This Sunday we will continue our Breaking Bread with Jesus series with one of the most familiar miracles recorded in the Gospels… Jesus feeding more than 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish.
Our Scripture will be Luke 9:10–17.
10 When the apostles returned, they described for Jesus what they had done. Taking them with him, Jesus withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds figured it out, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about God’s kingdom, and healed those who were sick.
12 When the day was almost over, the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so that they can go to the nearby villages and countryside and find lodging and food, because we are in a deserted place.”
13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
But they said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 (They said this because about five thousand men were present.)
Jesus said to his disciples, “Seat them in groups of about fifty.” 15 They did so, and everyone was seated. 16 He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 Everyone ate until they were full, and the disciples filled twelve baskets with the leftovers.
Because this story is so familiar, I wonder if we sometimes move too quickly to the miracle. We know how the story ends. Jesus feeds the crowd. Everyone has enough. There are even twelve baskets of food left over.
But before we get there, I invite you to spend some time this week noticing the disciples.
A large crowd has followed Jesus into an isolated place. Evening is approaching. The people are hungry, and the disciples recognize a very real problem.
Their solution seems perfectly reasonable:
“Send the crowd away…”
But Jesus responds with something they certainly weren’t expecting:
“You give them something to eat.”
Imagine being one of the disciples and hearing those words.
Thousands of hungry people are standing in front of you.
And what do you have?
Five loaves.
Two fish.
Not enough.
Not even close.
As you read Luke 9:10–17 this week, resist the temptation to rush ahead to the miracle. Instead, spend some time with the disciples before they know how the story will end.
What do you think they were thinking when Jesus said, “You give them something to eat”?
Why do you think Jesus chose to involve the disciples rather than simply feeding the crowd Himself?
What might Jesus have been teaching the disciples through their participation?
Let’s talk about it on Sunday.
~ Pastor Dustin