Jesus Feeds the 5000

14 But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. (Luke 9:14-17, NIV)

How does one feed five thousand plus people with a measly meal of five loaves and two fish? Well, invite Jesus to that picnic. The beauty of this miraculous meal is found in how Jesus uses what was available. It didn’t cost the disciples any silver or gold. It just needed them to obey Jesus in how to seat the people and then to distribute what He multiplied. Jesus did all the heavy lifting and saw to it that no one went hungry that day!

There was just one thing that Jesus did before He fed the crowd, which was to look up to heaven, to thank His father for the food, and then He broke the bread. Many times, the miracle is already in our lives. We have reservations about lifting it to God in thanksgiving and allowing it to be broken so that it can multiply and bless many. It could be our finances, our ambitions, our belongings, or our talents and abilities that we hold very close to us and refuse to relinquish into God’s hands, lest he take it away from us.

We forget that, fundamentally, everything we have is from God, and so it belongs to Him. We are just stewards of it for our short time on earth. So when we hit rock bottom in any area of our life, we need to go to God in humility and ask Him what we need to lift to Him in grateful worship and give into His mighty hands to be broken and distributed as He sees fit. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it!