My Corner Online

 

Reading through the Gospels #101

JESUS FEEDS FIVE THOUSAND

Mark 6:30-44; Matthew 14:13-21; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15

In all four gospels

1. Mark, Matthew, Luke

After the apostles went out and about telling people to repent and healing people, they returned to Jesus and gave him a report. The Book of Luke adds that they withdrew apart to Bethsaida. 

Jesus told them to rest for a while in a desolate place. I love that!

Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day be keeping it holy. Mark 6:30-31 We need physical rest as well as spiritual rest. "Resting in the Word" is different than "resting." We need rest from the impossible task of seeking security, righteousness and salvation through our efforts, work, and accomplishments. (Catechism question 51) This is such a good reminder. What am I laboring for?

We all need time away from our work to rest and the best way to do that is in a desolate place, that is, a place away from other people and distractions. As an introvert, I require time alone to recharge my social energy, even if it is quiet time in my own home to sit and thing. This "time to rest" is not only good for the physical body, but also the mental body. There is a time to work and there is a time to rest. Of course, the work done here was the work of telling people about Jesus and not our daily vocations.

The Bible mentions that there were so many people coming and going that they did not even have leisure time to eat and everyone has to eat! That is taking care of the physical self. I am imagining the crowds that were always around Jesus now as people wanted to see Him for themselves.

To get away from the crowds, the apostles and Jesus went out on a boat "to a desolate  place." When I first read the Scripture, I thought the boat itself was the desolate place out in the water where the people on foot could not reach them, but the people on foot still followed them along the shoreline. However, to make the Scripture fit with John's version, it would seem they were in a boat on their way to a desolate place on land (i.e. the mountainside in the Book of John). Mark 6:32 "And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves." read, to me, as if they went and were there in the desolate place by themselves.

The crowds even anticipated where they were floating/going to, and came from all of the towns, and ran ahead of them. They could not even sneak away to a desolate place. I am thinking I would have been hunkered down below the edges of the boat trying to get away from the view of the people. It sounds to me like today's paparazzi photographers always stalking out celebrities to catch the next best news to share. With all the people coming from the towns, it sounds to me like the news was spreading quickly.

Jesus went ashore and saw the crowd (and it does not say that we walked up a mountain to the crowd as His location is in the Book of John, but I suppose He could have) and had compassion on them. I love the Bible verses that remind me that Jesus has compassion on people, even me. Jesus feels what I feel. Jesus was feeling what it was like to be these people in the crowd who were like sheep with no shepherd. The people in the crowd were lost and had no one to follow and no one to protect them from harm. What harm? The harm of not being saved from one's own sin. The Book of Matthew adds that he also healed the sick.

Jesus began to teach the crowd many things. I am imagining him stuck on the water's edge with the crowds pushing in on him from the land (although he could be on the mountain as in the Book of John).

It was getting late and the disciples encouraged Jesus to send the crowds home to their towns to eat. I find it interesting that verse 30 calls them "apostles" and verse 35 calls them "disciples."

A desolate place is not only away from people, but away from resources such as food and shelter and places to buy things. The disciples must have been confused when Jesus answered them saying that the disciples should give the crowd something to eat, especially with nothing to give them nearby and nothing nearby to buy, and not enough money to buy what was necessary for the crowds to eat. The disciples must have had a tone of disbelief in their voices when they asked if they should go (all the way into the towns) and spend 200 denarii to buy the crowd bread to eat. "Really? We'll do it if you really want us to," must have been going through their heads.

Jesus answered the question with a question, asking the disciples how many loaves the crowd had, and to go see in the crowd of people. They returned to Jesus with Five loaves and two fish.

Then Jesus told the people to gather together into groups of hundreds and fifties and sit down in the grass. Jesus looked up to the heavens, gave a blessing, and then broke the loaves of bread and fish.  He did not just break them in two, but rather he broke them into enough pieces to fill the bellies of the entire crowd until they were full.  Wow! I can only imagine what that looked like to have the bread and the fish keep multiplying.  To witness that miracle would have wow'd the eye for sure!

The crowd numbered 5,000 men, besides women and children (Book of Matthew clarifies the count did not include women and children). I love that whole families came to see and hear and be healed by Jesus.

The disciples took up 12 baskets of bread and fish that were leftover (Books of Matthew and Luke add that it was left over). They were not only satisfied, but they had more than enough.

It seems this crowd was already full of believers, but if any were not a believer, surely they were believers in Jesus after witnessing this miracle and hearing Jesus teach.

2. John

The Book of John has some differences, although mostly similarities, and I wonder if it is the same event or a separate event. Maybe all four are one in the same and maybe they are separate, but for me I am not going to try to force Scripture to go together just to make it fit. I am content not knowing if they are the same or not. I can say "I do not know" and be okay with that. So here summarizes John's version:

The Book of John places Jesus and the disciples on a mountain on the other side of the Sea of Galilee (Tiberias). (We could add to it, if we wanted to add to the Bible, that they go there by boat.) The time of year was for the Passover feast when the Jews would have been gathering. It reads to me that the crowd gathered in front of Jesus while he was on the mountain (a desolate place), not while he was in the boat. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the crowd had already gathered before Jesus went ashore, but here the crowd gathers after they are already sitting in the desolate mountainside.

Jesus asks Philip where they are to buy bread, and that Jesus said this to test Philip as Jesus already knows what He will be doing.
Sixth Petition of the Lord's Prayer: Lead us not into temptation. John 6:5-6 "Testing" is not a part of this petition. God does not tempt us to sin. Temptation is from the devil or my sinful self or the world. (Lord, provide us a way out of temptation and help me so that I do not sin. We are all tempted to sin, but I pray we do not give in to temptation. Without You, O God, it is impossible to overcome temptation.) God tempts man when he tests, or tries, the faith of His children for the purpose of purifying and strengthening them.

Philip answers Jesus that 200 Denarii worth of bread would not be enough for everyone to even get a little piece. Andrew (Simon Peter's brother) spoke up that there was one boy with five barley loaves and two fish, which was not enough for so many people. Jesus asked the 5000 in number to sit down in the grass. Jesus gave thanks and then distributed the loaves to those who were seated. Jesus did not ask God for permission, but He did take time to thank God the Creator.

Then he distributed the fish as much as the people wanted. When the people were full, Jesus asked the disciples to gather up the leftovers and they did so filling 12 baskets.

Fourth Petition of the Lord's Prayer: Give us this day our daily bread. John 6:12 Included in this petition is that I find contentment with what I have received. Where do I find contentment? With what I have received. What do I have? Look around, sit, and consider. I ask for just enough and not too much that I fail to recognize from whom the goodness comes.

When the people witnessed this miracle, they proclaimed Jesus to be "the Prophet who is to come into the world." Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make Him king, so he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. The crowd was familiar with the Old Testament scrolls that Moses fed the Israelites in the wilderness and "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen," Deuteronomy 18.15.

----

I ask myself, "Why did Jesus feed 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish?" My first inclination is to not read anything into the story that is not there. The Bible tells us Jesus had compassion on the people. They were hungry. He fed them. Is that not enough of a reason "why?"

I read such things as Jesus was symbolizing to the people that He is the Bread of Life, which He is (coming up soon in John 6). Is this really a foreshadowing of Mark 14:22 (Matthew 26:26) in the Passover meal during the Last Supper which Jesus blessed, broke, and gave the bread? Maybe. That sure jumped out at me, but it is okay to say "I do not know."

It is noted that Jesus in Mark 6:26 told the disciples to give His people something to eat. Is this Jesus telling me that as a disciple I should take care of the poor who have nothing to eat? It tells us that elsewhere in the Bible, so Scripture would be verifying Scripture. It might mean that for me, but it could just mean that Jesus told His disciples that day what to do. Nothing more than what it says.

Also, we do read in John that Jesus's purpose was to test His disciples, so this miracle may have been only to teach them and nothing more. Sometimes we are blessed by Jesus because of other people and sometimes bad things happen to us because of other people.

I have read people try to put meaning into the fact that the disciples were fisherman and Jesus fed them fish. So what? Fish had to have been a common staple of food being readily available next to the sea, right? Let's not try to put things into Scripture that is not really there. I see more meaning in the fact that Jesus is "all knowing" in that He perceived they were coming with force to make Him king, and that His timing was not now as His timing is perfect, than in these over-thought up interpretations.

Here's another one in that the people sitting in the grass correlates with God making us to lie down in green pastures in Psalm 23 as a table is prepared, and then the cup runneth over. Maybe. Or maybe overthinking. Psalm 78:19 "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?"

 

Here's my conclusion to my pondering:

 

What does this story say about God?
God provides

Jesus has compassion

Jesus loves me

Jesus takes care of basic needs

Jesus will give more than what is needed

Jesus is all-powerful and can do miracles

Jesus teaches us

Jesus prepares our hearts to believe in Him through miracles

Miracles always start with a problem, a mess

Jesus is in control

Jesus can do more than I can ever imagine Him to do

Jesus loves to give to His people

Jesus loves ALL people

Jesus tests us to see if we trust Him

 

What am I to do?

Trust Jesus.

Remember to rest on the sabbath day.

Pray to God for a way out of temptation.

Ask God for contentment and just enough for the day to remember that He provides.

****

Mark 8:1-10, Matthew 15:32-39 are a separate event of Jesus feeding 4,000. It seems Jesus repeated the same miracle. Why do some question that he would repeat a miracle? Every time Jesus healed someone, a miracle was repeated.

-------

Mark 6:31 is also on this page.

A "SOAP" for today (I do not know when I wrote this.)

Scripture: Mark 6:31 And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
Observation: Come away. Desolate place. Rest. A while. Many coming and going. No leisure.
Application: Jesus came to earth as a man and because He lived in the human flesh, He shows me firsthand how to handle things and has compassion on me. The world is always coming and going. We put this on ourselves in self-imposed to-do's, but Jesus was doing God's work. We are often so busy we do not even have time to eat. Jesus said to his disciples, "come away" which shouts out to me that Jesus wants me to "come away with Him." We often focus on the "desolate place" and "rest" in this verse and forget that the first words put us with Jesus. Real rest is with Jesus and time in quiet places with Him.
Prayer: Lord, please forgive me for my self-imposed busyness and my coming and going that forgets Your work and purpose in this world. Thank You SO much for inviting me to "come away" with You! I praise You for being that one and only quiet place away from the world that can give me that real rest that can only be know through You. Thank you for allowing me to sit in quiet places, such as my bedroom or my beautiful yard or Your creation at a park and talk with You. Help me to remember to tap into that invitation to "come away" with You more often. Amen.