Matthew 14:21

THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND

‘They that had eaten were about five thousand.’

Matthew 14:21

Of all the miracles worked by our Lord, not one is so often mentioned in the New Testament as this.

I. Proof of Divine power.—This miracle is an unanswerable proof of our Lord’s Divine power. He called that into being which did not before exist: He provided visible, tangible, material food for more than five thousand people, out of a supply which in itself would not have satisfied fifty. Surely we must be blind if we do not see in this the hand of Him who ‘giveth food to all flesh’ (Psalms 136:25), and made the world and all that therein is. To create is the peculiar prerogative of God.

II. A proof of Divine compassion.—This miracle is a striking example of our Lord’s compassion towards men. The Lord had pity upon all: all were relieved; all partook of the food miraculously provided. All were ‘filled,’ and none went hungry away. Let us see in this the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ towards sinners.

III. Sufficiency for all mankind.—This miracle is a lively emblem of the sufficiency of the Gospel to meet the soul-wants of all mankind. All our Lord’s miracles have a deep figurative meaning, and teach great spiritual truths.

(a) The multitude an emblem of all mankind.

(b) The loaves and fishes are an emblem of the doctrine of Christ crucified for sinners, as their vicarious Substitute, and making atonement by His death for the sin of the world.

Bishop J. C. Ryle.

Illustrations

(1) ‘That marvellous scene in the wilderness comes to me as a revelation of a real but invisible world which is waking silently day after day around me. It serves to open my eyes to wonders more vast and awful than its own outward phenomena. Paradoxical as it may seem, it teaches me to look with more reverence upon the ordinary ways of God’s providence, and to receive with even more of deep thankfulness the bread that comes to me by what are called the common processes of nature, than if it had been given to me directly by the hand of Jesus with no toil or trust of my own.’

(2) ‘If bread be the type of all earthly sustenance, then the “bread of heaven” may well express all spiritual sustenance, all that involves and supports eternal life. Now the lesson which He wished to teach them was this—that eternal life is in the Son of God. They, therefore, that would have eternal life must partake of the bread of heaven, or, to use the other and deeper image, must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. They must feed on Him in their hearts by faith.’