In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 14:14-22
At that time, Jesus saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
The feeding of the five thousand is one of the few miracles contained in all four of the Gospels. And what a mighty act of power it is, to feed so many with only five loaves and two fishes. And that number of five thousand only takes into account the men. The women and children who were there are not included. Given that it probably was a hard journey to get to that desert place, it seems unlikely that anything like the same number of women and children as men were present; nonetheless, the total number fed was surely much greater that five thousand.
Yet Jesus feeds this great number even though there is only a tiny amount of food to begin with. Perhaps even a smaller amount than you may imagine. We are told elsewhere in the Gospels that this food belongs to a boy and that the two fish are small. This is what we might call a packed lunch that this young man has brought with him; something small enough to be carried in a satchel or something similar. So, the bread is not likely to be full-sized loaves, but rather biggish rolls.
It is from this small beginning that Jesus produces enough food to share with a huge number of people. It is an immense display of divine power. But before considering the miracle itself further, let us look first a couple of other details.
First, consider the actions of our Lord before the food is distributed. He blesses the bread and breaks it. This, of course, should remind us of His actions at the Last Supper, making this a prefiguring of the Holy Eucharist. But, as the Fathers of the Church point out, it should also remind us of the importance of giving thanks to God before we eat.
This is something Jesus teaches us here by His example. He is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, God Himself made man; and yet He looks up to heaven and gives the blessing before eating. And, so, we also should give thanks before we eat, and afterwards also, not just when gather to eat with others, not just for the main meals of the day, but on every occasion when food will pass our lips, the food without which we cannot live.
In the Holy Land of Jesus’ time, it was the custom of the people to give thanks even if what they were about to eat was no greater in size than an olive. This means that this was the custom that our Lord would have grown up with. It is a custom we would do well to follow ourselves.
The next detail to consider is the manner of food which the people were provided with. It was only a simple meal of bread and fish; and yet Saint Matthew tells us all ate and were satisfied. The Fathers tell us that this should point us towards a life of moderation and frugality. A sufficient amount of simple food should be enough for us. And, of course, luxury and gluttony are not only bad for our souls, but bad for our bodies.
It is also bad for our brothers and sisters around the world. The Fathers remind us that we should take from this miracle a reminder of how we are called to share what we have with others, even if we have very little. And yet in the West, we throw away vast amounts of food each year, so much that the food waste of Europe alone could feed the hungry of the world. And one of the greatest health problems in the West is obesity, while for so many elsewhere it is malnourishment.
Returning to the miracle itself, and the topic of sharing. You may have heard it suggested that what we have here is a miracle of sharing. Something along the lines of that most had something, those that had shared with those that did not, and so there was plenty for all. Such thoughts, I would suggest are at best foolish and at worst blasphemous, for such thoughts contradict what we are directly told in the Gospel accounts, which are the word of God.
These tell us that the location is a remote, desert place. Concerning this, the Fathers tell us that Jesus chose this place deliberately, knowing the miracle he was about to perform and wishing there to be no possibility of anyone saying that the food was from the markets of nearby towns. Also, His disciples urge Jesus to send the people away to buy food. Elsewhere on the Gospels they warn Him that this must be done so that the people do not faint from hunger on their way. They most certainly do not believe there is food and plenty of it among the people.
And remember what we read of this in Saint John’s Gospel. The next day the crowds follow Jesus across the lake, hoping to receive even more bread from Him. They also have no doubt that they were fed as a result of a miracle and not as a result of some stash of food produced from the pockets and bags of the people.
Sharing, of course, is good. As I have already said, the Fathers tell us that one of the lessons of this miracle is that part of the Christian life is that we are to share with others. But if we elevate one part of what this miracle teaches to the point that it eliminates the miraculous, then we eliminate what it teaches as well. For it is that the teaching occurs in the context of a miracle that makes it more than just teaching, something human that we can accept or ignore as we please. The miraculous transforms mere teaching into a divine commandment, something given to us to God for the sake of our salvation, and something that we ignore at our peril. Amen.
The Holy Orthodox Order of St George the Great Martyr works tirelessly to help those in need. We focus particularly on our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in the Holy Land and those who suffer because of their Christian faith. However, we strive to help all in need. Funds are desperately needed at this time to help those facing the horrors of war in Gaza and Lebanon. Please help if you can by making a donation to the Order. And please keep all those who suffer in your prayers. Thank you and may God bless you.
