Tag: jesus feeding the crowd

II Kings 4:42-44 ” A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. ‘Give it to the people to eat,’ Elisha said. ‘How can I set this before a hundred men?’ his servant asked. But Elisha answered, ‘Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says; They will eat and have some leftover.’ Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the Word of the Lord.”

This story of Elisha is a foreshadowing of Jesus feeding the 5,000 – ( the only story, other than the Resurrection, that is found in all 4 Gospels).  So it must have made quite an impact on the Disciples to witness a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish being multiplied into a huge meal for thousands.  Comparing both stories, we see doubt and skepticism on the part of the faithful…people who had observed many miracles, but couldn’t fathom this one.  We also see confidence and full trust in God that He would bless over and above.  In both cases, there wasn’t just enough, there was plenty to go around…there wasn’t the bare minimum, there was excess to spare.  For God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask, (Ephesians 3:20) and He desires to lavish His blessings on us…to the point of overflowing.

Mark 8:1-4 ” During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to Him and said, ‘I have compassion for these people; they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.’ His disciples answered, ‘But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?’ “

His time on earth was getting short and Jesus wanted His disciples to understand their mission.  Everyday He had guided, demonstrated, and shown them what to do…to think outside the box of human nature.  For this wasn’t the first time Jesus had fed a crowd with only a few loaves and fish…but the disciples still didn’t get it.  The disciples had witnessed and actually helped distribute the food to that crowd…but when challenged to come up with a plan for this hungry group, they quickly reverted back to their humanness.  How many times have you sold yourself short by your limited vision of what God could do?  We need to be asking for God’s vision in our life, not ours…and we need to be thinking outside our “human” box and  seeking God’s unlimited and miraculous vision instead.