…The disciples came to Him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.” (14:15-16)
At this point, the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand becomes quite familiar to most Christians: The fives loaves and two fish are brought to Jesus. He blesses them, breaks them, and feeds the multitude. Finally twelve baskets of leftovers are taken up.
Many of us read this story and get the message: Jesus can make much out of little. Certainly this is a valid message from the text. Yet, I would encourage you to realize that Matthew is doing more than simply calling us to have faith in Christ. He’s making the audacious claim that Christ has faith in us as well!!
Some may say that Jesus simply told the disciples to feed the multitude in order to “set Himself up” for glory by being the only One around who could solve the problem. I tend not to think so. Self-promotion is not only of the traits we typically observe in Jesus. I think He was giving a legitimate challenge to the disciples and hoping that they had learned enough about the power of God and the fact that God wanted to work through them, that they’d actually take a stab at doing the impossible. Sadly, that day the unbelief of the disciples was simply too great to be overcome; Though eventually, they did become “more than conquerors.”
My question for us today is: “Are we willing to take a stab at the impossible?” After all, the God of all the universe believes in you. Why, then, can you not find the faith to believe in yourself?
-- Justin
For Everyone: Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand on-line jigsaw puzzle
God Believes in You video (this a good one!)
For the Kids: Jesus Feeds the 5,000 coloring page
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