Bible Lesson: Miracles Of Jesus; Five Thousand Fed.
Location: N.E. Galilee (Bethsaida)
Bible Text: Mark 6:30-44 KJV/ Matthew 14:13/ Luke 9:10/ John 6:5-13.
30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
31 And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew Him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and out went them, and came together unto Him.
34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them many things.
35 And when the day was now far spent, His disciples came unto Him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:
36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
39 And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided He among them all.
42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
Mark 6:30-44 NLT
30 The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told Him all they had done and taught.
31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn’t even have time to eat.
32 So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone.
33 But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.
34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as He stepped from the boat, and He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things.
35 Late in the afternoon His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late.
36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”
37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”
38 “How much bread do you have?” He asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass.
40 So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.
41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, He kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share.
42 They all ate as much as they wanted,
43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.
44 A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!
Mark 6:30-31 KJV
30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
31 And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
The disciples having just buried the body of the beloved John the baptist, having been beheaded by Herod Antipas, Jesus instructs them, as He does all weary ministers of the gospel, “ Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.”
Mark 6:32-34 KJV
32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew Him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and out went them, and came together unto Him.
34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them many things.
Jesus and His disciples, entered into a ship and set off from the N.E. shore of Galilee (Bethsaida) to the N.W. shore of Galilee, a distance of some ten miles.
Some of the Jesus' followers had seen Him leave in the ship, and they ran on the shore to go before Him.
Of interest to some is the fact that those on foot, preceded the Master and His disciples, by boat, how could this be? It could more than likely be due to the winds on Galilee being against the ship.
Jesus never lacked for followers, how hungry the soul of man is, and that has not changed in 2000 years.
Our great Saviour, “was moved with compassion toward them,” what of us?
Matthew 9:35-38 KJV
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
37 Then saith He unto His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest.
Mark 6:35-38 KJV
35 And when the day was now far spent, His disciples came unto Him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:
36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
How like man, the disciples answer to the thousands of tired and hungry was...”Send them away.”
The faithless heart of man, knows only human reasoning.
Man's soulless answer is “you can give a man a fish, or you can teach him to fish.”
This saying never came from the lips of a caring, giving, sacrificing God, who gave all that He had, until His very life itself, was given!
Rather it comes from the hearts of stingy, selfish, greedy men!
Our blessed Saviour's compassion, love and faith, changed water into wine, healed the sick and raised the dead.
Luke 6:38 KJV Our Saviour taught us...
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Matthew 10:8 KJV
"...freely ye have received, freely give."
Matthew 9:29 KJV He said...
"...According to your faith be it unto you."
Mark 6:39-41 KJV
39 And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided He among them all.
Our Lord, never sends anyone away empty!
Our Lord, never sends anyone away empty!
Philippians 4:6,19 KJV
6 Be careful for (anxious over) nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
19 But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Genesis 18:14 KJV
"Is any thing too hard for the LORD?..."
To man, the miraculous is beyond the norm.
To God, the miraculous is the norm.
Looking up to heaven in prayer, our Lord, blessed and broke the loaves and fish, and gave them to His disciples to distribute the the people.
Mark 6:42-44 KJV
42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
It has been well said, that if there were some 5,000 men on this day, what would the count be if the wives and children had been counted, 10,000-15,000, more?
What do you need today, there is always abundance at the hands of the Saviour.
John 10:10 KJV
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
II Corinthians 9:8 KJV
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
Ephesians 3:20 KJV
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Mark 11:22 KJV
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
II Chronicles 20:20 KJV
"... Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established;.."
John 6:28,29 KJV
28 Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.
Hebrews 11:6 KJV
But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
