Bible Study from Matthew 14:13-21
Loaves and Fishes All through the Old Testament and here in Matthew you’ll find astounding miracles.
All of these feats are amazing but to me, the miracle where Jesus feeds five thousand people is one of the most amazing of all!
Five thousand people fed from five loaves of bread and two fish.
This was certainly a great miracle of Christ but there is at least one feat that was greater…
Our salvation.
Miracle of the Loaves and Fish – Jesus Feeds Five Thousand People
Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.
When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.
“This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!”
They *said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”
And He said, “Bring them here to Me.”
Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied.
They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets.
There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children. – Matthew 14:13-21 NASB
Greatest Miracles of the Bible?
Two loaves and five fish feed 5,000! And, twelve baskets of food left over! Wow!
To me, this is one of the most impressive miracles of the Bible.
The five thousand could have been many more as the people of Israel did not normally count women and children in their numbers.
Jewish Math
I said “could have been” because of the way the Jews counted.
They sometimes used a very large number (i.e. five or ten thousand) if there were too many people to count quickly.
It could have been only a thousand or five hundred.
Let’s speculate and say there were only 600 people in the crowd.
Still, a miracle beyond belief to feed that many from the small amount of food the disciples distributed. And, to have anything left is amazing.
Why Did Jesus Perform Miracles?
All this aside, Jesus did not perform these miracles of healing and feeding the crowd just to make himself known as some sort of “magician”.
As stated in verse 14, He did these things because He “had compassion for them“.
Just as He was then, Christ is still just as loving and compassionate today.
To show His compassion for us ..
He was willing to go to the cross and die so that we might live.
What is the Greatest Miracle of Christ?
[easyazon_image align=”left” height=”160″ identifier=”031027303X” locale=”US” src=”https://makingchristknown.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/41r1Gd1rMzL.SL160-1.jpg” tag=”bobpardphot-20″ width=”115″]The death and the resurrection for our sins is the greatest miracle Christ ever performed.
All we have to do is accept His gift by believing and accepting Christ as our personal Savior.
Have you made that choice?
Love In Christ
– Bob
If you would like to discover how to receive the love and life-changing experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to read John 3:16 for more information.