Five loaves, two fishes and a boy’s lunch: the feeding of the five thousand

Every Gospel writer thought this story was worth telling. The feeding of the five thousand appears in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the only miracle of Jesus, other than the resurrection, recorded in all four.

A hungry crowd

Large crowds followed Jesus because they had seen His miracles of healing. In John 6, Jesus went up a mountain near the Sea of Galilee with His disciples. When He looked up, He saw a great company coming towards Him. Jesus asked Philip, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” John notes that He said this to test Philip, “for he himself knew what he would do”. Philip calculated that two hundred pennyworth of bread would not be enough for everyone to have a little.

A boy's lunch

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said: “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” Barley loaves were the bread of the poor. Jesus told the disciples to make the people sit down. There was much grass in the place. The men numbered about five thousand, and the other Gospels note that women and children were there too.

Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed them, and did the same with the fishes, “as much as they would”.

Twelve baskets

When everyone was full, Jesus told the disciples to gather the fragments, “that nothing be lost”. They filled twelve baskets with leftovers. The next day, the crowd found Jesus again. He told them not to work for food that perishes, and declared: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger.” The miracle pointed to something greater than a meal.

Preachers often focus on the boy. He had very little, but he gave it. Andrew wondered what such a small amount could do. The story answers that question: in Jesus’s hands, it fed thousands.

Nothing wasted

Matthew, Mark and Luke tell the story with small differences. In their accounts, the disciples urge Jesus to send the crowd away to buy food, and Jesus replies, “Give ye them to eat.” Mark adds that Jesus had compassion on the crowd, “because they were as sheep not having a shepherd”. One detail is easy to miss: Jesus cared about the leftovers. The God who provides in abundance also asks that nothing be wasted, a lesson that fits comfortably in any household trying to stretch what it has.