What Did Jesus Do?

Jesus Feeds more than Five Thousand
And taking the five loaves and the two fish, [Jesus] looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. (Mk. 6:41-44)
What Jesus did:
The miraculous feeding of more than five thousand “men,” not including women and children, is described in each of the four gospels. The inclusion of one particular miracle by all the biblical evangelists is infrequent and perhaps suggests the significance of this event.
Hearing the news of John’s execution, Jesus and His disciples had sailed to a spot where there were no other people so they could rest and reflect. However, large crowds followed, and the ever-compassionate Jesus began to teach and heal them. But as evening came, Jesus’ disciples urged Him to send the hungry people away so that they could find something to eat. (vv. 33-36)
Jesus, though, instructed his disciples themselves to give the people something to eat (v. 37a). Obediently, they gathered their meager resources of five loaves of bread and two fish, which Jesus then proceeded to miraculously multiply, and the result, of course, was that everyone had plenty to eat. There were even enough leftovers to fill a dozen baskets, the number suggesting that it was a faith-affirming lesson for the twelve apostles.
Jesus saw the specific need of the crowds for food, and knowing what it was like to be hungry Himself, He responded with empathy and lovingkindness. He made use of the supplies that were available to Him, acknowledging and thanking God for His provision, and then allowed the power of the Almighty to grow the discouragingly paltry into the abundantly sufficient.
What His followers are to do:
We can often be overwhelmed by the staggering level of crises all around us every day: hunger, sickness, poverty, injustice, corruption, violence, displacement, deceit, pollution … wickedness abounds, and tremendous need is everywhere we look. The sheer numbers of issues and the immense volume of challenges we face can produce in us a sense of despair and pessimism and even lead to indifference and avoidance.
However, let’s follow the lead of Jesus here and not focus on the size of the problem but on the greatness of the God we serve. Let’s respond to need by taking stock of our resources, as seemingly inadequate as they may be, thanking God for what He has provided and offering it to Him to be used as He wills, and then in faith by starting actively to utilize what we have to touch the lives of others. God blesses each of us with different gifts and different possessions. Whether we are rich, middle-class, or poor, whether we have remarkable talent in some area or just everyday kinds of skills, the question is not “How much has He given us?” but “How willing are we to allow Him to use who we are and what we have?”
To simplify, we might break down this miracle lesson into the following steps:
- address the need;
- take inventory of resources to meet the need;
- thank God for His provision, whatever the amount;
- take the step of faith and start actively meeting the need;
- trust God to grow provision to meet need;
- and learn from the results.
Jesus did not succumb to discouragement when faced with a daunting problem. Instead, He trusted God to increase the little He had available to provide for the many. We followers of Jesus ought to do the same.