John the Baptist had just been beheaded (fittingly, so as not to confuse the fact that ONLY Christ is the "head" of the church, and NOT man) and after hearing this, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee with His disciples to rest from all the ministry they had been doing. Upon hearing that Jesus was in the area, the multitudes flocked to Him bringing with them all their sick and Jesus, seeing the multitudes, was moved with compassion and healed them.
Now the hour was late and the disciples starting getting nervous because they knew that they had to feed these folks and this wasn't your garden variety "church picnic!" They reasoned among themselves, "How are we gonna feed ALL of these people?" If you read closely, the Bible says that there were 5,000 MEN (that did not include women and children). The actual number of people was probably closer to 20-25,000! Keep in mind, the disciples had just witnessed Jesus healing hundreds of people of every manner of sickness and disease. How is it possible that they could be concerned about the Lord God's ability to feed the masses? They themselves had performed many miracles (preaching the gospel, casting out demons and healing the sick) among the people at that time!
The disciples had no food and had only 200 denarii (the #200 represents "insufficiency or expectancy") among them (about 2/3's of one year's wages) and concluded that that was not enough to feed this throng of people. Along comes a little boy and they secured his lunch which included two fish (The #2 represents "Christ") and "five loaves" of bread (the #5 represent the "grace kingdom of God"). Two fish and five loaves of bread equals seven articles of food. The #7 represents "perfection and completion of a finished work" in God's economy.
The disciples wanted to send the multitude away because of "fear." How quickly they had forgotten who they were and what the Lord God had given to them. How quickly "fear" replace "faith!" They were in a deserted place and it was getting "dark." Desertion and darkness are two profound elements of fear! "But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." (Matt 14:16). Wow! Don't miss this! Jesus compelled them to feed the masses. "You" feed them. "You" give them something to eat. "You solve the problem!"
I must emphasize this point; Jesus NEVER fed the multitude directly!, He blessed the food (symbolizing His thankfulness to God for the provision) and then He broke the bread (symbolizing His "communion" with the Father and a forewarning of His body that was to be battered in order that the "lost" might be redeemed) and then He "gave" the food to the disciples who then gave the food to the multitude. The tense of the verb "gave" in the Greek suggests that the multiplication of the loaves and the fish took place in Jesus' hands as He continued or kept giving the bread and fish to His disciples.
Outside of the miracle of the multiplication of the food and the "excess" made available to the disciples, the most profound revelation in this message is that we, as Believers, have the power to do all things through Christ if we have faith. Faith is a verb. It is an action word! We are required to demonstrate our faith by "doing something" and are urged not to falter by "making excuses."
Notice, Jesus does not PRAY and ASK GOD for the two fish and loaves of bread to be multiplied, HE JUST GIVES THANKS! They even had "leftovers!" Selah...
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