Feeding 5,000 - Matt 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14

Like we discussed yesterday, the placement of the death of John the Baptist wasn’t done chronologically, but more as commentary on Herod’s reaction to Jesus, who he believed was John back from the dead. Mark records Herod’s reaction between the sending of the Apostles on missions and when they return, which the IM indicates is not by accident. The IM says, “Mark 6 presents contrasting accounts of two very different feasts” the self-indulgent and licentious birthday feast of Herod Antipus, which resulted in the death of John the Baptist, and the Savior’s miraculous feeding of a multitude of five thousand. Thus a worldly king brought death, while the King of kings sustained life.” I hadn’t considered that the placement of this account was important and wouldn’t have connected it to Herod’s feast as a comparison.

The Apostles return from their missions and “gathered themselves together  unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.” JTC comments, “The missionary labors of the apostles greatly augmented the spread of the new doctrine of the kingdom, and the name and works of Jesus were proclaimed throughout the land.” The news of the death of John the Baptist and the reports received from the apostles about their missions must have been overwhelming for the Savior, even though he doesn’t give any indication of that, but he tells his disciples, “Come ye yourselves apart into a solitary place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” They tried to get to a quiet place to eat and rest but “the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him.” Jesus and his disciples were exhausted and hungry, but these people came to Him, “and Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.” The IM comments, “one possible reason may be that He went to privately mourn the death of John the Baptist. Despite His desire to be alone, when He saw the multitudes seeking him, his reaction was not resentment or annoyance, but compassion.”

He teaches the multitude that had gathered to hear him and he also heals their sick, but as the day wore on, the disciples became more aware of their physical predicament. Here was Jesus and some devoted disciples surrounded by a group of thousands of people in the very geographically remote place, and it’s getting dark. We know that the desert gets cold at night throughout the whole year, regardless of the season. And we also know that the disciples themselves were very hungry, so they could assume that the people would be hungry too. It’s possible that the disciples were more concerned about sending the people away so that they themselves could eat and rest, and they urged the Savior to “send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: or they have nothing to eat.” Jesus responds in a very specific way, and since we all know how the story ends, I’m going to put the IM’s analysis of the Savior’s statements along with the verses.

1. “The Savior gave a commandment beyond the disciples’ present ability: ‘Give ye them to eat.’” The disciples say “tell them to go buy some food,” and Jesus responds saying, “you give them something to eat.” This must have floored the disciples because the sheer magnitude of feeding that many people must have been crushing, even with all the proper time and resources. The IM says, “The impossibility of this task is reflected in the disciples’ response, found only in Mark. They said that the amount of bread needed to feed such a multitude would have been ‘two hundred pennyworth,’ or two hundred denarii- roughly eight months wages for a common laborer.”

2. “The Savior asked the disciples what they could provide: ‘How many loaves have ye?’ The disciples told the Savior they had found five loaves and two fishes.” I can only imagine those famished disciples handing over their only food to Jesus, knowing that he was going to give it to someone else and they were going to have nothing.

3. “The Savior instructed, ‘Bring them hither to me.’” Even though we don’t have enough of what it takes to accomplished that which we are asked, our offerings are sufficient, and He makes up the difference.

4. “The disciples gave the Savior what they had.”

5. “The Savior blessed and multiplied that the disciples were able to provide, miraculously meeting and surpassing what was needed.”

“This sequence mirrors a pattern in our relationship with the Savior. On our own, we fall far short of the perfection and glory of God. But when we offer our whole souls to the Savior, the abundant power and grace of His Atonement will more than compensate for our shortcomings.”

I don’t know how Jesus accomplished this miracle physically, but he did it because he was authorized by the Father to be compassionate, and clearly the people had faith because they stopped what they were doing and spent their day listening to Him. The IM quotes President James E. Faust as comparing this sequence to the Church where regular, flawed people give their all, who are only capable of 5 loaves and 2 fishes, and He makes it enough to spiritually feed all those who are hungry, and they magnify their callings because He makes the difference with some left over.

The IM says, “When the Savior visited the Nephites, He told them that he was the prophet like unto Moses referred to in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19. Significant similarieties between the ministry of the Savior and the ministry of Moses are found in John 6.” In John the IM gives a strong comparison between Moses and the Savior, as we know that Moses was a type for Jesus, the IM gives many similarities.

1. “The events recorded in John 6 occurred at the time of the Passove, an event strongly associated with Moses.”

2. Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee and was followed by a crowd, Moses parted the Red Sea and the Hebrews followed him.

3. “Jesus miraculously fed the multitude of five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fishes; Moses fed the people with manna miraculously provided from heaven.”

4. Jesus walked on the water to his disciples at night, Moses parted the Red Sea at night.

5. “The day after feeding the multitude, Jesus declared Himself to be ‘the bread which cometh down from heaven,’ another similarity to the manna provided from heaven.”

Another couple of notes I thought were interesting:

The 5,000 numbered here in this account is actually only the number of men in the group, meaning that there were 5,000 men to feed, along with their wives and children. Doing the math, if most men had a wife and 2 children, which is probably a pretty standard guestimate, that would be 20,000 people that Jesus fed with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes, and ended up with 12 baskets of food left over. That was always the amazing part to me, is that they ended up with 12 times the food that they started with. It would have been one thing to feed all those people and use up all the food, but to feed all those people until they were full and still have 12 baskets of food leftover is important somehow, I’m going to have to think about that.

 
2. It is noted that Jesus organized the people into groups of 50 men, who then sat on the grass. The mention of grass indicates that it is spring time.

3. This event and the resurrection are the only 2 events that are mentioned in all 4 gospels.