I got the opportunity to preach at my ministry host’s church on December 3rd, 2017. It was quite interesting. I had never preached with a translator before. I would say a little in English, and it would be immediately translated to Setswana. The church received the message well. Unfortunately, I am not able, at this time, to put up the video. But I hope you can enjoy it as it is written! Thanks for taking the time to read!
To walk into any crowd, no matter the size, and offer them, on the spot, something to eat, would be an extremely daunting task. Rarely do I carry food with me, and if I do, it is simply enough for one person. And I usually do not have money on me. So going about trying to satisfy the hunger of any crowd would be nearly impossible.
I would like to start off with a passage from the book of Jonah. Jonah was a very reluctant prophet. He was called by God to do something great. He was called to save the citizens in the land of Nineveh. But he resented the fact that God wanted to redeem those people. He was angry that God had the mercy to forgive them. So he ran away from God. He ran away from the calling God placed upon him; he attempted to flee from his task of bringing redemption to a whole city. Jonah was punished. He was cast off a ship into the sea, only to be swallowed by a great fish. After three days and three nights, he was blown out of the fish. This is where our passage begins. In Jonah, chapter 3, verses 1 through 10, it reads:
The Lord’s word came to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city, and declare against it the proclamation that I am commanding you.” And Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, according to the Lord’s word. (Now Nineveh was indeed an enormous city, a three days’ walk across.)?Jonah started into the city, walking one day, and he cried out, “Just forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes, from the greatest of them to the least significant.?When word of it reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, stripped himself of his robe, covered himself with mourning clothes, and sat in ashes. Then he announced, “In Nineveh, by decree of the king and his officials. Neither human nor animal, cattle nor flock, will taste anything! No grazing and no drinking water! Let humans and animals alike put on mourning clothes and let them call upon God forcefully! And let all persons stop their evil behavior and the violence that is under their control!” He thought, Who knows? God may see this and turn from his wrath, so we might not perish.?God saw what they were doing- that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and He did not do it.
One man, Jonah, walked through this city and made one proclamation over the span of one day. The scripture even notes that this city was gigantic, as it would take him three full days to completely cross it, yet he only spent one day. He could have only gotten through a third of the city, at the most. But the people of Nineveh changed their ways. The people of Nineveh repented. They dressed in mourning clothes, they fasted, and they called for all evil in the city to cease. For, the power of God was invested in Jonah. And Jonah used that power to bring that city to redemption.
In all four of the Gospels, the story of Jesus feeding 5000 people is told. It is one of the very consistent stories among the four writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Let me provide a little bit of context before I read the story as it is told by John. In both Mark and Luke, the passage before the feeding of the five thousand, in the same chapter, is about Jesus sending out the twelve apostles. This is the first time Jesus sends them out. Soon after, they return, which leads us to a passage from John, chapter 6, verses 1 through 15.
After this, Jesus went across the Galilee Sea. A large crowd followed Him, because they had seen the miraculous signs He had done among the sick. Jesus went up a mountain and sat there with His disciples. It was nearly time for Passover, the Jewish Festival.
Jesus looked up and saw the large crowd coming toward Him. He asked Philip, “Where will we buy food to feed these people?” Jesus said this to test him, for He already knew what He was going to do.?Philip replied, “More than a half year’s salary worth of food would not be enough for each person to have even a little bit.”
One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “A youth here has five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that for a crowd like this?”?Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread. When He had given thanks, He distributed it to those who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, each getting as much as they wanted. When they had plenty to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves that had been left over by those who had eaten.
When the people saw that He had done a miraculous sign, they said, “This is truly the prophet who is coming into the world.” Jesus understood that they were about to come and force Him to be their king, so He took refuge again, alone on a mountain.
It is fascinating that Jesus was able to perform this miracle, that He was able to feed this huge crowd of people. He accomplished a task that is so daunting, and was thought to be impossible, even by His disciples. But He did it, and the people there were filled, their hunger having been satisfied. But one of the big takeaways from this story is that Jesus was able to perform this incredible miracle with the food provided by one person, by one child.
The child had, presumably, come with the crowd. And with him, brought a lunch, a small meal to keep him filled as he listened to the teachings of Christ. It was enough for him, and only him.
That lunch was his. His to eat, his to enjoy. It was a way to replenish himself, to calm any hunger he would feel, as to be able to concentrate fully on the day’s teachings. And he gave it away for the sake of the crowd. His meal, his serving for one person alone, was taken to feed that crowd of five thousand people.
Now, of course, this was Jesus performing a miracle with the intent of showing the power of God to provide. But this was more than that. It was so much more than Jesus providing material goods to thousands of people. Jesus used the meal from the one boy. And from that boy’s meal, He was able to make meals for thousands. He was able to satisfy them in a physical sense. But the fact that the meal for thousands was taken from the servings of one individual speaks volumes.
Through this miracle, through this incredible act, Jesus was showing that it only takes one person to feed five thousand. But, while the miracle came in physical form, Jesus was touching more on the power of one person to impact thousands with the Bread of Life, Jesus. Perhaps it was a demonstration to his disciples, who had just returned from being sent off by Him. Perhaps He was trying to show them the impact each of them could have as they spread the words of Christ to others. He was showing them that, through the faith of one person, thousands could hear the name of Christ. And thousands could affirm that Jesus is the one the prophets of the past had spoken of. It only takes one person to say to someone, “Jesus loves you.” And through that one act of faith by a believer, a person’s life can be transformed.
It is no coincidence that, within the same chapter as the feeding the five thousand, lies Jesus’ teaching on the Bread of Life. In John, Chapter 6, verses 47 through 51, Jesus says:
“I assure you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that whoever eats from it will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Jesus fulfilled the physical needs of all the people present at this teaching. He provided them with the things to eat as to satisfy any physical cravings they had. But He was also providing them with the fruits of the spirit. He was providing them with the Bread of Life.?Look at the connections between the story of Jonah and this story. Jonah was able to effect change by invoking the name of the Lord. He was able to save so many people. He was able to spare so many lives, because he followed the Lord and proclaimed His teachings. This one man was able to redeem thousands. And through the servings enough for one child, Jesus was able to feed thousands. He was able to provide for them a meal so that they could stay for more of His teachings. So it clearly does not take much to affect tons of people. It merely takes faith, the name of Jesus Christ and the word of the Lord.
It would be so difficult to go out into a crowd and provide them with physical food. Like I said before, it is not something that I could do, probably ever. But just by simply invoking the name of Jesus Christ, we really can feed thousands.?We all have the power of the Spirit within us. By affirming Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are given the power to proclaim God’s kingdom. We have the power to feed thousands, not by physical means, but through the Bread of Life. Through the name of Jesus, thousands, millions… billions, can eat and be filled.
This power was granted to us so that we can bring redemption to all people. This power was given to us so that all can hear the name of Christ. And if Jonah was able to redeem Nineveh in one day, if Jesus was able to do what He did with servings enough for one person, think of the impact every one of us could have. Think of how many people we can reach!? We can never know the full impact the name of Jesus has on someone. But we have to go forward with it. We have to spread His words, His teachings, His name. We have to go off together, to feed the people of this Earth. That is what God has called us to as Christians, and that is a task that we must uphold.
