Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 14-2] Why Did Jesus Perform The Miracle of Five Loaves Of Bread and Two Fish? (Matthew 14:13-33)
(Matthew 14:13-33)
“When
Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by
Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot
from the cities. And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and
He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. When it
was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘This is a deserted
place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they
may go into the villages and buy themselves food.’ But Jesus said to
them, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ And
they said to Him, ‘We have here only five loaves and two fish.’ He
said, ‘Bring them here to Me.’ Then He commanded the multitudes to sit
down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and
looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the
disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and
were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that
remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides
women and children. Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the
boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes
away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the
mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for
the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went
to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on
the sea, they were troubled, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out
for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Be of good
cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.’ And Peter answered Him and said,
‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He
said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on
the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,
he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save
me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and
said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they
got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came
and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’”
When
Jesus was on this earth, He often prayed. This was because our Lord
also had flesh. Although Jesus Christ is fundamentally God Himself, He
was incarnated in flesh to save all the sinners of the world from all
their sins. In other words, He had to come in the flesh of man to
fulfill the will of God the Father. Having thus come to this earth, He
had to be baptized, be crucified, shed His blood, die on the Cross, and
rise from the dead. While Jesus Christ was on this earth, He had to be
baptized by John the Baptist to follow the will of God and fulfill the
righteousness of the Father.
He
could fulfill the righteousness of God by obeying the Father’s will,
which was for Him to receive the baptism from John the Baptist. Had
Jesus not been baptized by John the Baptist, then neither would He have
shouldered the sins of the world, nor would He have shed His blood
crucified to the Cross. To deliver sinners from their iniquities, it was
absolutely indispensable for Jesus to be baptized by John the Baptist
and thereby take upon the sins of the people of the world once for all.
Born into this world in flesh, for Jesus Christ to do all these—to be
baptized, die on the Cross, and rise from the dead, all to follow the
will of God the Father—He faced many agonizing difficulties in His mind,
and this was why Jesus had all the more reason to pray to God the
Father for His help.
Because
Jesus our God is righteous, He had to be born unto this earth
incarnated in the flesh of man. To take upon the sins of mankind, Jesus
had to be baptized by John the Baptist. And He had to give up His body
on the Cross to pay off the wages of all our sins with His blood, for
all the condemnation of sin would end only when they were paid off
properly. Here we have to realize clearly that Jesus had to suffer
tremendously to fulfill all righteousness, and that His agony was beyond
imagination. When we look at the humanity of Jesus, we can see that it
was very fragile. Why did Jesus go to a deserted place when He heard
that John the Baptist was beheaded to death? He did so because He wanted
to ask God the Father to pass the cup of His death from Him, and to
escape from the suffering of the Cross only if He could, for He, too,
had the flesh of man.
The
context of today’s Scripture passage is as follows. Hearing that our
Lord was in a deserted place, a great multitude gathered around Him.
Jesus saw them and had compassion for them. At that time, Jesus’
disciples came to Him and said, “Send the multitudes away, that they may
go into the villages and buy themselves food.” But Jesus said to His
disciples, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to
eat.” But all that the disciples had at the time was just five loaves of
bread and two fish, an amount that was sufficient for only a single
man’s lunch.
Jesus
then told the disciples to bring the two fish and the five loaves of
bread, and He then blessed them. Though all that the disciples had
brought to Jesus was only five loaves of bread and two fish, when Jesus
blessed them, they multiplied so much that they were more than enough to
feed over 5,000 men. Before Jesus blessed it, this lunch had been
enough for just one man. But because our Lord blessed this small amount
of food, countless people were fed and still had leftovers. So the Bible
records that there were over 5,000 men, besides women and children, who
ate this food.
This miracle shows us that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is God Himself for us.
Had
Jesus not been the Son of God and the true God, He could never have
performed such an amazing miracle. We can find in Genesis 1 and John 1
that Jesus Himself created the universe in the beginning with His Word.
Everything in this universe was created exactly according to how Jesus
spoke His Word.
Jesus
was able to feed over 5,000 people in a deserted field with only a
lunchbox because He was God Himself. This would never have been possible
unless He was indeed the Son of God. How could His disciples who saw
this miracle not follow Him then? If you had been there, you would all
have followed Him as well. When Jesus blessed the five loaves and two
fish, broke them and gave them to the disciples, they were more than
enough for everyone to eat and be filled. This event manifested the
divine attribute of Jesus. It revealed that Jesus is the Son of God and
God Himself for us.
In
1980’s, there was a man called Uri-Geller. He claimed to possess
supernatural power, able to turn the hands of a clock in the opposite
direction with His mind alone without touching them. A long time ago, he
once came to Korea and performed miracles and signs that were
televised. He even enabled the viewers watching TV to bend a spoon
through supernatural power. But even this Uri-Geller cannot feed over
5,000 men with a single lunchbox. (In fact, James Randi, who is best
known as the world’s most tireless investigator and demystifier of
paranormal and pseudoscientific claims, later claimed to have exposed
the dirty tricks of Uri-Geller.)
In
today’s Christianity, there are many weird people who claim to have the
power to perform miracles. (Incidentally, the same James Randi
mentioned above once came to Korea and promised that he would give one
million dollars to anyone who could perform a scientifically provable
miracle. Predictably, the many supposed miracle performers in the Korean
Christian community fell completely silent during his stay in Korea.)
However, no matter what power they may claim to have, they cannot feed
over 5,000 men with a single lunchbox. This is the power that only Jesus
Christ the Son of God can exercise. Only the God who created the
heavens and the earth can feed us with the bread of life, both in body
and spirit.
We
can realize that Jesus the true God came incarnated in the flesh of
man. The name Jesus means the Savior who came to deliver all sinners
from their sins. To save us from all our sins, Jesus had to come to this
earth incarnated in the same flesh that you and I have, and He had to
be baptized and shed His blood to death.
The Lord Has Enabled Us to Spread the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit, the Bread of Salvation, All over the Whole World
Our
Lord performed the miracle of five loaves of bread and two fish so that
His disciples would know and believe in His ministries. This miracle
manifested that God would bestow His grace of salvation throughout the
whole earth. In the Bible, the number five signifies God’s grace, that
is, the gift of God, and fish symbolizes God’s Church. During the Early
Church era, Christians had used the symbol of fish as a sign of
identity. When they came across each other, they drew a fish on the
ground to show their faith. Those who drew this fish were saying to one
another, “I believe that the Lord is the Son of the living God and my
Savior.” Therefore, that Jesus performed the miracle of five loaves of
bread and two fish tells us that through His Church, God will give more
than sufficient spiritual food to fill the whole world.
The
ministry of God’s Church was manifested through the miracle of five
loaves of bread and two fish. Put differently, God has blessed the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, the bread of life, and His Church so
that His Church could share this bread of life with all the sinners of
the entire world. Through this blessed ministry, God has enabled His
Church to save all the sinners from their sins. Through His Church, God
is now feeding countless people throughout the whole world with the
bread of life. And the souls that have eaten the bread of life, that is,
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, are being saved from all their
sins.
Jesus Walked on Water
Here
another event unfolds, Jesus’ disciples were in the middle of the sea,
far away from land, to cross to the other side of the shore in a boat.
As the wind blew harder and the waves got higher, the disciples began to
be gripped by fear. The high waves crashed into the boat, dumping water
into it, and the wind was blowing so fiercely that no matter how hard
they paddled, they could not move toward the direction that they wanted
to go. Jesus’ disciples were deeply distressed, overwhelmed by fear and
worry. So as they were scrambling to keep the boat afloat, on the fourth
watch of the night Jesus appeared before them.
In
general, Jews divided the whole night (from 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.)
into four parts. Therefore, the fourth watch of the night refers to
3:00-6:00 A.M., and so it’s very likely that it was still dark. When the
disciples of Jesus were struggling in this darkness, on this water with
high waves, they saw that Jesus was walking toward them. The Jewish
people at that time wore robes. So with high winds, Jesus’ robe must
have flapped all over. When they saw that someone was walking toward
them amid the tossing waves and the foaming sea, just think about how
scared they would have been. So the disciples panicked, thinking that a
ghost had appeared.
But
the Lord came nearer to them and said, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do
not be afraid.” Peter then asked Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to
come to You on the water.” When Jesus said, “Come,” Peter got out of
the boat and walked on the water. No one in this world but only Jesus
and Peter must have walked on the water. As Peter was walking toward
Jesus, he heard the raging wind and suddenly he was afraid and lost his
faith, and he sank into the water; but immediately Jesus pulled him up
and they came into the boat together. And He rebuked Peter, saying, “O
you of little faith, why did you doubt?” So when Jesus and Peter got
into the boat, the wind ceased, and those in the boat worshiped Him,
saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Truly,
Jesus is the God who can walk on the water, who is not bound by the
natural laws of this physical world. He is indeed the true God. He is
indeed the true Son of God.
Jesus
wanted to give His disciples true and clear faith. To demonstrate to
them that He is the Savior and God Himself in His essence, Jesus showed
them such miracles and wonders. What we should learn from today’s
Scripture passage is that for us to taste the miracle of five loaves and
two fish and to follow the Lord, we must pray incessantly, for it is
surely accompanied by difficulties. Whenever we face hardships, we must
pray. We must pray to our Lord, our God, for His help.
Moreover,
when it comes to prayer, we must first have faith in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. We must place our absolute faith in the Truth that
the Lord is the true God and that He is the Son of God who has saved
us. Simply put, Jesus is God Himself, but to save us from our sins, He
came to this earth as our Savior, and through the gospel of the water,
the blood, and the Spirit, He has indeed saved us from all our sins.
Jesus
is fundamentally God Himself, exists in Heaven as God Himself, and He
is the God who has come into us as the Holy Spirit, dwells with us, and
helps us. Our Lord is the Shepherd of the believers. As God Himself, He
is taking care of us as our Shepherd, has also become our friend, and
reigns us as our King as well.
It
is very important to place our faith in the truth that Jesus is the
true God. His ministries testify that He actually is God Himself. So
when we believe that He is the true God and our Savior, we can trust in
Him and rely on Him. As we follow the Lord after meeting Him in the true
gospel, there are times when we face hardships, for there are various
dangers and difficulties. In times like these, we must pray to Jesus
Christ our God placing our trust in Him.
We
must have faith in the Lord. To give His disciples strong faith in Him,
Jesus had allowed them such a dangerous situation. But He did not leave
them in the lurch to the end. He walked toward them on water, told
Peter to walk toward Him, and when Peter sank for the lack of faith He
delivered him and got into the boat with him. It was to teach us true
faith and to plant this faith deep in our hearts, that Jesus performed
such miracles and signs.
This
miracle also tells us that we must have strong faith in Jesus when we
carry out our duty to preach the gospel throughout the whole world. We,
too, will not be trouble-free, but we will indeed face hardship in every
step along the way in our service to the gospel. In such times, we
should not turn into faithless people, only to be disappointed, fall
into the world, and die on our own. Rather, we must pray to God for His
help by believing that Jesus Christ indeed is God Himself. By doing so,
we can get our problems solved and really please the Lord with our
faith. Such faith is essential to each of us who are willing to serve
the gospel until the day when our Lord comes.
By
doing so, He demonstrated to them clearly who He really was. As Peter
experienced such a wonderful incident, he later could confess, “You are
the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). We, too, should
confess our faith in Him, “Truly You are God. And You are the Savior who
came as the Son of God to deliver the sinners of this world from all
their sins and iniquities. You are the God of salvation. Though you came
in the flesh of man to save us, fundamentally, You are God Himself.”
We, Too, Must Believe in Jesus Christ With a Proper Understanding
As
you and I believe in the Lord and follow Him, we, too, are tempted by
Satan, and are troubled by all kinds of difficulties. But in times like
these when we are struggling so much, we must trust in God for all
things and pray to Him by placing our faith in Him. God will then solve
all our problems and we can continue to serve the gospel steadfastly
with faith like trees planted by the water.
As
we pray to God, we must also place our faith in Him. Whenever we pray,
we must say our prayers standing firm on the faith that Jesus Christ is
the living God and our Savior. It is only when we have this faith that
we can succeed in all our endeavors. Unless we have this faith, we
cannot follow the Lord until the end.
Because
we are so weak and insufficient, we often fall into despair. But no
matter what circumstances we might be facing, we must know the divinity
of Jesus and His ministries, and believe in Him. We must believe that He
is the Savior, who was baptized and crucified on this earth, and who
has thereby washed away all our sins and saved us. We must believe that
He is the Son of God and we must stand before God by this faith. It is
because of our faith that you and I are blessed by God. And as we
continue to live our lives following the will of the Father, whenever we
face hardship, we must be helped and get our problems solved through
our faith. Such faith is the living faith that we should keep forever.
It
is written, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil
walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter
5:8). Satan actually has his eyes wide open, desperately looking for the
people of God whom he can devour. When he finds someone weak, he preys
upon him like a roaring lion. In times like this, when you do not really
have faith in the Lord, you will end up as his victim.
Satan
tries incessantly to destroy the faith of the born-again, saying, “How
can you believe in God when you are so insufficient?” Therefore, you
must stand firmly on your faith. You must make your stand on your faith,
saying, “Stay away from me, Satan! I may be so, but the Lord has saved
me!”
Having
received the remission of our sins, as we follow the Lord, there are
many times when we face such worrisome, fearful, and difficult problems.
Whenever we face them, we must pray to God all the more, believing that
Jesus Christ is God Himself, and by having this faith, we must seek His
help. If we have faith, we will surely experience the helping hands of
God.
You
and I must realize and believe that it was to teach us faith that the
Lord performed the miracle of five loaves and two fish. You and I must
learn faith through the Word of God, the Truth. We cannot afford to be
without faith, either to be saved or to serve the gospel. We must
believe in the Word of God. We must also have faith that everything will
be fulfilled according to God’s Word. The Bible, the written Word of
God, is the Truth.
Lately,
my head has felt heavy and I wondered why. Suddenly it dawned on me
that it was because I had been working with someone who was not born
again, and that this was why I had been deceived by a worthless weasel.
My trouble with him was the cause of my headache. So when I analyzed all
the factors of such troubles, I reached the conclusion that the root of
the problem was because I had partnered and worked with someone who was
not born again. The Bible says, “Do not be unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with
lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness” (2 Corinthians
6:14)? This is the truth; it was because I had ignored it that I faced
these problems. When we work with someone who is truly born again God
helps us, and so if we pray to God to help us, everything works out fine
with His help even if we know nothing. But trying to work with someone
who has not received the remission of sin is so agonizing. Indeed, we
the righteous should not work with anyone who is not born again.
We
can find another lesson from the Old Testament. When Israel was divided
into two kingdoms, by north and south, one of the kings of the southern
kingdom allied with the king of the northern kingdom and waged war
against and invaded another nation. The faith of the northern kingdom
had been corrupted from the beginning, for its first king Jeroboam had
made two calves of gold as its people’s gods and altered the sacrificial
system on his own authority. Therefore, the alliance between the two
kingdoms was formed out of lawlessness. This is why many of their people
were killed and faced so much suffering.
We
should not take God’s Word lightly. Rather, we have to fear His Word.
Through my recent experience, I have realized again even more deeply
that the Word of God is true, and I had a repenting heart for my
wrongdoing. And I prayed to God not to face such a temptation again. I
hope you also would have the same faith in God and His Word.
Who
is Jesus? He is the Son of God and our Savior. He is the Lord of life
who created the universe and us, and has blotted out all our sins with
the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. As you follow the Lord,
you must also really place your faith in this true God Jesus. “You are
the Christ, the Son of the living God.” We must have such a mind and
such faith in our hearts.
There
must be this faith in our hearts clearly, and we must go and stand
before God with this faith. Jesus is our Shepherd, and the Father of
Jesus Christ is our Father. Therefore, when we ask God the Father and
Jesus Christ for help, God listens to our prayers according to His will,
and He surely helps us. Because we are the people of God and His
children, and because He is our Father and our Shepherd, He helps us. We
must have this faith firmly. In fact, it is because you and I have this
faith that we can live spiritually. And every born-again must live by
this faith.
We
can summarize today’s Scripture passage into two sentences: “Jesus went
to pray,” and “Jesus performed miracles and signs.” In other words, it
shows us the truth that Jesus has humanity and divinity in His essence.
As we see that Jesus was both human and divine, we should have strong
faith in the truth that even though He is God Himself, He is also the
Lamb of God who came in the flesh of man as our Savior. And we have to
trust Him as the Omnipotent God and live by such faith.
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