We looked yesterday at Christ’s power over nature. Today we will look at the power He has to provide for us and His creation. One of the greatest stories in the New Testament that displayed His power of provision was in Matthew 14:13-22. For most Christians, it is a familiar account of Jesus’s provision, but I’m afraid it has become so familiar it has lost its awesome example of His power to provide.
Jesus was very popular during this time on earth. He was known for His miracles and His teachings. On this particular day, it was made known to Jesus that Herod wanted to speak with Him. It had not been long since Herod had John beheaded. Jesus knew it was not time for His crucifixion, so He departs in a ship to a desert place. However, Jesus’ fame had spread so they followed Him. Some to hear His teaching, others to bring their sick for healing, and some followed to feed their curiosity.
When evening came the disciples wanted Jesus to send them away because it was getting time to eat, and they were in an isolated place. They wanted Jesus to send them to town so they could buy their own food, but Jesus had a better idea. He was going to show all of them how He could and would provide for their needs.
Matthew 14:13-21 When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.”
In Matthew 14:13-21, Jesus has compassion for the multitude. They are hungry, tired, children were needing attention, and they had been sitting on the ground or standing most of the day. When Jesus got in the boat he went across the water to an area that was sparsely populated. It was a rough, uncultivated area used as pasture for animals. Jesus tells His disciples to have them sit down. He did not want them to leave, He would meet their needs. The disciples were just like us, looking at the physical side of things. They saw feeding them as an impossibility. All they had to offer was 5 small loaves of bread and 2 fish. The disciples were probably tired themselves and were ready for the day to be done. After all, they had ministered all day. They had done their duty, now they can rest and talk about the day with Jesus. Jesus takes the food, blesses it, and has the disciples pass it out. Everyone eats until they are full. All their leftovers were taken up which equaled 12 baskets of food. There were probably 15,000, more or less, people to feed, 5000 men, plus women and children.
Jesus showed His mighty power to not only feed them but to give them abundantly more than they needed. If He had followed the lead of His disciples no one would have thought badly about them, after all, no one would have ever dreamed such a feast could be produced simply by the prayers of one man. However, if they had not followed and obeyed Jesus, they would have missed one of the greatest accounts of Jesus’ power of provision in the Bible.
Jesus has not changed. He still has compassion on us today. We sometimes wander around and worry like a sheep without a shepherd. We see the impossible while He is the possible. Our failure to trust and obey may be robbing us of a glorious opportunity to see His power and feel His compassion. Yet, because of our lack of faith, our pride, our ignorance, or our busyness, we miss grand opportunities for Jesus to show His power, love, and compassion to us. We need to stop seeing our jobs and responsibilities as a means to gain more things and see them as an opportunity to share Christ. That irritating person who sits beside you, that arrogant one who continues to try to prove he’s better than you, that neighbor who drives you nuts, they are all placed in your path to show them Christ. When we do what we are supposed to do Jesus will take care of the rest. Jesus is fully capable of taking care of all our needs if we will get out of His way and obey. The passage in Matthew 6:26-33 says it best.
Matthew 6:26-33 “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
