Luke 9:10-17: Jesus Feeds the 5,000

There are only 2 miracles of Christ that are recorded in all four gospels, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and the feeding of the 5000. Jesus did many more miracles than the gospels record, but few had such an impact as the feeding of the 5,000. There was another less well remembered feeding of the 4,000 as well, Mark 8:1-9. Here is what John tells us happened after Jesus fed the 5,000, 6:14-15, ‘When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.’ Moses prophesied that The Prophet would come from God, Deut. 18:15; a prophet like him. Moses came to Israel when they were in bondage to Egypt and performed miracles and remember God gave the bread in the wilderness to feed them while Moses led them. Now here is Jesus, they are under Roman oppression, He is performing miracles and now also miraculously feeding them. They were so moved by this miracle that they wanted to make Him king. Imagine it, Jesus would run the perfect welfare state where all sicknesses would be healed so there would be no need for medical aid or long waiting lists for cures; and food could be provided for free. But Jesus did not perform this miracle in order to advance a political or social agenda. What purpose then does this miracle serve?

There are three things that we are going to be highlighting from this passage. Firstly, Jesus is still training the twelve, we will see Him teach them lessons about His provision, as well as His provision through them. Secondly, we want to observe the compassion of Christ. And thirdly, this miracle is a prelude to Christ announcing Himself as the Bread of Life. We will touch on these three concerns under two headings, Jesus compassion and Jesus provision.

Apologies for the beginning of the sermon being cut off; we had a technical glitch.