JESUS FEEDS THE FIVE THOUSAND MEN

PROCLAMATION

“When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him … Andrew … saith unto Him, ‘There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes; but what are they among so many?’  And Jesus said, ‘Make the men sit down.’ … in number about five thousand … And Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as the would.  When they were filled … His disciples … gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves …”  John 6:5-13 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words are from the gospel, the good news regarding Jesus, The Christ, according to the Apostle John and were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  In this chapter, John records the feeding of the crowd of five thousand men. (John 6:1-13, this is also recorded in Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:32-44, and Luke 9:10-17)  This is the fourth public miracle that was performed by Jesus, The Christ.  Jesus used a poor boy’s lunch, He blessed it, gave it to His disciples who distributed it among the crowd, and they fed five thousand men in addition to the accompanying women and children. (Matthew 14:21)  When all of them had eaten what they wanted, the disciples gathered up the left-over food and collected twelve baskets full. (John 6:13)  That was more than they had when they began.  They collected that which was left over so that nothing given from God would be wasted. (John 6:12)  Jesus then went up onto a mountain to be alone, and His disciples went down to the sea, got into a ship, and sailed out towards Capernaum. (John 6:14-17)  Later He walked on the sea to join them. (John 6:18-19)

 

APPLICATION

The Lord God has the power to provide all that is needed.  In the beginning He made something out of nothing. (Genesis 1:1-31 and John 1:1-4)  A little in the hands of Jesus, The Christ, is more that a lot in the hands of others.  Here Jesus multiplied the contents of a boy’s lunch and fed a crowd of more than five thousand.  He fed this group physically, then later declared that He was the bread of life (John 6:35, 6:41, 6:48, 6:51, and 6:58) in order to feed them spiritually.  The Lord God has all power.  After He feed the five thousand, He walked on the water across the Sea of Tiberias in the midst of a storm, and He also allowed the apostle Peter to walk on the water. (Matthew 14:26-32)  Just like Peter, we will do fine as long as we keep our focus on Him.  We will only start to sink, as Peter did, when we focus on our situations and not on Him.  He is our provider and our protector.  He is truly all that we need.