There's one miracle recorded in all four gospels - when Jesus feed the five thousand.
I hope this narrative ties them all together.
What is most interesting about this to me is what happens the next day.
I speak Southernese, not King James, so that's what you're gonna get.
In Luke chapter 9, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples with the power and authority to cast out demons and heal disease. He sent them out in pairs to proclaim the kingdom of God.
When they came back, they told him how things went.
About that time, Jesus heard that his cousin, John the Baptist, who'd been jailed by Herod, had been executed.
He wanted to go to a secluded place and rest a while, so he and the twelve got in a boat and headed somewhere east of Bethsaida.
People from the cities followed them on foot.
Now, I don't know if they followed the shoreline or if they took some mountain path.
The point is that when Jesus landed, there was already a large crowd there waiting for him.
He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a herder. They were all lost and looking for guidance.
He welcomed them and started talking about the Kingdom of God. He healed those who needed it as he was talking.
Now the day was coming to a close and his disciples told him, "Send all these people away so they can go find something to eat and a place to sleep, because there ain't nothing around here."
And Jesus said, "You feed them!"
Then Jesus went up on the mountain with his disciples and sat down.
The crowd started coming up the mountain to where they were.
Jesus asked Philip, "Where are we gonna buy bread so that everybody can eat?"
He only asked this to test Philip. He knew what he was going to do.
Philip told him, "200 hundred days wages wouldn't be enough to feed this crowd just some crust."
Jesus asked the disciples, "How many loaves of bread y'all got? Go find out!"
Peter's brother, Andrew, came back a while later and said, "This boy here's got five little barley loaves and two fish, but that ain't enough to feed all these folks!"
Jesus said, "Give them to me. Now tell the people to sit down so we can eat."
There was lots of grass there, and everybody sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. There were about five thousand men there plus their wives and kids.
So what would be a conservative estimate of how many were actually there? 15 thousand? Twenty? More?
It doesn't matter. Those loaves and fish were really only enough for that one boy for the day.
It was probably more like dinner rolls and sardines.
So Jesus took the bread and fish, looked up to heaven and, according to John, simply gave thanks for them.
He didn't pray for an increase or anything like that. He just gave thanks. Then He broke the bread and fish and gave them to the disciples who handed them out to the people.
When the people had eaten their fill, Jesus told the disciples, "Go get all the leftovers so nothing's scrapped."
They collected up 12 baskets of of barley rolls and fish.
Scripture doesn't say what they did with it. I assume they carried it with them when they left.
When the people saw all the leftovers, they said, "This has got to be the prophet that they said was coming!"
After this, Jesus told the disciples to go ahead and take the boat back to the other side while he sent the crowd away.
The disciples went down and got in the boat. It was already dark, and Jesus hadn't showed up yet. They shoved off for Capernaum.
Jesus was aware that the people wanted to come and take him by force to make him their king, so he slipped off up the mountain to pray alone.
The disciples were out on the water and the seas got rough because the wind was up.
They started rowing and were straining at the oars but were getting nowhere. By the forth watch, somewhere around 3AM, they'd only gotten 3 miles or so from shore.
Then here comes Jesus strolling along on the water. He was gonna go on past, but they started yelling about there being a ghost out on the water.
Jesus called out and said, "Hey, y'all, it's me! Don't be scared!"
Peter called back and said, "Lord, if that's you, call me out and I'll come to ya."
Jesus said, "Well, come on!"
So Peter hopped out of the boat and headed over toward Jesus. But then he saw the waves breaking and the mist was getting in his face. He took his eyes off Jesus and whoosh. He was in the drink.
He flailed around then hollered, "Lord, help me!"
Jesus grabbed him and pulled him up. "You've got a little faith. Why'd ya doubt?"
They got in the boat and just like that, the wind stopped.
Them that were in the boat were awestruck. They worshiped Jesus and said, "You are God's son!"
And immediately, the boat landed at the place where they were going.
Right when they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus and started running to tell everybody that he was back in town. They started bringing out their sick to be healed.
It was a mad house.
They were laying the sick out in the streets, in the marketplaces, anywhere that they might be able to at least reach out and touch the hem of his cloak and be healed.
Meanwhile, back in the other side, where they had come from, the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there. So they jumped in the boats that were there and crossed over to Capernaum.
When they found Jesus, they asked him, "Teacher, when did you get here?"
Jesus ignored their question and said, "I tell y'all what! Y'all came looking for me not because I healed your people and showed you signs. Y'all came because I fed you.
And he continued, "Don't work for food that goes bad. Work for food that lasts forever - for eternal life. The Son of Man will give that to you. God the Father has set his seal on him."
The people asked him, "What should we do so we can do the works of God?"
Jesus told them, "This is the work of God: believe in the one that he sent."
And this is part of the story that I can't wrap my head around.
They said to him, "What kind of a sign are you gonna give us so we believe you? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness. It says in the scripture, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'"
"What kind of sign are you gonna give us?"
Really? You gotta be kidding me. He just feed a huge number of people. And who knows how many people he healed?
They just didn't believe. Not because they had seen no proof. They had seen plenty in the past couple of days.
They didn't believe because they didn't want to.
People say the same thing today. "Well, I just can't believe Jesus is the only way to heaven." Or, "I can't believe he'd reject me just because I'm not willing to give up this one thing."
You can believe. You just don't want to. That would make you responsible for what you've done. It goes against the feels.
The prophet Jeremiah said that that the heart is deceptive above all things. That means whatever you feel may not be the right thing.
It's like Santana said, "You've got to change your evil ways..."
Admit the wrong you've done.
Believe that Jesus died on your place and was raised from the dead on the third day.
Confess that Jesus is your Lord and savior. Choose to follow God.
If you can believe and would like to be saved from your sins, pay a simple prayer like this:
Dear Lord Jesus,
I know that I'm a sinner,
And I ask you for forgiveness.
I believe that you died for my sins and rose from the dead.
I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life.
I want to trust and follow you
As my lord
And savior.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
Now go out and find a Bible believing church and get involved. You might find a new set of friends. You might find new things to do with your life.
Your life just may get better.
I've put the scripture references for this narrative below.
Y'all have a good day, and God bless ya!
Matthew 14:13-24
Mark 6:30-56
Luke 9:10-17
John 6:1-40
Thumbnail image based on image by BÙI VĂN HỒNG PHÚC
