There’s a loud lesson from this miracle of Jesus …

We love the wonder and awe we experience learning of the miracles Jesus performed, but we don’t always like the lessons attached to some of them because they hit home, and fairly hard.

Take, for example, that amazing miracle Jesus performed when He fed 5,000 people who needed some food, but didn’t have any. Let’s get the context for this miracle from the Gospel according to Matthew …

“As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. That evening the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves,'” Matthew 14:13-15.

Jesus didn’t send the people away.

Instead, He inquired about what was available toward meeting the need, which would only highlight the dearth of the need …

“‘But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!’ they answered,” Matthew 14:17.

You can imagine how so many people found themselves in this predicament. People from many towns had heard about where Jesus was, and the wondrous things He was capable of. You can imagine husbands by the thousands saying to wives, “Honey, Jesus is in the area. Grab the kids and let’s go, He can heal little Johnny’s leg …”

Or little Sally’s arm …

Or Uncle Jeb’s fevor …

… or all the different things ailing their beloved family members.

In their excitement that a miracle could happen, these people didn’t stop to consider many others would have the same idea, turning their trek to meet Jesus into a massive event that might keep them waiting all day as Jesus “… had compassion on them and healed their sick …” Hour after hour, all day long, Jesus worked His way, person by person, through all the needs presented to Him.

As a result, when evening was drawing near, the disciples realized that these people had come out to see Jesus without any preparation. They didn’t pack lunches or plan on spending all day in this remote location, so the disciples suggested the people be sent on their way so they could get to nearby towns for food and possible shelter before night fall.

Instead of doing that, Jesus meets the need …

“’But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!’ they answered. ‘Bring them here,’ he said. Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!” Matthew 14:17-21.

All four Gospels record this amazing miracle of feeding so many people from almost nothing, which means the Gospel writers considered this event to be rather significant. Remember, it’s noted that 5,000 men were fed, that’s not taking into account the women and children present who were also fed to satiety. Some estimate that Jesus fed as many as 15,000 or 20,000 people that day.

There’s more than one lesson we can garner from this incredible story, but there’s one in particular that stands out. When the potential for a need was perceived, the disciples suggested the people be sent their way to deal with their need for food themselves. Note how Jesus responded to them …

But Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary — you feed them.” – Matthew 14:16.

The disciples wanted the people to fend for themselves, but Jesus says to them rather bluntly, “No, YOU do it!”

Jesus didn’t allow for any qualifying of need, and in our time today, these people would be rejected any help from most churches because …

… Jesus had healed all the sick, so everyone was healthy enough to get to the nearest town and take care of their own needs …

… it’s likely the great majority of these people had the financial means to purchase food for themselves if it was available, but even that wasn’t a disqualifier with Jesus …

… instead of risking someone fainting along the way from hunger, instead of waiting until people were desperate or suffering or in a state of dire need where they could not handle things for themselves, Jesus simply said, “YOU do it!”

We live in a time where Christians use political philosophies to qualify the needs of people and how those needs should be met. And we live in a time when most Christians, when they finally admit someone has a need, then still fail to respond by expecting people to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” and handle their needs themselves, or pass the buck to non-profit ministries and organizations or government programs to handle.

Your family is hungry?

Here’s a phone number for a food pantry.

Your children need clothes?

There’s a Salvation Army down the street and a Goodwill a couple of blocks over.

You’re homeless?

Have you checked out the local shelters offered by local, county, or state governments?

All things spoken from Christians with comfortable homes, full pantries in their kitchens, closets full of clothes, and spare bedrooms rarely used.

If Jesus would tell His disciples at a time when a need wasn’t an immediate pressing issue — most all, if not all, of these people probably could have made it to a nearby town for food — to not pass the buck but meet the need themselves, then what would He tell us today?

As we anticipate or identify the needs of others, Jesus wants us to step into them as the answer, not send people somewhere else to work it out on their own.

Churches today act more like social workers than followers of Christ in the way we equip ourselves with lists of resources others provide, and then share information and send people on their way to work out whatever they’re struggling with. When it’s an individual Christian who’s confronted with someone in need, they call the church to inform the pastor of the need so he can figure out what to do about it.

We have become satisfied with ourselves by providing needy people with information and then sending them on their way. We have come to think that providing people with information is enough.

Jesus would say, “That isn’t necessary — you feed them.”

I’m NOT saying there is anything wrong with having information available about non-profit ministries or organizations and government agencies that provide some level of service to people in need, but we miss the point and lose a significant part of our own relationship with God when we pass on being channels of His love and compassion to people by making “passing the buck” our default response to the real or anticipated needs of others.

One commentator noted the following about this miracle event …

“It is noteworthy that Jesus fed the people through the agency of His disciples. He could have simply snapped His fingers and caused everyone present to have a meal, but He didn’t. Instead, He ‘gave . . . to his disciples to distribute to the people’ (Mark 6:41). In this way, the disciples had to trust the Lord for everything they distributed. They could only give as they received. Philip, Andrew, and the rest were put in a position of total dependence upon the Lord for the supply. God still uses people the same way today.”

When we send people on their way to fend for themselves, we miss out on God working through us to supply the needs of others.

When we send people on their way to fix their own needs, we miss out on our dependence on God to provide through us for the needs of others.

Very simply, when we send people on their way to fend for themselves, we miss out on literally being the body of Christ in the world today. To be His body is to see and respond to people as He would.

Jesus would feed them.

How about you?

Have you brought someone’s need to Jesus that He would say to you, “That isn’t necessary — you feed them”? Are you making yourself available for God to love and care for others through you?

Let’s add one more lesson before closing. The modern default attitude of automatically sending the needy somewhere else betrays the lack of faith that lurks in us.

“What could God do with the little bit I could offer to such an overwhelming need?” you may think to yourself.

Maybe as much — or more! — than he did with a boy’s lunch for many thousands of hungry people! One writer noted, “God will shatter the pint-sized expectations of what His followers can do if they would learn to bring Him what they have already been given. ‘Little is much when God is in it.’ When Christians are willing to offer their lives sacrificially, relinquishing their hold on whatever God has given them in terms of time, money, talents, etc., God will use these ordinary things to create extraordinary things. Christians must never believe their resources are too little to serve God. God delights in taking a humble, seemingly insignificant person and using him or her for His glory.”

We have developed a way of thinking that says, “Someone else, someone closer, someone who has more than me, should help this person,” and then we point the needy to “someone else.” The result is often unmet needs remaining unmet, and the suffering of the needy only increasing. But when we see people as Jesus sees people, and step into their needs with faith that God will use what little we have, extraordinary outcomes — even miracles! — are often the result.

Don’t miss out on being God’s conduit of love and compassion!

Scotty