Five Loaves, Two Fish: Matthew 14:13-21

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.

John the Baptist was dead. Beheaded by Herod at a birthday party, his head presented on a platter. Jesus' cousin, his forerunner, the voice that had baptized him—gone. Jesus sought solitude to grieve.

Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.

But the crowds would not let him be alone. They walked around the lake, tracking the boat, waiting at the shore when he landed. Their need outweighed his grief.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Compassion. His heart went out to them—the Greek suggests a gut-level response, visceral empathy. He set aside his own sorrow and ministered to their pain.

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."

The disciples saw a logistical problem. Thousands of people, miles from town, no food vendors, approaching dark. Send them away—let them solve their own hunger.

Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

You give them something to eat. The command was impossible. The disciples knew it was impossible.

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.

Five loaves—probably small barley loaves, a boy's lunch. Two fish—dried or pickled, small enough to carry. Enough for one person, maybe two.

"Bring them here to me," he said.

Bring what you have. It was laughably inadequate. But Jesus wanted it anyway.

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.

He blessed the food. Standard Jewish practice before a meal—thanksgiving to God who provides. But what happened next was not standard.

Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

The loaves kept breaking. The fish kept multiplying. Disciples distributed, returned for more, distributed again. The impossible mathematics of miracle.

They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

All ate. Satisfied—the word means stuffed, filled, content. And twelve baskets of leftovers—one for each disciple who had doubted there was enough.

The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Five thousand men. With women and children, perhaps fifteen or twenty thousand. All fed from a boy's lunch.

Jesus had done what only God could do. In the wilderness, God had fed Israel with manna. Now, in a remote place, Jesus fed thousands with bread that would not run out.

The crowds saw a miracle. The disciples saw something more: their master had the power of the God who fed Israel in the desert.

What do you have to bring? It is never enough. Bring it anyway. In Jesus' hands, inadequacy becomes abundance.