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Matthew 14:13-21 (Jesus feeds the five thousand)

INTRODUCTION: Our message series is called “Miracles and Controversy,” and today we come to one of Jesus’ most famous miracles of all – the feeding of the five thousand. In fact, this is the only one of Jesus’ miracles other than the resurrection that is recorded in all four gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14).

Skeptics have come up with all sorts of “excuses” to try and explain away this miracle. Some say that Jesus’ example in sharing the bread inspired others to share so that everyone was fed. Others say this was more of a symbolic meal, and everyone just took a bite of the bread rather than eating their full. There are even some who claim that Jesus had all the extra bread hidden in a cave behind him, and just made it look like he was feeding all those people from a few loaves of bread.

Of course, that is not how the Bible describes it, and unless we are going to accuse Jesus or the gospel writers with deception, we should accept Matthew’s presentation here as Jesus performing a miracle over nature, miraculously providing enough food for the multitude from the few loaves and fishes at his disposal. If God created the universe out of nothing, then he certainly would have no problem creating more bread out of already existing bread. (Read Matthew 14:15-18 and pray.)

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One of the most important principles you will learn in the Christian life is to give things over to God. Do you have a problem in your life? Give it to God. Do you have an opportunity? Give it to God. Are you concerned about the future? Give it to God. Are you distressed about the past? Give it to God. Are there people in your life whom you love and care for? Give them to God in prayer. Has God blessed you with something? Commit it to God and his glory. Everything you have comes from God. And when you try to hold on to those things for your own purposes, you never discover the full potential you have when you give it over to God instead.

This morning I would like us to look at this principle in light of the miracle Jesus performed with the loaves and the fishes. I believe there is so much more that God could do with each of our lives if we would only learn this simple principle of giving it to God.

I. God has compassion on you (13-14)

The first thing I want us to see from this passage is God’s compassion. God has compassion on you. If you are going to give things over to God, you must first learn to trust God, and the best way to trust God is to see his compassion. God has compassion on you, as clearly seen through the actions of Jesus in this passage.

   A. Jesus needed time to himself (13)

First of all, we see that Jesus needed some time to himself. Look at verse 13 with me:

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. (Matthew 14:13)

Jesus had been busy preaching and teaching the people. And when he hears about Herod and the rumors being spread about him, he gets in a boat and withdraws to a solitary place.

We all need quiet time to ourselves. I remember when Rosi and I were young parents, and our three boys were especially active and loud. One time I grabbed Rosi’s arm and said, “Follow me!” We snuck out to the backyard and around the corner, and we just sat there and rested our backs against the side of the house. It felt so good. It was peaceful. It was quiet. We whispered. We laughed. We wondered how long it would take before the boys found us. Five minutes! That’s all it took before they realized we were missing and came looking for us. But what a nice five minutes it was.

Well, that’s similar to what happens here. Jesus withdraws by boat to get some quiet time away from the crowds, and the crowds just follow him around the lake on foot. Jesus doesn’t even get five minutes! When he gets to shore, the crowd is right there waiting for him. So, what does he do?

   B. Jesus had compassion on the people (14)
      – Psalm 23; Mark 6:34

He has compassion on the people. Look at verse 14:

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14)

So much for some quiet time and rest. I am guessing Jesus and his disciples got their much-needed rest later. But for now, when Jesus lands and sees the crowds, he sets aside his own plans, and he ministers to the needs of the people instead. Why? Matthew tells us why. Because he had compassion on them.

If you are not a Christian this morning, do you know how God looks at you? Perhaps you think God is just angry with you, or that God desires to punish you, or maybe you think God doesn’t even notice you at all. But the truth is God has compassion on you. The parallel passage in the gospel of Mark says this: “He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” (Mark 6:34) God has compassion on you. He sees you as a sheep in need of a shepherd, and he longs to be that shepherd for you.

There are a lot of parallels between the feeding of the five thousand here in Matthew 14 and Psalm 23 in the Old Testament – you know, the Psalm that begins, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1) In Psalm 23 David describes the Lord as his shepherd who guides him, who leads him to rest, who lays him down in green pastures and provides for all his needs. And that’s exactly what Jesus does for the people here in Matthew 14. He has compassion on them. He guides them, he teaches them, he sits them down in the green grass and he provides for their needs.

Are you like a sheep without a shepherd? Know that God has compassion on you and offers to be your shepherd and guide in life. That’s the first thing we learn from our passage this morning. God has compassion on you. He loves you. Which means you can trust him with everything you have.

II. When God asks you to do something, you can do it! (15-18)

The second thing we learn from our passage is this: when God asks you to do something, you can do it! When God calls, he enables. You may not be able to do it in your own strength, but with God’s help you can. When God asks you, you can do it. He wouldn’t ask you if you couldn’t. There are a couple things under this point I want you to note.

   A. Be aware of people’s needs (15)

First of all, you need to be aware of people’s needs. God’s two big commands in the Bible are “Love God and love people,” so when God asks you to do something, it will most likely have something to do with people’s needs. Look at verse 15 with me now:

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” (Matthew 14:15)

Jesus had been teaching and healing the people for some time, and by now it was late in the day. They were in a far away place, and the disciples realized these people needed to eat. The disciples didn’t understand God’s plan in all this yet, but at least they recognized the need.

This is where mission and ministry begin. You need to be aware of people’s needs around you and then look for ways to meet those needs. So, be aware! Get to know the people God has placed in your life, whether at school or at work or in your neighborhood or in the community at large. Ask God to open your eyes to people’s needs, and then begin looking for ways to meet those needs. Be aware of people’s needs.

   B. Focus on the task, not the obstacles (16-17)

And then, secondly, focus on the task, not the obstacles. Look at verses 16-17:

Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. (Matthew 14:16-17)

The disciples recognized the need. They asked Jesus about it, and Jesus told them, “You take care of it. You give them something to eat.” But instead of saying, “Okay, show us how,” the disciples immediately start raising objections. “We can’t feed them! All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish! We can’t possibly feed so many with so little.” It was an impossible task, and they were focused on the obstacles instead of obedience.

Isn’t it easy for us to do that as well? God calls us to do something big, like reach our community for Christ, and we get all hung up because we are looking at the obstacles instead of the task. Remember, when God asks you to do something, you can do it! Otherwise, he would not have asked you.

   C. Bring what you have to Jesus (18)

So, what do you do when God asks you to do something that is clearly beyond your means? Bring what you have to Jesus. The disciples told Jesus “We only have five loaves of bread and two fish.” What did Jesus say in response? Look at verse 18:

“Bring them here to me,” he said. (Matthew 14:18)

If you don’t have all the necessary resources, then bring whatever resources you do have to Jesus. The disciples were focused on what they didn’t have. What they didn’t have was enough bread to feed the crowd. Jesus directed their attention instead to what they did have: five loaves, and two fish.

Now that doesn’t sound like a whole lot, because it isn’t. But that’s okay. When God asks you to do something, you can do it! So, be aware of people’s needs. Focus on the task, not the obstacles. Bring what you have to Jesus.

III. You can do anything with God (19-21)

Because you know what? You can do anything with God! That’s our third point this morning. You can do anything with God. Anything! God has no limits. God is not confined by your lack of resources. When God asks you to do something, you can do it, because you can do anything with God.

Now, please don’t misunderstand me here. I am not saying you can do anything you want with God. I am saying you can do anything God wants with God. You can do anything God asks you to do. So, what do you do when God asks you to do something, but you don’t have the resources to do it?

   A. Commit it to God (19)

First of all, you commit it to God. Look at verse 19:

And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. (Matthew 14:19)

The disciples gave what they had to Jesus. Jesus directed the people to sit down on the grass. He took the loaves and the fishes, he thanked God for the resources at hand, and he committed it all to God in prayer. We need to do the same. We need to take whatever God has already given us, and commit it to him, trusting him to use it for his purposes.

   B. Let God do his work (20-21)
      – 1 Kings 17:7-16; 2 Kings 4:42-44; John 6:30-33

And then we need to let God do his work. Look at verses 20-21:

They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:20-21)

And here in just a few short verses, we finally get to the miracle itself. Everything else was just a prelude to this. Notice that the miracle is described in just a few sparse words. We are not told how Jesus did what he did or even when the bread began to multiply. Did the people see the bread multiplying? Did Jesus just keep breaking pieces off of loaves that never got any smaller? We’re not told.

What we are told is that everyone ate their fill. That word “satisfied” there in verse 42 (“they all ate and were satisfied”) means “filled up.” It is the word you use to describe yourself after Thanksgiving dinner – filled up, stuffed, satisfied. Everyone ate until they were full, and even then, there were still twelve baskets left over. They had more food at the end than they had at the beginning!

Matthew tells us that the number of those who ate were five thousand men, plus the additional women and children who were there. So even though we call this miracle the feeding of the five thousand, there were clearly many more people there than that. Who knows, Jesus may have fed as many as fifteen to twenty thousand people that day.

This is an amazing miracle, especially when you compare it to other miracles of feeding in the Bible. During a time of famine in the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah fed himself, a widow and her son – all from a single jar of flour and a single jug of oil that didn’t run out until the famine was over. (1 Kings 17:7-16) That was a neat miracle. Later on, a different prophet named Elisha fed one hundred men from twenty loaves of bread, and they all ate and had some left over. (2 Kings 4:42-44) That was a neat miracle, too.

But Jesus’ miracle outshines them all. Jesus fed a crowd of five thousand men plus women and children from just five loaves of bread and two fish. The gospel of John compares it to God feeding the people of Israel manna in the wilderness, and Jesus used this miracle to present himself as the bread of life that comes down from heaven. (John 6:30-33)

What do you do when God asks you to do something you can’t do? Give it to God, and then let God do his work. Think about David in the Old Testament. David had a slingshot and five small stones when he went up against Goliath. It wasn’t enough on his own. But with God’s help, Goliath went down. You can do anything with God.

CONCLUSION: So, in closing, what is God asking you to do these days? Has God laid a certain ministry idea upon your heart? Is he calling you to a closer walk with him? Is he calling you to serve or get involved in the church? What needs do you see around you that need to be filled? How might God be asking you to fill those needs?

Maybe you don’t have the necessary resources to do what God is asking you to do. No matter. When God asks you to do something, you can do it! Focus on the task, not the obstacles, and then bring whatever resources you do have to Jesus. You can do anything with God! Give it to God, and then let God do his work.

© Ray Fowler

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By Ray Fowler. © Ray Fowler. Website: https://www.rayfowler.org

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