Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.

Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.   When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"

He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite”

My parents enjoyed entertaining.  We would have folks over to our house often.  It was the job of everyone to help fix things up to make our place presentable.  Dusting, cleaning, vacuuming, taking out the trash and putting the papers in the garage was all part of preparing for company. If our neighbor came over it didn’t make a difference how things looked.  She was very “down to earth” and certainly did not seek to impress others or be impressed by social graces. We never had to clean or straighten up. 

If our cousins and relatives came over to eat we made things look more presentable, but if some church people or preacher and his family came over, lots of extra effort was given for things to look nice and for food to be just right, including our best dishes and silverware.         

Can you imagine the situation when thousands of people came from the other side of town to hear and see Jesus to have Him heal the sick and perform miracles? And then have Jesus look at you and say let’s give them lunch?  No wonder panic crept into Philip, Andrew and the rest of the disciples.  Give them something to eat?  “Lord even if we had McDonalds, Hardees, and Burger King all next to each other we don’t have the money to feed them.”         

According to Matthew's account, the men numbered about 5,000, but Jesus was preparing more than a meal that day that fed 5,000 people - He was also preparing His disciples for the ministry to which they were called. Jesus knew one day He was to leave them. They would not be alone. They would not be called upon to feed 5,000, but they would be called upon to speak to thousands to give them bread from which they would not hunger again - the Bread of Life. They would have His Holy Spirit, but now was the time of their preparation. The lesson they needed to learn was Jesus could do the impossible. He was not limited to the amount of people in the audience.

The disciples had seen Jesus at a wedding turning water into wine. They had witnessed Jesus healing some sick people. It’s hard to keep something like that quiet.         

To come up with food for a few would be a challenge, but it would be absolutely impossible for 5,000 people. These chosen 12 were now going to be part of that miracle. Preparing a heart to serve the Lord is preparing them to focus on the bigness of God rather than the size of the problem. This miracle was of large proportions, but that was only a small matter compared to the bigness of Jesus.

Today meditate on this:   We serve a big God.

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for this Word todaty to remind me that You are bigger than any problem.   May all that You do in my life prepare me to serve You in it, through it and beyond.     

Dale