SERMON ON THE MOUNT - JESUS FEEDS THE 5000/4000

 

As Jesus finished his Sermon on the Mount, He knew he needed to feed the people who had come to listen listen to Him. In the 4 Gospels we read these 4 stories of the feeding of the 4000 and the 5000. 

"As the evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said: "This is a remote place and it is already getting late. Send the crowd away, so they can go to the village to buy themselves something to eat. Jesus told the disciples to go and buy the food. Philip turned to Jesus: 

"Where shall we find food? 8 months of wages would not buy enough food. There are 5000 (4000) men, women and children." Matthew 15:15&16 (NCV)

In this story we hear of a little boy who shared his lunch with Jesus, who shared these with all the people - a special miracle!

This is my first "story book" , in which I gave this little boy a name: "Ben."

"One morning Ben had been down at the lake fishing. He ran home to show his mum what he had caught. 

"Look Mum. I have two fish. Can I have them for lunch?"

"These are only two small fish, Ben, not enough for a small, young boy.  Here are some small loaves of bread I just made. I'll cook the fish and you can have them too."

After his Mum cooked the fish, Ben packed them in his lunch box with his bread and headed out the door.

"Hey, Ben, where are you going?", his mother called after him.

"I'm going to see Jesus. He is just wonderful. You should come and hear Him too Mum."

Ben had no trouble finding Jesus; he just followed the crowds. They were seated on a hillside and Ben sat down to listen to Him speak. Time passed by, but he was too enthralled to leave."   

Ben heard Jesus talking to hs disciples so he went up to Andrew:

"Excuse me, if Jesus is hungry, He can have my lunch."

Jesus smiled: "Thank you Ben".   (Ruth Cheater)

Lets go back to the Gospels: 

Of course, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John's retell, the little boy who shared his lunch with Jesus doesn't have a name, but Jesus knew that he had love and compassion because he had been listening to Jesus' stories. Jesus knew that His people needed to be fed, and he knew that this little boy was offering to be used for Jesus' "miracle". 

"Jesus said, "Tell the people to sit down." ......Then Jesus took the loaves of bread , THANKED GOD FOR THEM, and gave them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, giving as much as the people wanted. When they all had enough to eat, Jesus said to His followers: "Gather the leftover pieces of fish and bread so that nothing is wasted." So they gathered up the pieces of fish and bread so nothing is wasted."  So they gathered up the pieces of fish and filled 12 baskets with the pieces left from the five barley loaves." John 6:10-13 (NCV)

Jesus had LOVE AND COMPASSION for all his people, and "he raised His eyes to say THANK YOU" to His Father for the food the boy had given them. He "gathered up the fragmants", and young Ben was also amazed, not only at Jesus' miracles, but his KINDNESS AND MERCY. 

"I have compassion on these people. They have already been with me 2 days. I did not want to send them away hungry. They may have collapsed on the way." John Cloves (1817) "The Miracles of Jesus - the Loaves and Fishes (4000)"

My name is Ben and I'm just a kid,            But you won't believe what I just did.  Well, it wasn't really me of course,           It's Jesus, He's my Saviour! 

I had some food that I wanted to share, People were hungry, there were 5000 there.  There were only two fishes,        Little ones too, And 5 barley loaves,       That somehow grew.

But Jesus was able to feed the all,           With just one lunch that was really small. I couldn't believe, when I saw,                  Each time He broke it, there was more.

Of course He gave some food to me,             It was then that I could really see.           The LOVE that shone out of his eyes, I knew that His teaching had not been lies.

He taught us HOW TO LOVE and to show WE CARE,                                                            And Jesus did this the day I was there. I'll never forget that MIRACLE,                       The day those 5000 people's stomachs were filled.     Ruth Cheater

"HOLY BIBLE - NEW KING JAMES VERSION", 1982, Thomas Nelson

"HOLY BIBLE - NEW CENTURY VERSION," 2005, Thomas Nelson

"Jesus Feeds the 5000 - Miracle Songs for Kids/Bible Songs", 2024, Christian Songs for Kids/You Tube

"CHEATER, Ruth, "Ben Shares His Lunch With Jesus"', 1995),  Kids Bible Stories

CLOVES, John, "The Miracles of Jesus - the Loaves and Fishes (4000)" 1817, A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture.