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Page 364
Chapter 39
“Give Ye Them to Eat”
Christ had retired to a secluded place with His disciples, but this
rare season of peaceful quietude was soon broken. The disciples
thought they had retired where they would not be disturbed; but as
soon as the multitude missed the divine Teacher, they inquired, “Where
is He?” Some among them had noticed the direction in which Christ
and His disciples had gone. Many went by land to meet them, while
others followed in their boats across the water. The Passover was at hand,
and, from far and near, bands of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem
gathered to see Jesus. Additions were made to their number, until there
were assembled five thousand men besides women and children. Before
Christ reached the shore, a multitude were waiting for Him. But He
landed unobserved by them, and spent a little time apart with the
disciples.
From the hillside He looked upon the moving multitude, and His
heart was stirred with sympathy. Interrupted as He was, and robbed
of His rest, He was not impatient. He saw a greater necessity demanding
His attention as He watched the people coming and still coming. He
“was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep
not having a shepherd.” Leaving His retreat, He found a convenient
place where He could minister to them. They received no help from
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the priests and rulers; but the healing waters of life flowed from Christ
as He taught the multitude the way of salvation.
The people listened to the words of mercy flowing so freely from
the lips of the Son of God. They heard the gracious words, so simple
and so plain that they were as the balm of Gilead to their souls. The
healing of His divine hand brought gladness and life to the dying, and
ease and health to those suffering with disease. The day seemed to
them like heaven upon earth, and they were utterly unconscious of how
long it had been since they had eaten anything.
At length the day was far spent. The sun was sinking in the west,
and yet the people lingered. Jesus had labored all day without food
or rest. He was pale from weariness and hunger, and the disciples
besought Him to cease from His toil. But He could not withdraw
Himself from the multitude that pressed upon Him.
The disciples finally came to Him, urging that for their own sake
the people should be sent away. Many had come from far, and had
eaten nothing since morning. In the surrounding towns and villages
they might be able to buy food. But Jesus said, “Give ye them to
eat,” and then, turning to Philip, questioned, “Whence shall we buy
bread, that these may eat?” This He said to test the faith of the
disciple. Philip looked over the sea of heads, and thought how impossible
it would be to provide food to satisfy the wants of such a crowd. He
answered that two hundred pennyworth of bread would not be nearly
enough to divide among them, so that each might have a little. Jesus
inquired how much food could be found among the company. “There
is a lad here,” said Andrew, “which hath five barley loaves, and two
small fishes; but what are they among so many?” Jesus directed that
these be brought to Him. Then He bade the disciples seat the people
on the grass in parties of fifty or a hundred, to preserve order, and that
all might witness what He was about to do. When this was accomplished,
Jesus took the food, “and looking up to heaven, He blessed, and brake,
and gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.”
“And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets
full of the fragments, and of the fishes.”
He who taught the people the way to secure peace and happiness
was just as thoughtful of their temporal necessities as of their spiritual
need. The people were weary and faint. There were mothers with
babes in their arms, and little children clinging to their skirts. Many
had been standing for hours. They had been so intensely interested
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in Christ’s words that they had not once thought of sitting down, and
the crowd was so great that there was danger of their trampling on one
another. Jesus would give them a chance to rest, and He bade them sit
down. There was much grass in the place, and all could rest in comfort.
Christ never worked a miracle except to supply a genuine necessity,
and every miracle was of a character to lead the people to the tree of
life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. The simple food
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passed round by the hands of the disciples contained a whole treasure
of lessons. It was humble fare that had been provided; the fishes and
barley loaves were the daily food of the fisher folk about the Sea of
Galilee. Christ could have spread before the people a rich repast, but
food prepared merely for the gratification of appetite would have conveyed
no lesson for their good. Christ taught them in this lesson that
the natural provisions of God for man had been perverted. And never
did people enjoy the luxurious feasts prepared for the gratification of
perverted taste as this people enjoyed the rest and the simple food which
Christ provided so far from human habitations.
If men today were simple in their habits, living in harmony with
nature’s laws, as did Adam and Eve in the beginning, there would be
an abundant supply for the needs of the human family. There would
be fewer imaginary wants, and more opportunities to work in God’s
ways. But selfishness and the indulgence of unnatural taste have brought
sin and misery into the world, from excess on the one hand, and from
want on the other.
Jesus did not seek to attract the people to Him by gratifying the
desire for luxury. To that great throng, weary and hungry after the
long, exciting day, the simple fare was an assurance not only of His
power, but of His tender care for them in the common needs of life.
The Saviour has not promised His followers the luxuries of the world;
their fare may be plain, and even scanty; their lot may be shut in by
poverty; but His word is pledged that their need shall be supplied, and
He has promised that which is far better than worldly good,—the
abiding comfort of His own presence.
In feeding the five thousand, Jesus lifts the veil from the world of
nature, and reveals the power that is constantly exercised for our good.
In the production of earth’s harvests God is working a miracle every
day. Through natural agencies the same work is accomplished that
was wrought in the feeding of the multitude. Men prepare the soil
and sow the seed, but it is the life from God that causes the seed to
germinate. It is God’s rain and air and sunshine that cause it to put
forth, “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.”
Mark 4:28. It is God who is every day feeding millions from earth’s
harvest fields. Men are called upon to co-operate with God in the care
of the grain and the preparation of the loaf, and because of this they lose
sight of the divine agency. They do not give God the glory due unto
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His holy name. The working of His power is ascribed to natural causes
or to human instrumentality. Man is glorified in place of God, and His
gracious gifts are perverted to selfish uses, and made a curse instead of
a blessing. God is seeking to change all this. He desires that our
dull senses shall be quickened to discern His merciful kindness and to
glorify Him for the working of His power. He desires us to recognize
Him in His gifts, that they may be, as He intended, a blessing to us.
It was to accomplish this purpose that the miracles of Christ were
performed.
After the multitude had been fed, there was an abundance of food
left. But He who had all the resources of infinite power at His command
said, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”
These words meant more than putting the bread into the baskets. The
lesson was twofold. Nothing is to be wasted. We are to let slip no
temporal advantage. We should neglect nothing that will tend to benefit
a human being. Let everything be gathered up that will relieve the
necessity of earth’s hungry ones. And there should be the same carefulness
in spiritual things. When the baskets of fragments were collected,
the people thought of their friends at home. They wanted them to
share in the bread that Christ had blessed. The contents of the baskets
were distributed among the eager throng, and were carried away into
all the region round about. So those who were at the feast were to
give to others the bread that comes down from heaven, to satisfy the
hunger of the soul. They were to repeat what they had learned of
the wonderful things of God. Nothing was to be lost. Not one word
that concerned their eternal salvation was to fall useless to the ground.
The miracle of the loaves teaches a lesson of dependence upon God.
When Christ fed the five thousand, the food was not nigh at hand.
Apparently He had no means at His command. Here He was, with
five thousand men, besides women and children, in the wilderness. He
had not invited the large multitude to follow Him; they came without
invitation or command; but He knew that after they had listened so
long to His instruction, they would feel hungry and faint; for He was
one with them in their need of food. They were far from home, and
the night was close at hand. Many of them were without means to
purchase food. He who for their sake had fasted forty days in the
wilderness would not suffer them to return fasting to their homes. The
providence of God had placed Jesus where He was; and He depended
on His heavenly Father for the means to relieve the necessity.
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And when we are brought into strait places, we are to depend on
God. We are to exercise wisdom and judgment in every action of life,
that we may not, by reckless movements, place ourselves in trial. We
are not to plunge into difficulties, neglecting the means God has provided,
and misusing the faculties He has given us. Christ’s workers are to
obey His instructions implicitly. The work is God’s, and if we would
bless others His plans must be followed. Self cannot be made a center;
self can receive no honor. If we plan according to our own ideas, the
Lord will leave us to our own mistakes. But when, after following His
directions, we are brought into strait places, He will deliver us. We
are not to give up in discouragement, but in every emergency we are to
seek help from Him who has infinite resources at His command. Often
we shall be surrounded with trying circumstances, and then, in the
fullest confidence, we must depend upon God. He will keep every
soul that is brought into perplexity through trying to keep the way of
the Lord.
Christ has bidden us, through the prophet, “Deal thy bread to the
hungry,” and “satisfy the afflicted soul;” “when thou seest the naked,
that thou cover him,” and “bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house.” Isa. 58:7-10. He has bidden us, “Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15. But how often our
hearts sink, and faith fails us, as we see how great is the need, and how
small the means in our hands. Like Andrew looking upon the five barley
loaves and the two little fishes, we exclaim, “What are they among so
many?” Often we hesitate, unwilling to give all that we have, fearing to
spend and to be spent for others. But Jesus has bidden us, “Give ye
them to eat.” His command is a promise; and behind it is the same power
that fed the multitude beside the sea.
In Christ’s act of supplying the temporal necessities of a hungry
multitude is wrapped up a deep spiritual lesson for all His workers.
Christ received from the Father; He imparted to the disciples; they
imparted to the multitude; and the people to one another. So all who
are united to Christ will receive from Him the bread of life, the heavenly
food, and impart it to others.
In full reliance upon God, Jesus took the small store of loaves; and
although there was but a small portion for His own family of disciples,
He did not invite them to eat, but began to distribute to them, bidding
them serve the people. The food multiplied in His hands; and the
hands of the disciples, reaching out to Christ Himself the Bread of
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Life, were never empty. The little store was sufficient for all. After
the wants of the people had been supplied, the fragments were gathered
up, and Christ and His disciples ate together of the precious, Heaven-supplied
food.
The disciples were the channel of communication between Christ and
the people. This should be a great encouragement to His disciples
today. Christ is the great center, the source of all strength. His disciples
are to receive their supplies from Him. The most intelligent, the
most spiritually minded, can bestow only as they receive. Of themselves
they can supply nothing for the needs of the soul. We can impart
only that which we receive from Christ; and we can receive only as
we impart to others. As we continue imparting, we continue to receive;
and the more we impart, the more we shall receive. Thus we may
be constantly believing, trusting, receiving, and imparting.
The work of building up the kingdom of Christ will go forward,
though to all appearance it moves slowly and impossibilities seem to
testify against advance. The work is of God, and He will furnish means,
and will send helpers, true, earnest disciples, whose hands also will be
filled with food for the starving multitude. God is not unmindful of
those who labor in love to give the word of life to perishing souls, who
in their turn reach forth their hands for food for other hungry souls.
In our work for God there is danger of relying too largely upon
what man with his talents and ability can do. Thus we lose sight of
the one Master Worker. Too often the worker for Christ fails to realize
his personal responsibility. He is in danger of shifting his burden upon
organizations, instead of relying upon Him who is the source of all
strength. It is a great mistake to trust in human wisdom or numbers
in the work of God. Successful work for Christ depends not so much
on numbers or talent as upon pureness of purpose, the true simplicity of
earnest, dependent faith. Personal responsibilities must be borne, personal
duties must be taken up, personal efforts must be made for those who do
not know Christ. In the place of shifting your responsibility upon
someone whom you think more richly endowed than you are, work according
to your ability.
When the question comes home to your heart, “Whence shall we
buy bread, that these may eat?” let not your answer be the response
of unbelief. When the disciples heard the Saviour’s direction, “Give ye
them to eat,” all the difficulties arose in their minds. They questioned,
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Shall we go away into the villages to buy food? So now, when the
people are destitute of the bread of life, the Lord’s children question,
Shall we send for someone from afar, to come and feed them? But
what said Christ? “Make the men sit down,” and He fed them there.
So when you are surrounded by souls in need, know that Christ is there.
Commune with Him. Bring your barley loaves to Jesus.
The means in our possession may not seem to be sufficient for the
work; but if we will move forward in faith, believing in the all-sufficient
power of God, abundant resources will open before us. If the work be
of God, He Himself will provide the means for its accomplishment. He
will reward honest, simple reliance upon Him. The little that is wisely
and economically used in the service of the Lord of heaven will increase
in the very act of imparting. In the hand of Christ the small supply of
food remained undiminished until the famished multitude were satisfied.
If we go to the Source of all strength, with our hands of faith outstretched
to receive, we shall be sustained in our work, even under the
most forbidding circumstances, and shall be enabled to give to others
the bread of life.
The Lord says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” “He that
soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth with
blessings shall reap also with blessings. . . . And God is able to
make all grace abound unto you; that ye, having always all sufficiency
in everything, may abound unto every good work; as it is written,—
“He hath scattered abroad, he hath given to the poor:
His righteousness abideth forever.
“And He that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply
and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your
righteousness: ye being enriched in everything unto all liberality, which
worketh through us thanksgiving to God.” Luke 6:38; 2 Cor. 9:6-11, R. V., margin.
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