Jewish” orientation of the first miracle. Matthew does not include it because he is presenting the miracle of feeding the people on its own merits. The additional message about the Manna takes the application even farther than what is implied in the account itself.

The feeding of the five thousand was performed to meet a need. The conversation that leads up to it is significant to the interpretation of the miracle. Jesus does not simply do the miracle, but first instructs the disciples to give the people something to eat. They, of course, have nothing to give them. Therefore, Jesus gives to them, so that they might give to the people. Understanding that the miracles were to signify some truth about the person and work of Jesus, this little interchange before the miracle has greater significance than readily meets the eye, it reveals the responsibility of the ministry of the church, Jesus gives to the church and the church gives what is given to the people.
The motivation of the church is the compassion that Jesus had.

The lesson in this miracle for the church today

As the day wore on it became clear that the people needed something to eat. If you do not think the people do not need something to eat today, you have been living in outer space. Their greatest need is the spiritual food that comes from the Giver of life, Lord Jesus Christ.

The disciples came and advised Jesus to send the people away so that they could find food in the local villages and have something to eat. On the surface, this was simply a wise and practical bit of advice. They were concerned with the need to eat, the day was long gone, and Jesus would have to stop for the day eventually. However, there is something ironic in the disciples telling Jesus to send needy people away, when Jesus had been moved by compassion to help them. The disciples needed more of that compassion; they should have asked Jesus to do something, rather than tell him to send people away. Matthew does not tell us that Jesus was testing the disciples; he leaves it with the irony of the disciples offering advice to Jesus, who did not take their advice.

How sad it is when people come to church with a full stomach and a hungry spirit and leave with a hungry spirit.

What did Jesus tell the disciples, “Give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16), Jesus is saying if you are so concerned for them feed them. The concern for their needs was fine; but now does something about it. They were right to see the need in the people for food; but they would have to be the ones who would feed the people. This is a brief preview of His commission for them: they are to meet the needs of the people. They may not have seen this deeper meaning at the time, but as the disciples, and all ministers, looked back on the event, they would see it, especially as Jesus had instructed Peter and the others to feed his sheep. The whole ministry is centered on feeding people, both the physical food, which is a part of the pastoral compassion and care, and the spiritual food, the word of God. However, they do not have it in and of themselves to meet these needs; they will first receive it from Jesus, and then will give it to the people. All ministry works this way.

The main point of the passage is the revelation of Jesus as the Messiah, and as the Messiah He can and will meet all the needs of His people Israel, before He meets the needs of Gentiles. This He will do on the immediate occasion; but that is a harbinger of what He will do at the end of the age. Some skeptical students of the Bible do not like this kind of miracle. Some try to explain that what really happened here was that people all shared their lunches with each other, and in time it was told as a miracle of the way the Lord inspired the multiplication of the food. The healing miracles the skeptics can accept a little easier, because they feel they can explain them by psychological means. However, multiplying food is different. It is the kind of thing that only can be explained supernaturally. It is a work of creation. God desires that the poor and the hungry be fed.

The primary application, then, is for Christians to have the same compassion that Jesus did. If we see the poor, the needy, the hungry, and are moved with compassion, then we must follow Jesus’ instructions: Give them something to eat. We may not have much, but we may have more than the needy. We may reason that they will only squander what we give them or that we should not give because it will only encourage them to remain poor and dependent, but that is not what the Bible tells us to be concerned about. If we become more like Christ we will be moved by compassion, and we will start to meet people’s needs, which may mean we will have to go to the Lord to ask for more to give them.

A secondary idea suggested by these things is that with the provision of food there has a spiritual message as well. The people would have had it in their thinking that man does not live by bread alone, or, that God provides things for people in order that they will listen to Him. We too have received the word from the Lord, and so must give it to the people. Any time God provides something for people it is a call for faith, a call for them to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that they need to trust in Him.

Therefore, the secondary application is to take the spiritual food that Christ gives us and give it to the spiritually needy people of the world. It may well be that in providing physical food for the hungry we will also have opportunity to tell them of the true food. For those who are spiritually needy, then the provision of life from Christ is always available.