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Days of Ministry
29
to eat.”
Matthew 14:16
. Then, turning to Philip, He questioned,
“Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”
John 6:5
.
Philip looked over the sea of heads and thought how impossible
it would be to provide food for so great a company. He answered that
two hundred pennyworth of bread would not be enough to divide
among them so that each might have a little.
Jesus inquired how much food could be found among the com-
pany. “There is a lad here,” said Andrew; “which hath five barley
loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?”
Verse 9
. Jesus directed that these be brought to Him. Then He bade
the disciples seat the people on the grass. When this was accom-
plished, He took the food, “and looking up to heaven, He blessed,
[46]
and brake, and gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples to
the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took
up of
[47]
the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.”
Matthew 14:19,
20
.
It was by a miracle of divine power that Christ fed the multitude;
yet how humble was the fare provided—only the fishes and barley
loaves that were the daily fare of the fisher-folk of Galilee.
Christ could have spread for the people a rich repast, but food
prepared merely for the gratification of appetite would have con-
veyed no lesson for their good. Through this miracle Christ desired
to teach a lesson of simplicity. If men today were simple in their
habits, living in harmony with nature’s laws, as did Adam and Eve
in the beginning, there would be an abundant supply for the needs
of the human family. But selfishness and the indulgence of appetite
have brought sin and misery, from excess on the one hand, and from
want on the other.
Jesus did not seek to attract the people to Him by gratifying
the desire for luxury. To that great throng, weary and hungry after
the long, exciting day, the simple fare was an assurance both of
His power and of His tender care for them in the common needs of
life. The Saviour has not promised His followers the luxuries of the
world; their lot may be shut
“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we
eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we