Matthew 14:13-21 (Feeding the 5000)

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

How on earth did he do it! With only five loaves and two fish Jesus fed the five thousand. To this day people refer to the miracle every time they have lots of mouths to feed. “It’s like feeding the five thousand” they say. 

Today we have a good view of this miracle. Courtesy of many films about Jesus we can home in on a middle-eastern man magically multiplying bread and fish before our very eyes. On the actual day, however, our view would not have been so clear. We are told that there were five thousand men present. Therefore the total number of people gathered on that day would have been even greater when we include women and children. The Royal Albert Hall has a capacity of just over five thousand. Without the benefit of large screens we would not be able to make out what was happening on stage from the back of the Hall. As Jesus blessed the bread and fish many in the crowd would not have been aware of what was going on. Imagine being that close to such a miracle and missing the moment! How on earth did he do it! As we read the Bible account, some surprising details emerge.

Jesus was grieving the loss of John the Baptist. It was evening and everyone must have been tired. A big crowd was refusing to go home. The mood amongst the disciples could be described as heavy. They just wanted Jesus to end the proceedings and for the day to end. Nothing spectacular was needed. Just a word from Jesus. What happens next it described in more detail in John’s Gospel (John 6: 5-13). Jesus asks Philip how they might feed the crowd. Philip considers the very idea to be ridiculous. Andrew pipes up with what could be described as frustrated sarcasm as he points out their provisions, namely a boy’s five loaves and two fish. It would have been easy for Jesus to give up on them and to do something all on his own. But instead Matthew tells us that Jesus multiplies the food and involves the disciples in distributing it and collecting the leftovers.