JESUS FEEDS FIVE THOUSAND MEN

PROCLAMATION

“Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.  And they did eat, and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.”  Luke 9:16-17 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words are from the gospel, the good news regarding Jesus, The Christ, according to Luke, the physician.  After He raised Jairus’ dead daughter, Jesus called His disciples together, gave them the power to cure diseases and to drive out demons, and sent them to the surrounding villages to heal the sick and to proclaim the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:1-6)  After the disciples returned, He took them with Him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowd followed them.  Jesus spoke to the crowd about the kingdom of God then He told His disciples to feed them.  Jesus took a poor boy’s lunch, blessed it, and fed five thousand men, plus their wives and children, two small fish and five barley loaves of bread, and they had more food leftover than when they started. (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-42; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6:5-13)  He multiplied it and increased it, and He made a lot out of a little.  Later He asked His disciples who do the people say that He was.  After they answered, He asked them who do they say that He is.

 

APPLICATION

Jesus, The Christ, performed a number of miracles.  The miracles were not done to impress the people.  They were always done to help the people, and to prove that He was The Son of God as He had said.  Christ is still performing miracles today.  However, people do not give Him the credit for them because He cannot be seen.  As we look back over our lives, we can see the hand of God performing miracles, beginning with the fact that we were wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:13-15)  He has protected us from dangers seen and unseen.  He has made a way for us in situations when there seemed to be no way out.  The fact that we are alive today is a miracle, given all that is going on around us in the world today.  Christ may not have fed us today, but He has performed many miracles for each of us.  He gave us the increase.