Matthew 14:19-21

Matthew 14:19-21

And He commanded the crowd to sit down upon the grass to eat.  After taking the five loaves and the two fish and after looking up into heaven, He gave thanks.  And after breaking He gave the bread to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the crowds.  And all ate and they were being satisfied.  And they took up the things of excess of the broken pieces – twelve full baskets!  And the ones who ate – there were about 5000 men in addition to women and children.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus takes the bread and the fish and gives thanks.  Even before anything happens, Jesus gives thanks.  This is faith and trust.  Jesus gives thanks to God before God gives Him any reason to do so.  This is an incredible testimony.

How often are you inclined to give thanks before God acts?  Why is this a difficult thing to accomplish?

Second Thought:

The people ate and were satisfied.  This is a double-edged sentence.  On the upside, we hear that we can be satisfied by God’s provision.  That’s great news indeed!  On the other hand, these people had been fed teaching by Jesus all day long.  Why is it that we only hear about them being satisfied when they eat physical food rather than spiritual teaching?  I’m sure that I am over-exaggerating this point, but I believe the thought is still valid.  How quick we are as human beings to focus on our physical needs rather than our spiritual needs.

What are your physical needs?  When you are in need, how difficult is it for you to look past these needs and focus on the spiritual?

Third Thought:

There are some people who say that this was not so much a miracle feeding as people being content with a small morsel.  It isn’t as bad of an idea as it sounds, because if you divide up 5 loaves and 2 fish into small enough pieces for 5,000 people you still get very small pieces.  It would be impossible for people to become satisfied with such small pieces.  Thus, this idea still preserves the idea that it was a miracle of God’s power.  However, what this interpretation misses is the baskets.  There were twelve baskets of leftovers that were picked up!  It doesn’t matter how small the pieces are, if you only start with 5 loaves it is very hard indeed to end up with twelve baskets!  Indeed, whatever angle you look at this story, it is a miraculous event.

How do you explain this event?  How much do you actually believe in miracles?  Do you believe miracles actually happen today?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 14:22-24