Feeding 5,000

By Mary Vee
Mark 6, Matthew 14, Luke 9, John 6

From Matthew's Journal 

Near the area where Jesus fed the 5,000.
Northern area, up a high hill, The Sea of Galilee
Photo by Mary Vee

The hour grew late. We disciples had a busy day with Jesus.

Thousands of men and women rushed to the Sea of Galilee's northern shores to see Jesus. 

The break time Jesus gave us ended the moment we landed on shore. We docked the boat and stepped onto shore with Him. He looked at all the people greeting him and had such compassion.

Jesus walked up the hill to a grassy area where the people could sit and hear him talk. He taught them until the evening hour which is now. The people were hungry. We disciples were hungry.

I spoke with the other disciples and we all agreed that the crowd needed to be sent away. There still was time for them to walk to a city or villages, buy bread, and eat before returning home. We agreed the idea should be suggested to Jesus. So we did.

Jesus turned to Philip and said, "Where is a place we could buy bread for these people to eat?"

We all were surprised at the question, but waited for Philip to answer.

Philip shrugged and said, "Eight months wages wouldn't buy enough bread for each person here to have a single bite!"

We leaned later that Jesus already knew what he would do even though he posed this question to Philip.

Andrew had been away during this conversation. He guided a boy to take a step forward. "This boy is willing to give his lunch. He only has five small barley loaves and two small fish." He shook his head. "It won't feed many people."

We were perplexed. Jesus didn't seem to want to tell the people to leave, yet we didn't have the food to feed them. We didn't even have the money to buy enough food. 

In all this time, Jesus never once seemed concerned how to handle the problem.

He looked at us and gave this instruction: "Direct the people to sit in groups of hundreds and fifties."

So we did. He obviously knew what he was doing. We walked among the crowd and helped them section themselves into the groups Jesus asked for. When we finished we returned to Jesus who still ha the boy's lunch. 

Jesus held the fish and bread in his hands and looked up toward heaven. He prayed to His Father asking a blessing, said amen, then began breaking the bread and fish into pieces. The pieces were placed into baskets.

The twelve of us walked to our assigned groups of people and passed out the food, letting them take what they needed then went back for more. I continued returning to Jesus and taking more bread and fish to the people until everyone in my group had eaten.

We disciples also ate and were satisfied like the people. When everyone finished, we took the baskets around to the people, gathering up the extra food. Twelve baskets came back to Jesus filled with uneaten food.

There were five thousand men and this didn't count the number of women and children present who also ate.

When the people saw the miracle Jesus had done, they said, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."

 Come back to read the next story.

*Author of blog's note: If you have questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section. I will see them and will answer as best I can or direct you to a source.


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sources: 
*A Harmony of the Gospels for Historical Study, An Analytical Synopsis of the Four Gospels by William Arnold Stevens and Ernest DeWitt Burton, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1932
*New International Version, New King James Version. 
*My Bible College training.
*My notes and walk through classes I've taught in Children's church. Answers to student questions, etc.
*Pastoral sermons on this time
*Matthew Henry Commentary
*F. LaGard Smith Commentary
*My notes from my trip to Israel.
*Photos from my trip to Israel.