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“You Give Them Something to Eat”
221
hundred pennywort
of bread would not be nearly enough for each
of them to have a little.
Jesus asked how much food they could find among the people.
“There is a lad here,” said Andrew, “who has five barley loaves and
two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Jesus directed
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them to bring these to Him and that the disciples seat the people on
the grass in parties of fifty or a hundred, so that all could witness
what He was about to do. When this was done, Jesus “looked up to
heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples
to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So
they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full
of fragments and of the fish.” He who taught the people the way to
find peace and happiness was just as thoughtful about their physical
necessities as He was about their spiritual need.
Christ never worked a miracle except to meet a genuine need,
and every miracle was meant to lead the people to the tree of life.
The simple food passed around by the disciples contained a whole
treasure of lessons. Jesus had provided a humble meal; the fish and
barley loaves were the daily food of the fisherfolk. Christ could
have spread a rich meal, but food prepared just to gratify appetite
would have carried no lesson for their good. Never did people enjoy
luxurious feasts as much as this people enjoyed the rest and simple
food that Christ provided so far from human homes and resources.
If people today maintained simple habits, living in harmony with
nature’s laws, there would be an abundant supply for the needs of
the human family. There would be fewer imaginary wants and more
opportunities to work in God’s ways. But selfishness and gratifying
of unnatural taste have brought sin and misery into the world.
To that great assembly, weary and hungry, the simple food was
an assurance not only of Jesus’ power, but of His tender care for
them in the common needs of life. The Savior has not promised
His followers luxuries. Their food may be plain, even scarce; their
lives may be shut in by poverty. But His word is pledged that their
need will be supplied, and He has promised what is far better than
worldly good—the comfort of His own presence.
The “penny,” or denarius, was equivalent to the daily wage of a common laborer.
See
Matthew 20:1, 2
.
