The feeding of the 5000

Sometimes right around 700 BC the Prophet Micah specified the birthplace of Israel’s promised Messiah. He wrote it in these words:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, 

 though you are small among the clans of Judah, 

out of you will come for me 

One who will be ruler over Israel, 

whose goings out are from of old, 

From days of eternity.” (Micah 5.2) 

Matthew and Luke, the two Gospel writers who tell the nativity stories, both make a point of telling us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They record the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy and both note that it was accompanied by evidence of the supernatural. It is as if they want us to understand clearly that God is the Author of these events, and God is indeed the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

What I want to direct our thoughts to today though, is the implication built into Micha’s prophecy.

“Though you are small…” the prophet says, “yet the One who will rule over Israel will come from you.”

Small things can have big possibilities. In fact, small things can produce enormous results. And it is my conviction that it was on purpose that God chose the small place rather than the big place; the humble stable rather than the King’s Palace as the entry point for his Son, Jesus, the Savior, to come into the world.

It’s God’s way of reminding us that small things are vitally important; and that with God, there really are no small things. It is in our eyes that things look big or small, and it is for our benefit then, that God purposely points this out. 

The Gospel Account: The Feeding of the 5000

All four Gospel writers tell the story of the feeding of the 5000 and all record that they had only five loaves and two fish. But only John records the very human perspective on the situation that is reflected in Andrew’s comment: “We’ve got a boy here with five small barley loaves (You got that, right – small barley loaves) and two small fish but how far will they go among so many?”

Our supply is too small. We don’t have enough. But Jesus reveals the divine perspective. He instructs the disciples to have the people sit down; he gives thanks to his Father for the loaves and the fish then he has them distributed.

To the amazement of all, there is enough for everyone and more left over than there was when they began. There is no doubt: this was a miracle, and a miracle with great meaning. 

Let me put a couple of things together for us. Jesus multiplied loaves of bread to feed hungry people.

He said shortly afterward, “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven… I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. “ 

There is a hunger in the hearts of people for genuine, lasting, spiritual food. Jesus says, “I am that food.” And what we see in the feeding of the 5000 is that there is no end to His capacity to satisfy the heart hunger of people.

That is why He came. And that is why we can come to Him. I can come; you can come; all of us can come and we can eat our fill and we have not diminished His capacity in the slightest. There is still more left over than when we began. 

The other thing we see in the feeding of the 5000 is that our resources, limited though they appear to be to us, have potential in the hands of God far beyond our ability even to imagine.

The boy who brought the lunch – would he ever have thought that it could have that kind of an impact on the lives of so many people?

Jesus actually commanded his disciples, “You feed them.” He’s looking at the heart hunger of the people around us and He’s saying the same thing to us: “You feed them.”

We who know Jesus, we who know He is the Bread of Life, are responsible to tell the story to those who don’t know, and invite them, too, to come to Jesus because He is the One who can satisfy the hunger of their inner hearts. 

O little Bethlehem, your name literally means, ‘The house of bread’ . You might be small in the early scheme of things, but God has chosen in His program to make you the place from which would come the One who would rule and who would feed the hearts and souls of people the world over. 

God has said in His Word that whoever calls on the name of the Lord (that is on the name of the Lord Jesus) will be saved. You and I are instructed to use our voices, our words and call on the name of the Lord Jesus to invite Him in – to receive Him.

To many people this seems like a trivial ‘extra’ – a small thing. But may I say this is the small thing that we must do in order to bring about the big thing – welcoming Jesus to come in as the Savior of our souls and the Giver of eternal life. Friends, that’s a huge consequence for a seemingly small action. 

May I invite you and urge you to do that small thing today.