Matthew 14:13-21
Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand
13 When Jesus heard about John, he left in a boat and went to a place where he could be alone. The crowds heard about this and followed him on foot from the cities. 14 When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them and cured their sick people.
15 In the evening the disciples came to him. They said, “No one lives around here, and it’s already late. Send the crowds to the villages to buy food for themselves.”
16 Jesus said to them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 They told him, “All we have here are five loaves of bread and two fish.”
18 Jesus said, “Bring them to me.”
19 Then he ordered the people to sit down on the grass. After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart, gave them to the disciples, and they gave them to the people. 20 All of them ate as much as they wanted. When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets.
21 About five thousand men had eaten. (This number does not include the women and children who had eaten.)
Matthew 15:32-39
Jesus Feeds More Than Four Thousand
32 Jesus called his disciples and said, “I feel sorry for the people. They have been with me three days now and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they may become exhausted on their way home.”
33 His disciples asked him, “Where could we get enough bread to feed such a crowd in this place where no one lives?”
34 Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”
They answered, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
35 He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks to God. Then he broke the bread and gave it to the disciples, and they gave the bread and fish to the people.
37 All of them ate as much as they wanted. The disciples picked up the leftover pieces and filled seven large baskets.38 Four thousand men had eaten. (This number does not include the women and children who had eaten.)
39 After he sent the people on their way, Jesus stepped into the boat and came to the territory of Magadan.
St, Matthew writes about Jesus feeding over five thousand people and then again feeding another large group of four thousand (and these numbers do not include the women and children who had eaten)...These were two of His miracles that He did, while He was on earth...These two miracles were not only performed in public, but they were performed in front of thousands of people and on two separate occasions...These people, who at the miracle food, were followers of Jesus, or at least those wanting to hear what He had to say and teach...And He felt sorry for the people and knew that they had not eaten, so He fed them miraculously...He fed over five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish....And He fed over four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish...Helping people out with a daily meal, just the kind of miracle we would expect from God...And a practical miracle done so subtly, yet we do not hear (or read in the gospels) of anyone denying that it was in fact a miracle...I am sure that many around Him, wondered mysteriously how He could feed all these people with so little of food that they had...But He did feed them...How could all these people not believe in Him, after their meal?...How could their be a skeptic in all those who were fed, and had seen what had been done?...Could some people have ate the food and not believed in the miracle?...
I believe in a world of mystery and miracles...We cannot forget that Jesus is Divine...His Divinity makes it "normal" for Him to do miracles...(I might say here, that there is really little "normal" surrounding Him)...His Divinity also makes Him a Great Mystery...With Jesus as our Savior, our world can include miracles...
Jesus came to our world, so that we would see grace and truth...But He also came to show us mystery and miracles...He stepped into our world to show us the greatest things about life...His miracles support not only His mystery, but also His life and who He is...