Feeding the 5,000

Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15

The feeding of the 5,000 is Jesus Christ's only miracle of nature or healing documented in all four Gospels. It's also a miracle that happened near the Jewish Passover time.

According to the story in the Gospel of Matthew (not in Luke or John), the feeding of the 5, 000 happened after Jesus heard about the death of John the Baptist who was killed by King Herod. Jesus after hearing the news of the death of his friend retreated to a "desert place" near Bethsaida.

When the crowds, heard about Jesus' retreat, followed him by foot out of the town. When Jesus emerged from his retreat, he saw a huge crowd of supporters waiting for him. Moved by their affection, he cured the sick among the crowd. When evening approached, his disciples asked that the crowds be sent into the village to find food.

"There's no need for them to go away," replied Jesus. "You give them something to eat!"

The disciples told Jesus they didn't have much other than five loaves of bread and two fish. To which Jesus replied, "Bring them here to me."

Jesus told the crowd to sit, and took the five loaves of bread the two fish, and looked upwards to Heaven and thanked God. With that he was able to feed all 5,000 men not counting the women and children as well. The disciplines even collected twelve baskets full of leftovers after the crowds ate.

This miracle shows, that what you give in faith can be multiplied in number. Since, the disciples gave Jesus what they had in faith, he was able to bless it and multiply the loaves of bread and fish to feed a large number of people. The people even had 12 baskets of leftovers.