TEXT [Commentary]

3. Jesus feeds five thousand (14:13-21; cf. Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15)

13 As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. 14 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15 That evening the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”

16 But Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.”

17 “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” they answered.

18 “Bring them here,” he said. 19 Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. 20 They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. 21 About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!

NOTES

14:13-14 he left in a boat to a remote area. As John’s imprisonment marked the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (4:12), so John’s death prompted Jesus to withdraw to a remote place. John’s demise hinted at the demise of Jesus (17:12), and at this strategic time Jesus withdrew by boat to the less inhabited region east of the Sea of Galilee. Why Jesus left is not stated, but perhaps it was to grieve and pray (14:23), to avoid Antipas’s interest and hostility (14:1-2), or to teach his disciples privately.

the crowds heard where he was headed and followed . . . he had compassion on them and healed their sick. When the press of the needy crowds did not permit private reflection, Jesus responded with compassion and healed the sick. The description of Jesus as a compassionate healer recalls 4:23-24; 9:35-36 and anticipates 15:30-32. It contrasts with the less concerned, more pragmatic view of the disciples in 14:15; 15:33.

14:15 The feeding of the five thousand is found in all four Gospels (cf. Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-13), though the later, similar feeding of the four thousand is found only in 15:32-39 and Mark 8:1-9.

Send the crowds away. The disciples wanted to be rid of the hungry crowd, and maintained that their food resources were inadequate when Jesus told them to feed the people.

14:18 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Jesus took what little food the disciples had, five loaves of bread and two fish (evidently dried), looked up to heaven (cf. 1 Esdr 4:58), blessed the bread, and broke it into pieces. The “blessing” of the bread involved praise to God for supplying it. The blessing used by Jesus may have been similar to the traditional Jewish prayer dating back to the Mishnah (m. Berakhot 6:1), “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who brings forth bread from the earth.” Bread and fish were evidently staples of the diet of Jews in Galilee (cf. 7:9-10; John 21:9-10).

14:19-21 distributed it. Jesus gave the pieces to the disciples, who then gave the pieces to the crowd. Amazingly, there was enough to go around, with much more left over (twelve full baskets) than the little there had been to begin with. Five thousand men were fed, not to mention the women and children who accompanied them.

COMMENTARY [Text]

One might naturally conclude from Matthew 4:13-21 that Jesus fed the five thousand out of compassion for hungry people. The miracle also demonstrated Jesus’ Kingdom authority and challenged people to believe in him. But in addition to this straightforward interpretation of the miracle, a number of approaches have been suggested. Barclay (1975:102-103) suggests that the “miracle” should be understood as a spontaneous sharing of the food that had been brought by individuals, due to the power of Jesus’ example. Jesus takes the meager stores that the disciples have brought and begins to distribute them, others follow suit, and there is more than enough to go around. Thus, the miracle is a matter of selfishness being overcome by generosity as everyone follows Jesus’ example. Despite the wholesome lesson derived by this interpretation, it cannot be sustained exegetically. It is clear from the passage that the meager stores of the disciples, five loaves and two fish, were somehow miraculously multiplied to feed a crowd of perhaps twenty-thousand people. There is no mention of others bringing out additional food, or any comment about selfishness being turned into generosity. This is a miracle story, not a fable about generosity.

Another interpretation stresses the Eucharistic overtones in the passage, viewing it as “an allegory of the Eucharist” (Davies and Allison 1991:481). Indeed, there are so many clear verbal parallels between Matthew 14:13-21 and 26:20-29 that some connection between the two seems inevitable. But it seems to be a stretch to read the story of the Last Supper and subsequent Christian sacramental practice back into this story of hungry people being miraculously fed. It is more likely that Matthew intended his readers to view this story as reminiscent of the miraculous feeding of the Israelites with manna in the wilderness (Exod 16; Deut 8:3; Neh 9:20; Ps 78:24; John 6:30-59) and as anticipatory of the eschatological messianic banquet alluded to in 8:11 and 26:29 (cf. Rev 2:17). Matthew may have also intended the reader to hear echoes of the ministries of Elijah (1 Kgs 17:9-16) and Elisha (2 Kgs 4:42-44). Just as God had miraculously met the needs of his people in former days through Moses, Elijah, and Elisha, so he met their needs ultimately through his beloved Son, the definitive prophet and teacher of Israel, Jesus (cf. Ps 132:13-18). While the number of loaves and fishes seem intended only to show the inadequacy of the disciples’ resources, the detail that there were twelve baskets of leftover food is probably significant (16:9-10; 19:28). In Jesus there is shalom [TH7965, ZH8934] (peace, wholeness), an abundance of messianic blessings for Israel.

In this passage, Jesus continues to strengthen and develop the faith of his disciples. They learn two lessons from Jesus: compassion and faith. When they coldly wanted to dismiss the multitudes, Jesus compassionately chose to feed them. When they viewed their meager resources as inadequate for the need, Jesus nevertheless commanded them to meet the need. They learned to model their ministries after the compassionate model of Jesus and to believe in his power to multiply their resources.