The Feeding

When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” He replied, “You give them something to eat.”They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” (About five thousand men were there.)But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. Luke 9:1-17

Grace is multiplied! Never divided.

After the excitement and plain hard work of the previous days' ministries, Jesus and the Twelve must have been exhausted. It's tiring to keep up a kind public persona day after day, with people expecting more and more of you, needy for your attention. You want to keep helping them, but the body needs rest. I once was told by a neighbor who was an insurance agent that he enjoyed visiting with me at the end of a work day, because he could relax his "niceness" and just be himself. I didn't want anything from him.

So the Savior and His team retreated to Bethsaida for a bit. Not much rest. The crowd found Him and gathered in. Our wonderful Savior WELCOMED them and taught them and healed them. They were out in the boonies, however, and the apostles realized they had brought no food. "Lord, let's wrap this up and send them into town to get food and lodging." What a lesson these men were about to learn. He ordered them to feed the crowd. Luke says there were about 5,000 men. The Bible accounts usually don't mention women and children, so we must assume at least triple that many mouths to feed. Uh-oh. Five loaves and two fishes. No matter what kind of loaves and fishes they were, this would not suffice. Unless they were surrendered to the omnipotent Lord of the universe. The disciples distributed the broken and blessed food to everyone there. Everyone ate and was satisfied. Then we have this:

Each disciple picked up a basketful of food that was leftover! Each man had his own basket of miracles to carry with him and remind him of the power and grace of His Master. And of the multiplication of grace. Remember, He didn't create bread for Himself in the wilderness at the challenge of Satan. That was not the proper action at that time; but NOW He creates bread to distribute to the hungry followers, because of their need and because of His purpose: to demonstrate His power to those who are seeking truth.