Hungry in the Desert - Part Four

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves." But 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 said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them 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.
[Matthew 14:13-21]

This miraculous account of the feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle that is recorded in all four gospels – the three synoptics and John. It is a powerful story that can be looked at from several different angles. And the different gospels use the story differently. Mark says that Jesus and his disciples withdrew to rest after a busy period of ministry. Luke says they went to Bethsaida after the disciples reported on the results of their mission. John seems to suggest Jesus left when the opposition from the Jews grew strong. Matthew emphasises that, while the disciples were away on their mission, Jesus heard of Herod’s interest in him and decided to withdraw to a different location. There is little difficulty in synthesising these different accounts and multiple purposes. The point here, though, is that I want to examine Matthew’s account and mostly limit myself to examining what Matthew has to say about this amazing event.

The first thing to notice is that Jesus, himself, withdrew to a desolate place. Amidst the busyness of ministry, and despite the demands on him, he felt that it was essential to spend time alone. It is obvious from the story that he took his disciples with him, even though the text doesn’t mention them in the opening verses. But his purpose was to be alone, to pray. This is evident in the verses following this account. In Matthew 14:22-23 it says,

“Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.”

For Jesus, as we saw in Part One, communion with his Heavenly Father meant withdrawing to a desolate place. For Jesus to pursue intimacy with his Father, he sought solitude. I am someone who enjoys passionate music and solid Bible teaching. I love joining with others in corporate worship. But I am also an “internal processor”. I like to work things out in my head. I find that I need significant time alone, without distraction, to really think through issues, and allow God to speak to me. Have you noticed the tendency in most churches today to program the weekend service so tightly that there are no “dead spots”. There is no time for reflection. It is all music, announcements, speaking, etc.? I have enjoyed that change from the more traditional church I grew up in. But I have also become aware of missing the reflection, and I need to build that into my devotional life as well.

Jesus built it into his life, yet the crowd did not immediately allow it.

The crowds heard that Jesus was leaving, and they followed him. They pursued him so enthusiastically, that they actually arrived at the “desolate place” ahead of him! The crowds had been stirred up by the mission of the Twelve (Matthew 10), who had travelled through all the towns and villages in the region proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and demonstrating its power.

The key characteristics of the crowd in this story are:
1) Their eagerness to follow Jesus; and
2) Their need – both the needs of the sick, and their need for food.

Let’s skip down to the part of the story where it becomes obvious the crowd needs food. These people have eagerly pursued Jesus, to the point where they have found themselves without the food they need. Why are they without food? Because they were so eager to pursue Jesus, who was meeting other needs they had, such as for healing. Perhaps we could argue they had pursued the kingdom of God recklessly. They had put it first. I’m not saying they had done so altruistically, or exactly as Jesus had urged his followers to do in Matthew 6. But surely we cannot read this story and not think of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6 (which we looked at in the last part). And this should cause us to examine the story from the perspective of the crowd.

Normally when I read this story, I see the disciples as the main characters to identify with. They are the ones whose perspective on “how things work” is being challenged by Jesus. They are the ones with whom Jesus is contrast. But the crowds are the example of eagerly pursuing Jesus to a desolate place.

Is Jesus able to meet all the needs of the crowd? The disciples propose a solution that the crowd meets their own need for food from their own resources. The disciples argue that they themselves don’t have enough resources to meet the needs of the crowd. They appear anxious. Worried.

And at this point the kingdom breaks in. In a move reminiscent of the Passover feast and anticipating future communions, Jesus took the bread, said a blessing and broke it. He gave the broken bread to his disciples, who passed it on to the people. And we don’t know how, but at the end, after all those who had eagerly pursued the kingdom of God had eaten their fill and were satisfied, each disciple had one basketful left over.

This miracle is an example of the promise Jesus made in Matthew 6:33,

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Let’s think about the cross. The great need of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness is righteousness. Who could provide enough righteousness for everyone? The good deeds of all those who followed God throughout the Old Testament couldn’t. Every single one of them blew it with sin. Where could we find enough righteousness for everyone? The slaughter of bulls, rams, lambs, goats, doves, the burning of grain and incense could not. They were simply a shadow of a future reality. As God says in Hosea 6:6, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” The point is not how do we cover our sin, but how do we become righteous. Where could we find enough righteousness for everyone? Not in the saints who, over the centuries, have sought to follow Jesus. There is no excess of good deeds that anyone can perform to outweigh their offense against God. There is no storehouse of good deeds done by others that we can tap into.

Rather, what happened on the cross is foreshadowed by this miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. The righteousness of one perfect man who lived a sinless life, but was broken on our behalf, was multiplied (being mediated through the apostle’s message) so that all who pursue the kingdom of God might be satisfied.

It is natural, when considering how the Father might provide for us, to look at the available resources. Someone somewhere has to have the money to buy our bread, our drink and our clothes. That is how life normally works. But in the kingdom, Jesus is not limited to the way life normally works. This is not to say we should be reckless or fail to plan. The Bible has many exhortations to good stewardship. But at the end of the day, pursuing the kingdom is not determined by finances, it is determined by faith.

I have found that living supported by a team of ministry partners has brought this truth to light over and over again. I worked, as most people do, in a secure, well-paid job. The accounting firm worked us hard, but paid us regularly. And then I determined that God wanted me to work with university students. It was an interesting experience, that Friday afternoon, walking into Willie Seaton’s office and tendering my resignation. My colleagues in the office didn’t understand how I would now get paid. What is “living on support”? But since 1995, I have seen God provide regularly, faithfully, generously – and, sometimes, miraculously. I cannot claim to have perfectly pursued the kingdom of God, or to have walked in faith without anxiety every step of the way. But I can claim to have seen God provide everything I need, and more.

Those who pursued Jesus, and the kingdom of God, into this desolated place sat on the green grass, ate broken, blessed bread and fish were satisfied.