Jesus—His Life and Message: Miracles (Part 8)

Nature Miracles (Part 2)

The miracle of feeding the five thousand is the only miracle performed by Jesus that is recorded in all four Gospels.¹ While the placement within each Gospel differs, the main facts of the account are the same. All four accounts agree that five thousand people were present, there were five loaves and two fishes, twelve baskets of leftover food were gathered, Jesus gave a blessing, and He commanded His disciples to have the people sit down. (In addition, two Gospels give an account of another miracle in which Jesus fed four thousand people.² There are a number of differences between the feeding of the five thousand and that of the four thousand, which indicate that they were separate events, especially since the Gospels of Matthew and Mark include both accounts.)

I’ll use the account in Mark, which is the longest of the four, and will also pull in aspects from the three other Gospels.

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 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. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.³

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus had sent His disciples two by two into surrounding areas, after giving them the authority to cast out unclean spirits and heal the sick.⁴ Upon returning, the six teams told Jesus about the miracles they’d performed and what they’d taught. Undoubtedly, the disciples were exhausted after being away for a period of time ministering to others, and Jesus invited them to go with Him to someplace secluded for some “downtime.” They set out in a boat together toward what is described in various translations as a desert place, remote place, desolate place, lonely place, secluded place, quiet place, or deserted place. It wasn’t necessarily far away, but likely some place in the countryside, some distance from any towns full of people.

Their getaway and time off to recuperate was prevented by the fact that people were able to see the boat from the shoreline, making it possible for an ever-increasing crowd to follow them along the coast on foot—so that when the boat arrived, a huge crowd was waiting for them. Disembarking from the boat, Jesus saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. This wording reflects expressions in the Old Testament of the need for a shepherd to lead God’s people:

I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd.⁵

They were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.⁶

Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.⁷

I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.⁸

Moved by compassion, Jesus began to teach them many things.⁹ In Luke’s Gospel we’re told that Jesus welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing,¹⁰ while Matthew says Jesus healed their sick.¹¹ In the late afternoon, His disciples recognized that neither Jesus nor the crowd seemed to be bringing things to an end, so they pragmatically suggested that He send the crowds away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.¹² This wasn’t so practical, however, as whatever villages may have been nearby wouldn’t have been capable of feeding that many people.

In the three synoptic Gospels, Jesus responded to the disciples’ suggestion with You give them something to eat. The Greek form is an imperative; He’s instructing them to do it. The idea seems to be that since the disciples had just returned from healing the sick and casting out demons, as extensions of Jesus’ ministry, they should in this case also exercise this authority by providing food by some means.¹³ But they responded by asking, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” ¹⁴ Two hundred denarii would have amounted to eight months’ salary for a working man. The question was probably rhetorical, since most likely they didn’t have this amount of money. In John’s Gospel, Jesus asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.¹⁵ Jesus specifically asked how much food they had and was told that they had five loaves of bread and two fish.

At this point, Jesus instructed His disciples to have the people sit down. The Greek word used here for sit can also be translated as to recline. Reclining was the position people took when eating at a banquet meal. All of the Gospel commentators whose work I have read explain that Jesus’ instructions to recline on the grass echoed the concept that is referred to as “the Messianic banquet,” mentioned in both Matthew and Luke:

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.¹⁶

People will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.¹⁷

The people were instructed to sit down in groups (of fifty and/or a hundred, probably meaning in groups of between 50 and 100). There’s no explanation given as to why they were to do so, but it makes sense that the distribution of the food would be easier if people were grouped together. Having them separated in such groups also enabled an estimate of the size of the crowd.

The Gospel of John says that these events happened near the Jewish feast of Passover, which is held in the spring. Matthew and Mark mention the people being told to sit on the green grass, which also suggests the event happened in springtime, since green grass cannot be found in the countryside in that part of the world during the rest of the year.¹⁸

Once the people were seated, taking the five loaves and the two fish [Jesus] looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.¹⁹ After Jesus said a blessing, or as stated in John, when he had given thanks,²⁰ the food was distributed. Jesus did this to show His gratitude to God as well as His dependence upon Him. A standard Jewish blessing for food would be something like: “Blessed are Thou who brings forth bread from the earth.”

The disciples, through distributing the bread and the fish, were participating in a way in Jesus’ miracle. In a sense, they were fulfilling the command Jesus gave them earlier in the story, “You give them something to eat.”

In the three Synoptic Gospels, we’re told that they all ate and were satisfied. The Gospel of John says that the people had as much as they wanted. All those present were able to eat their fill, and there was no shortage whatsoever. We’re told that not only was each person satisfied, but twelve baskets of food were gathered as leftovers. The fact that all ate until they were full and there was abundant food left at the end shows the magnificence of the miracle. Author Joel Marcus commented:

It is difficult for modern-day readers who live comfortably … and have never gone hungry to imagine the impact these statements may have had on some of their first hearers, who may have known hunger frequently; it is not for nothing that one of the most frequent biblical images of the bliss of the age to come is a banquet, in which the participants will be able to eat as much as they wish.²¹

Those who were fed may have been familiar with a similar Old Testament miracle.

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, “Give to the men, that they may eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” So he repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.²²

Like in the Old Testament miracle, when Jesus fed the five thousand, there was both food enough and to spare. The abundant nature of this miracle is seen in there being so much left over, as well as in the number of people who were fed. Each Gospel account says there were five thousand men, and Matthew makes the point that besides the five thousand men, there were women and children as well:

Those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.²³

That would have raised the number of people present significantly.

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark conclude the description of this miracle by pointing out that once the extra food was gathered up, Jesus quickly sent His disciples away by boat.

Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.²⁴ 

In John we read more details:

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.²⁵

Perhaps the reason Jesus quickly sent His disciples off in a boat was that He understood that there were political stirrings in the crowd as a result of this miracle of abundance. According to John, the crowd saw in Jesus the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18:

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.²⁶

Leon Morris explains:

There were fierce nationalistic longings amongst the Jews of that period, and doubtless many of those who saw the miracle felt that here was a divinely accredited leader, who was just the one to lead them against the Romans. So they set themselves to make him king.²⁷

Of course, as seen in Matthew chapter four, Jesus had already rejected the concept of being an earthly king:

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”²⁸

This miracle of feeding the five thousand is similar to some miracles in the Old Testament—times when God used something at hand and transformed it. When Moses said he needed a sign to show that God had spoken to him, God caused Moses’ rod to turn into a snake.²⁹ When a widow was in financial trouble and faced the prospect of her sons becoming slaves to pay her debts, the prophet Elisha asked her what she had of any value. She had nothing except a jar of oil. He told her to borrow as many jars as she could, and to pour the oil she had into the borrowed jars. The oil multiplied and all the jars were filled, and she was able to sell the oil to pay off her debts.³⁰ In the miracle we just read about, Jesus asked what was available and then multiplied the few loaves and fish to feed a huge crowd.

While Jesus multiplied the food, He also directed that any leftover food be collected. Jesus trusted His Father to supply, but He also didn’t squander this abundance. We are to follow His example on both counts—trusting God to supply our needs, while not neglecting what He has already provided. We’re expected to be good stewards of all that God has supplied.

Jesus’ power over nature, demonstrated through His multiplying the bread and fish and the other miracles He performed, showed that He came from God and that His Father was working through Him.

The works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.³¹

If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.³²

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.³³

(To be continued in Nature Miracles Part Three)

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Note

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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