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Feeding 5000 - Luke 9
Feeding 5000 - Luke 9
As Jesus went about preaching the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing (9:11), it drew crowds. This brought up the problem of eating and how the people, which now had 5000 men plus women and children, could procure enough food. What to do?
“Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people. And they all ate and were satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full.” (Luke 9:16-17)
This brings to the minds of most bible students the manna in the wilderness. Where could they get enough food for the people of Israel? God would provide – (Hebrew = YHWH-jireh). Even as He provided the sacrifice for Abraham (Gen. 22), so He provided manna for Israel. Now, Jesus, ‘Immanuel (God with us) again provides for the need of the people.
Not only were all 5000 men and all of the women and children able to eat, they ate until they were satisfied, and THEN there were twelve baskets full left over! While we can not conclude just how big such baskets were, the very fact that there not only were left-overs, but abundant left-overs.
This helps us at least picture to some degree the meaning of Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
We need to learn that God in fact is the God who is able to supply.
Hugh DeLong
