Walking With Christ

The feeding of the five thousand is, perhaps, one of the best known stories of the bible. It is recorded in all four of the gospels. Each one has a slightly different perspective on the events, in part, because each writer wanted to focus on a different aspect of the events.

For reference: Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:1-14.

This entire story is about people not having enough. There was a lot of people and very little food. It was obvious to everyone involved that there was not going to be enough. Notice that Jesus did three things when He got the bread in His hands.

He blessed the bread.
He broke the bread.
He gave away the bread.

He took what was not enough and turned it into a never ending buffet that had twelves backets full of left-overs. Once Jesus did these three things the story changed from not having enough to a little is more than enough. Desolation turned to abundance. Emptiness and hunger was fed to overflowing.

We are the bread of this story. On our own we cannot be enough. In the hands of Jesus, we are blessed. We all want the blessing, but not everyone understands the importance of the next part. See, Jesus took the bread that had already been prepared and broke it. It was perfectly edible bread despite the imperfections of the cracks and holes. Jesus took this good but imperfect bread and broke it so that it could be shared. Before He broke it, He blessed it to make something that was unqualified qualified and unworthy worthy. His blessing took something that was not enough and made it more than enough.

Like the water He turned to wine, the bread would have been absolutely amazing and perfect for the two people it would have fed. Those two would have gone their entire lives telling people how great the bread was. That also wasn’t the point of the story or the lesson He was trying to teach. He can make great wine. He probably made some really great bread. A blessing that is not shared isn’t worth that much to the world or the kingdom. In order for Jesus to share this blessing He had to break it. Bread that is not broken cannot be shared with the world.

Then He gave away the bread that He had broken. He gave it away to others who were hungry for it. The whole world understands the hunger for something more. People can spend their entire lives searching for it. In His hands, we become the bread that the world was hungry for but didn’t know it needed. This will lead them to the something more that’s been missing from their lives.

Through Jesus, we are perfected in our brokenness because He will bless us to be more than enough, holy, and qualified. Remember, be blessed, be broken, and share that with the world.