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Days of Ministry
29
earth, and they were unconscious of how long it had been since they
had eaten anything.
The sun was sinking in the west, and yet the people lingered.
Finally the disciples came to Christ, urging that for their own sake
the multitude should be sent away. Many had come from far and had
eaten nothing since morning. In the surrounding towns and villages
they might be able to obtain food. But Jesus said, “‘You give them
something to eat.’”
Matthew 14:16
. Then, turning to Philip, He
asked, “‘Where 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 [
the wages of two hundred days’ work
] 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, “‘who has five barley
loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?’”
Verse
9
. Jesus directed that these be brought to Him. Then He told the dis-
ciples to seat the people on the grass. When this was accomplished,
He took the food and, “looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke
and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the
multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve
baskets full of the fragments that remained.”
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 fish and barley loaves,
[21]
which were the daily fare of the fisher-folk of Galilee.
Christ could have given the people a rich meal, but food prepared
merely to gratify the appetite would have conveyed no lesson for
their good. Through this miracle Christ desired to teach a lesson
of simplicity. If people 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.