Jesus Feeds the 5000
Matthew 14:13-21
Today, in our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we come to a very familiar story, the feeding of the five thousand. Many of us have heard this story read and taught since we were children. The downside of being so familiar with this passage is that we might be tempted to rush past it, thinking, “Yeah, I got it, nothing new here.” But what if you read this miracle story as if you were hearing it for the very first time? Instead of skimming over the words, your eyes would be glued to the page. Instead of dispassion, there might be exhilaration. You would be amazed at the compassion and power of Jesus. You might react like those men in the Gospel of John who saw this miraculous sign firsthand and said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14).
The feeding of the five thousand is arguably one of the most important miracles Jesus ever worked. Other than the resurrection of Christ, this is conceivably the most famous miracle in the New Testament. It is the one miracle Jesus worked that all four Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—chose to include in their accounts.
Each of the Gospel writers emphasizes different aspects of the story. Mark’s account demonstrates the compassion of Jesus. He begins with, “And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd…” (Mark 6:34). Luke uses this miracle to set up the great question from Jesus about His identity. His account concludes, “So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them. And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”” (Luke 9:17-18). John moves from this miraculous sign to Jesus’ declaration that He is the bread of life, the Son of God “who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33). One reason the Holy Spirit ensured that this story is recorded four times is that it affirms to us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in human flesh and the Savior of the world. He is the One we must trust for salvation.
Now, what about Matthew? What is his emphasis? To begin with, we must remember the theme of the Gospel of Matthew. His is the Gospel of the Kingdom. He presents Jesus as the Messianic King who comes in fulfillment of the prophecies of scripture to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:23). Matthew wants us to think of the kingdom of Israel while he explains the kingdom of heaven.[1] In Matthew 13, Jesus taught His disciples the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in parables. Now, in chapters 14-17, Jesus gives His disciples on-the-job training in the work of the kingdom. This section is like Jesus’ kingdom boot camp. And the feeding of the five thousand is their first training session.
Matthew particularly shows how Jesus purposefully involved His disciples in this miracle. When the disciples want to send the crowd away, Jesus tells them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” (Matt. 14:16). Jesus uses what the disciples have—five loaves and two fish (Matt. 14:17). He gives it to the disciples, the disciples give it to the people (Matt. 14:19), and the disciples take up twelve baskets of leftovers (Matt. 14:20). Matthew clearly makes the point that the ministry of the kingdom is a mission that Jesus wants to do with His disciples, and that their ministry is completely dependent on Him.
The structure of Matthew’s text suggests that his emphasis is on Jesus’ conversation with His disciples. Matthew begins with a transitional statement linking this event to the death of John the Baptist (Matt. 14:13a). Then he reports how the multitudes followed Jesus, and He showed compassion on them and healed them (Matt. 14:13b-14). The central part of the passage is Jesus’ interchange with the disciples (Matt. 14:15-18), followed by the miracle of the feeding (Matt. 14:19-20). The passage closes with a report of the magnitude of the miracle (Matt. 14:21).[2]
Following this structure as our outline, first we see…
1. Matthew’s Transition – Jesus withdraws with His disciples (Matt. 14:13)
Matthew 14:13 is a transition verse. The disciples of John the Baptist had come to Jesus and reported the news—not only of Herod’s murder of John but also of Herod’s fearful attitude toward Jesus as well. So, Matthew transitions, “When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.” (Matt. 14:13). We will notice as we study the next few chapters that, from this point on in Matthew’s Gospel, although crowds still follow Jesus, His ministry becomes less and less public. More than once, we will read that Jesus departed or withdrew (Matt. 14:13; 15:21, 29; 16:13). Mark 6:31 records that on this occasion, Jesus said, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
Going forward, Jesus will direct much of His attention to the personal training of His disciples. Jesus didn’t withdraw to a deserted place because He feared Herod. No, He went there to spend time with the twelve—to refresh, teach, and train them. They needed to be prepared for kingdom ministry and to be ready to give their lives for it just as John the Baptist had done.
Here’s a good place to make a simple application. If we are going to be involved in kingdom ministry, we must spend time with Jesus, learning, loving, praying, and fellowshipping with our Savior. Do you spend time alone with King Jesus daily? Do you gather weekly with His church to worship and be equipped for kingdom service? One of my favorite times each week each Sunday I get here to my study around four in the morning to spend time with the Lord preparing for our corporate worship and praying for you.
If I had been one of the disciples, I’m sure I would have looked forward to spending some alone-time with Jesus. Instead, I imagine that the disciples were sadly surprised to land in a deserted place only to find a multitude of people had followed them on foot around the lake. So much for a quiet time of rest!
We have seen Matthew’s transition as Jesus departs to be alone with His disciples. Next, we see…
2. Jesus’ Compassion – Jesus heals the sick (Matt. 14:14)
Matthew 14:14 says, “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” (Matt. 14:14). Jesus was not bothered by the crowd. When He saw them, He didn’t resent them—far from it! Rather, “He was moved with compassion for them.” The word for “compassion” is very expressive. It means that Jesus’ whole being was stirred to its most profound depth for these people.
Mark and Luke both tell us that because Jesus had compassion for them, He spent the day teaching them about the kingdom of God (Mark 6:34; Luke 9:11). Matthew stresses Jesus’ compassion in healing those who were sick. Jesus cared about people’s needs—their spiritual needs and their physical needs. MacArthur points out that “Jesus postponed His rest, His privacy, His time alone with the disciples, and even His time with His Father in order to meet the needs of those helpless people who suffered.”[3]
As we said before, the healing ministry of Jesus was a sign to all that He was the Messiah and the fulfillment of scripture (Matt. 8:16-17; 12:15-21). And His healing ministry demonstrated His compassion. Jesus extended mercy to the hurting then, and He continues to do so today. Regardless of what state or situation you may find yourself in today, Jesus is moved with compassion and will extend mercy to you if you will receive it. You can bring your troubles to Him, and you will find sympathy, compassion, mercy, and love that heals your deepest hurts.
So, we learn about Jesus’ compassion. Next, we also learn that Jesus wants to show His compassion and mercy through His disciples.
So, next we see the …
3. Disciple’s Situation – Jesus involves them (Matt. 14:15-18)
Matthew 14:15 tells us the crowd’s situation and what Jesus’ disciples propose to do about it, “When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” The disciples saw the situation. They are in a deserted place, the people have no food, and it’s getting late. What they did not see is that the solution was right there with them, full of compassion, and ready to act. Did you notice the contrast between Jesus’ attitude toward the multitude and that of the disciples? Jesus welcomed them, but the disciples said to Jesus, “Send them away”. It may be that the disciples were just being practical about how to meet the needs of the crowd, but given the situation, I think they wanted a break. My guess is that they viewed the crowd as an annoying problem rather than, like Jesus did, people who needed compassion. So, the disciples give Jesus some advice, “Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”
But Jesus does not take their advice. By the way, God never needs our advice. He knows all things and is Lord over all. We know that Jesus had the power to feed all the people without any help from the disciples. He could have called down manna from heaven like Yahweh did for Israel in the wilderness. He could have spoken the word and had a loaf of bread appear in each person’s hand. He could have called angels to distribute food to the crowd. Yet, Jesus does none of those things. Jesus surely knew what He was going to do. But His disciples don’t. And Jesus wants to involve His disciples in this miracle.
So, Matthew 14:16 says, “But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”” The emphasis in the Greek is on YOU—the disciples. Jesus challenged both the compassion and the faith of the disciples.
The disciples recognized the need. They understood what Jesus was asking them to do. But to them, it seemed impossible. But instead of saying, “Okay Jesus, show us how,” the disciples immediately start raising objections. They don’t have the resources to feed such a crowd. They say to Jesus, “We have here only five loaves and two fish” (Matt. 14:17). It was enough perhaps to satisfy the hunger of a little boy, but certainly not enough to feed a multitude of thousands of people. The situation was humanly impossible. In and of themselves, they couldn’t even begin to accomplish what Jesus was proposing. The disciples were focused on their insufficiency rather than trusting in their Master’s sufficiency. They overlooked the power of Jesus to do the impossible.
Isn’t it easy for us to do that as well? God calls us to do something big, like reach our community for Christ, and we get all hung up because we are looking at the obstacles instead of the mission. Remember, when God asks you to do something, He can do it through you! Otherwise, He would not have asked you.[4]
So, what do you do when God asks you to do something that is clearly beyond your means? In Matthew 14:18, Jesus says, “Bring them here to Me.” Bring what you have to Jesus. They had a meager five loves and two fish. Notice that Jesus didn’t ask them to produce what they didn’t have. He asked them to give Him what they do have. How many times have we made up excuses about what we don’t have, and we fail to offer to Jesus what we do have? “If I just had more money, I’d give regularly to the church!” “If I just had the gift of evangelism, I’d witness more!” “If I just had the ability that others have, I’d serve the Lord.” “If I just …”! Listen, the Lord doesn’t use what you don’t have. He uses the inadequate things you have when you yield them to Him.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, nothing good will ever come from anything we can do apart from Jesus. Jesus Himself said, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But nothing will be impossible if we take stock of what little resources we have, and then humbly, personally, relationally obey Jesus’ command, “Bring them here to Me.”[5]
That is the disciple’s situation. Now we see …
4. God’s Provision – Jesus feeds the multitude (Matt. 14:19-20)
Look at what Jesus does. Matthew 14;19-20 says,
19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.
First, Jesus had the multitudes sit down. Mark tells us that they sat in ranks, in hundreds and fifties (Mark 6:40). Second, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them. He gave thanks to God for His provision—even if that provision seemed small and insignificant in human eyes. With God’s blessing, even the insufficient becomes sufficient. And third, He broke and gave the loaves. He divided it up and distributed it through His disciples.
Just think of that! They were the very ones who were complaining that all this was impossible. Now Jesus uses them to feed the multitude. I have no doubt but that, as they distributed the increasingly multiplied food, their sense of wonder and awe over Jesus multiplied as well. And as a result, everyone had a feast—both literally and spiritually. Jesus provided all that they needed—and more!
Did you notice how many leftovers they gathered up after everyone was satisfied? Twelve baskets full. Remember, there are 12 disciples. So, what’s happened here? They take the five loaves and two fish that Jesus blessed, broke, and gave. The disciples take their basket with portions that Jesus broke and they go around and feed this mass of humanity. When they’re done feeding everyone and the disciples return, their baskets are still full! They had more food at the end than they had at the beginning!
Why are there twelve baskets full? In the Old Testament, the number twelve is most associated with the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. Matthew is giving evidence that Jesus has come as the promised Messiah-King of Israel. Jesus is setting up a new Israel, a new kingdom, with these twelve disciples. As Messiah, Jesus is able to meet all the needs of the nation. Just as God provided manna for twelve tribes of Israel in the wilderness, even so, Jesus provides for His people in the wilderness.
But there’s more than that going on here. Think about where “bread” has been mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew so far. In Matthew 4, Jesus went out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1). And what did the devil say to Him? “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matt. 4:3). Jesus wouldn’t do that because He lived in obedience to the word of God (Matt. 4:4) and didn’t have to prove who He was to Satan.
But Jesus does give evidence that He is the Son of God to His disciples. And one of the ways He proves it is when He makes bread right there in the wilderness where there is no bread. Jesus would not do what the devil tells Him to do, but, in His compassion, Jesus does provide bread to feed a hungry crowd. And in doing so, He proves that He is the Son of God.
This crowd came seeking Jesus, following Him into the wilderness and He fed them. What did Jesus teach in the Sermon on the Mount? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6). They hungered after the Lord and He filled them. He satisfied them. The bread was a physical manifestation of His spiritual provision.
In Matthew 6:11, Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Why? Because through Jesus, your Heavenly Father provides bread—everything that you need for life and godliness. He is the provider of bread. We are to ask God for it and look to Him to provide.
Jesus satisfies completely and abundantly. The people leave fuller than a Thanksgiving dinner. And Jesus leaves twelve baskets full of bread for His disciples. There are a lot of parallels between the feeding of the five thousand and Psalm 23 in the Old Testament – you know, the Psalm that begins, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,” (Psa. 23:1). In Psalm 23, David describes the Lord as His shepherd who guides him, leads him to rest, lays him down in green pastures, and provides for all his needs until his cup runs over. And that’s exactly what Jesus does for the people here in Matthew 14. He has compassion on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). He guides them, teaches them, sits them down in the green grass, and provides for their needs until the baskets overflow.
Thus, we see God’s provision. Then finally we see the…
5. Miracle’s Conclusion – Jesus fed 5000+ (Matt. 14:21)
In Matthew 14:21, we read, “Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” This is the first we hear of the massive number of the multitude. Now, if you had not heard this story over and over again since you were little, you would surely be thinking, “What! Are you kidding me? That really happened?” Listen! What Matthew wants us to do is to stand in awe of Jesus. This is a man who takes five loaves and two fish and feeds 5000 hungry men plus women and children!
Here’s the point that Matthew wants us to see: Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah-King, who is the Lord, our compassionate shepherd who shows mercy and provides salvation. And Jesus wants to use His disciples, and us, in the ministry of the kingdom. The lingering question is: Will we? Will we see the ministry of the kingdom as something Jesus wants to do through us? Will we take the message of Jesus, the Bread of Life, to a world that is starving for truth? I know, the mission is overwhelming. I know, the opposition is mounting. I know, our resources seem meager. I know, our little church appears insignificant to this world. But Jesus is with us! And with Christ, nothing is impossible. He commands, “You give them the gospel!” And He says about our meager abilities, “Bring them here to me!”
So, in closing, what is God asking you to do these days? Has God laid a certain ministry idea upon your heart? Is He calling you to a closer walk with Him? Is He calling you to serve, or get involved, or be a member in this church? What needs is He showing you that need to be filled? How might God use you to fill those needs?
The disciples with their bread and fish were greatly used by the Lord. Before He could use them, however, they had to be placed in His hands. There are people here today who need to place their lives in the hands of the Master. Some need to come to Jesus for salvation. He died in your place to forgive the debt of your sin. He was raised to give you a new life. Repent and believe on Jesus today. Jesus works through His saved disciples to save the world. Come to Him, believe on Him, abide in Him, serve in Him, love in Him, do everything in Christ so that all the glory is to Him. What an awesome, compassionate Savior is Jesus!
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[1] Peter Krol, The Feeding of 5,000 According to Matthew, https://www.knowableword.com/2014/01/20/the-feeding-of-5000-according-to-matthew/ accessed 07/23/2024.
[2] Allen Ross, The Feeding Of The Five Thousand (Matthew 14:13-21), https://bible.org/seriespage/21-feeding-five-thousand-matthew-1413-21 accessed 07/23/2024.
[3] John MacArthur, MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew, Moody Publishers, Chicago, p. 428.
[4] Ray Fowler, Give It to God, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/give-it-to-god/ accessed 07/26/2024.
[5] Greg Allen, Bring It to Jesus, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2007/021807.htm accessed 07/26/2024.
