Matthew 14:13-21
A. INTRODUCTION
1. Us
As time goes by, we are inevitably faced with a number of problems, hurdles, and other issues that we need to resolve. Sometimes the answers are simple—and the problems quickly go away—but at other times the solutions are far more complex.
And, after a while, some of those problems tend to repeat themselves, and they can fall into a pattern. As a consequence, the solutions become easier because we’ve been down that road before. Experience can be a wonderful thing. And it can certainly get us to the point, not where all problems cease but, where we can almost resolve certain problems before they occur. And that’s great.
Having said that, however, every now and again, things can happen that can dramatically challenge our whole way of thinking. Where we suddenly are confronted with the realisation that our solutions—even the tried-and-true ones—are really not solutions at all. Every now and again our whole world—our whole way of thinking—can suddenly be turned upside down. And we are then challenged to think through the problems, hurdles, and other issues from a whole different perspective.
2. The Disciples
And something like that is described in this passage from Matthew’s Gospel. Because even though it’s the story of the feeding of the five thousand—and the great miracle that it was—it is also a story of a group of people who had been used to resolving issues on what they would have considered to have been a sensible and logical way. But who suddenly had their whole frame of reference turned upside down.
B. THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND
1. The Compassion of Jesus (Matthew 14:13-14)
And the gospel story begins with some bad news. Herod Antipas, who had executed John the Baptist, had come to the opinion that Jesus was John risen from the dead (Matthew 14:2). As a consequence, when Jesus heard this, he realised that his life was in danger, and, as a result, he decided that he needed to get away for a while. So, he (with his disciples) withdrew in a boat to a lonely place.
However, if Jesus thought that he would be left alone with his disciples, he was very much mistaken. News travelled quickly in those parts. And as soon as Jesus stepped ashore at his destination—in what would normally have been a deserted place—it wasn’t solitude that he got but a large crowd instead. And among the crowd were a lot of people in need.
And yet, despite the situation, and despite the continuing risk to his own life, Jesus didn’t hurry away. Instead, filled with compassion, he spent much time with the crowd. And not least of all, he healed many who were sick.
2. The Compassion of The Disciples (Matthew 14:15)
Now, the story up to this point is focussed very much on Jesus. Initially the threat to his life, but subsequently, and more importantly, the compassion he had for the crowd. But now the disciples enter into the equation.
Because it was late in the afternoon, and neither Jesus nor the crowd were bringing things to an end. Jesus, presumably, was still healing the sick that were being brought to him. So, the disciples decided that they need to take the initiative. They thought it would be prudent to bring the proceedings to an end. So, they pointed out the time and the location to Jesus, and they told him to send the crowd away so that the crowd could go into the surrounding villages and get some food. Their motives were good—they knew the crowd would be hungry and they were probably hungry themselves—and on the surface it all seems quite innocent.
Except for the fact that firstly, from the spiritual heights of Jesus’s ministry, the disciples had brought the whole situation crashing back to an earthly reality. It’s as though the expression of Jesus’s compassion—the miracles—had gone totally over their heads. They could only see a solution to the problem of the crowd’s hunger in human terms; they couldn’t see things in the heavenly terms that Jesus had been expressing.
But, secondly, even though we don’t know where this ‘deserted place’ was, it is very doubtful, that with a crowd that size, that the surrounding villages would have had sufficient supplies to meet their needs anyway. So, in a sense it probably wasn’t a real solution at all.
3. Jesus’ Request for an Alternative Solution (Matthew 14:16)
From Jesus’s perspective, therefore, the motivation of the disciples may have been good but they had learnt nothing, even after all the time that they had spent with him.
The disciples may have pinpointed a practical down to earth issue—and full marks to them for that—but regarding the solution, as far as Jesus was concerned, they had got the completely wrong end of the stick. But then, if only they had been able to stand back from the situation they were in and realise what had been going on. Then the solution the disciples offered, may have been completely different. Which is why Jesus’s response to the disciples was to ask them to think again.
Jesus acknowledged the problem of the hungry people, but he expressed dissatisfaction with their solution of sending the people away. And he put the onus back on the disciples to come up with a different solution.
Now Jesus gave no hint about what that solution should be. He only indicated that there was an alternative and it did not involve sending the people away. But the responsibility to finding that solution . . . Well, he put it back fairly and squarely back on the shoulders of the disciples themselves. After all, they’d been with him a long time now, and they should have been able to work it out for themselves.
4. Request Denied (Matthew 14:17)
But, as the story goes, the disciples were having none of it. They just couldn’t see that there was any alternative. Despite the time that they’d spent with Jesus, they just couldn’t see beyond their normal way of thinking. As a consequence, they pointed to the slenderness of their resources, and they told Jesus that there was no way that they could feed the crowd. Indeed, with only five loaves and two fish—resources sufficient to feed one person only—they tried to neatly handball the problem back into Jesus’s court. In other words, they still didn’t get it, and they still argued their case based on their normal way of thinking.
5. Jesus’s Demonstration of Faith (Matthew 14:18-19)
And so finally Jesus—no doubt despairing at the limited vision of his disciples—ended up showing the solution to the problem. He told them to bring the limited resources to him. He then looked up to heaven, gave thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to the disciples to distribute.
6. The End Result (Matthew 14:20-21)
And this is where the story comes full circle. Because it started with Jesus showing the way: how he had compassion on the crowd and started to look after their needs, including the miracles to heal the sick And the story ends the same way: showing compassion on the crowd and looking after their needs, but this time through the miracle of the feeding of five thousand people.
Because, of course, the end result was that with those five loaves and two fish the crowd’s hunger was satisfied. They had had a full and satisfying meal—not just a token affair—and there were twelve baskets of food left over to prove it.
7. Comment
Now, unfortunately, the story doesn’t tell us then what the subsequent reaction of the disciples was. As a consequence, I wonder what they thought later as they considered what they had said.
Because all they had seen was a group people who were hungry. And their solution to the problem was to send them off so they could get something to eat. A solution, on the surface at least, which seemed quite sensible and perfectly logical. And yet Jesus challenged them, that from a Christian perspective, that wasn’t the right answer and they needed to think through the whole issue all over again.
C. APPLICATION
And that means, of course, that we can smile at the lack of faith of the disciples—at their two-dimensional answer to a three-dimensional problem—but, as modern-day disciples, if we were honest with ourselves, wouldn’t we have the tendency to think that way too?
As a consequence, I think there are quite a few lessons that we can learn from this story. Challenges to our own way of thinking. And there are five things of which I’d like to take particular note:
1. Looking at The World through God’s Eyes
Because, firstly, the disciples, although moved (correctly) by compassion, were only able to see the world through their own eyes. Their solution was two-dimensional, it was worldly, and they were unable to think any other way.
The lesson however that Jesus tried to teach—not only by example but by pressing the disciples to think of an alternative solution—was to get them to think, not just in worldly terms, but in spiritual terms too. To start looking at solutions to problems from a different perspective. To look at them through God’s eyes—through the way that God sees things. To think in terms of making the impossible possible, and where faith in God plays a major role.
So, similarly for us, then, the lesson is the same. For sure it’s all very well to think in worldly terms—in the bricks and mortar of this world, in the things that we can touch and see. After all, that’s the way we’ve been brought up, and that’s the way that most people operate in the world today. But part of our growth in the Christian faith, and part of the solution to everyday issues, for us, is to look at the world through God’s eyes. As a consequence, we should not limit God by the things that we know and by our reliance on the material things around us.
2. Taking on our Responsibilities
Secondly, quite clearly, Jesus tried to teach the disciples a lesson in responsibility. They needed to accept the responsibility that was theirs by nature of them being followers.
They may have rightly shown compassion for the crowd, but, as far as Jesus was concerned, they couldn’t just then wipe their hands of the problem and handball the problem back to someone else. They needed to stand up and be counted, no matter how difficult, or impossible, the problem may have seemed. And that’s the same for us today too.
Now among us all, we may have a number of issues that are of concern. And we can pray about things and even ask God for his help. But we are not called on to pass the buck like the disciples did with Jesus. We are not called on to simply express concern and then leave it for someone else to fix. We need to recognise that we are part of the solution too.
God uses people, and the people he uses (although not exclusively) are people who profess their faith in him—you and me. And, as a consequence, we need to accept the responsibility that comes with having faith. We need to stand up and be counted.
3. Using the Resources That Are Available
Thirdly, just as all the resources the disciples had were five small loaves and three fish—a meal for one person—so Jesus expected his disciples to use the resources with which they were entrusted, whether they seemed adequate or not. And that same expectation is true for us today too.
As a consequence, a good starting point for us, in the resolution to any problem, is to examine what resources we have: time, finances, property, influence. In other words, absolutely anything with which we have been entrusted and can be used in God’s service. And no matter how small or how silly it may seem we then need to put them to good use.
4. Expecting the Assistance of God
And this is where the fourth point comes in. Because the disciples should not have discounted the intervention of God as a solution to the problem. And neither should we. God blessed those five loaves and two fish, and five thousand people were more than sufficiently fed.
We should always remember that God is able to do great things. And we should learn to expect the unexpected.
Of course, God can and does do great things independently of his followers. But he seems to have a habit of involving his people. We should not therefore dismiss the idea that God may want to use us to bring blessing and encouragement, not only in a normal way but in a supernatural way as well.
5. Receiving Blessings in Abundance
And fifthly, just as the disciples witnessed the abundance of God’s grace—in not only feeding all those people but in there being twelve basketfuls of scraps left over—so too should our minds be set on the fact that God is an abundant giver. That he not only cares for us but he wants to embarrass us with his generosity too. And the more so, as we begin to think and act, more and more like him.
6. Summary
Five things then we can learn from the story of the feeding of the five thousand, and of the disciples’ reactions in particular, that we should take into account when faced with the problems in life: We should try to look at the world from God’s perspective and not just through our own eyes. We should take on the responsibilities that come through faith and not just try to pass the buck onto someone else. We should use the resources that are available to us no matter how limited they may seem to be. We should expect the unexpected; we should expect the miraculous as we receive the blessings of God. And we should expect to have our prayers and needs met and met in abundance.
Because if the disciples had learnt their lesson well, from Jesus’s previous teaching and example, they would not have made the mistakes that they did. And they certainly wouldn’t have stood there arguing with Jesus over what was and was not possible. And neither should we.
D. CONCLUSION
Now, of course changing one’s outlook—from being limited to what has worked before to widening our vision and our thinking to expect alternatives by adding in a spiritual dimension—does not come easy. It’s much easier to have faith in the things that you can see and touch—the bricks and mortar of life. The things of which we are familiar.
But, as disciples of Jesus, we are called on to widen our vision: to learn to think in heavenly terms; to learn to see things through God’s eyes, and to have faith in a God who wants to look after all our needs by using whatever means he chooses—the normal and the miraculous. Anything less than that, not only limits our solutions to two dimensions, but, like the disciples, risks us telling the Son of God no less what can and cannot be done.
Posted: 16th September 2022
© 2022, Brian A Curtis
www.brianacurtis.com.au
