5000 men

Jesus fed 5000 men (plus women and children) with five loves of home made peasant bread and 2 small fishes.   We can read about this amazing miracle in Matthew 14:15-22, "And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.  But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.  And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me.  And he  commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, 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 of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.  And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away."   This was a super miracle. Everybody had been there all day and many of them had not brought anything with them to eat. One little boy had a lunch his mother prepared for him. He was willing to share it, and then Jesus prayed, and shared it with the disciples, who shared it with the people. And when all was said and done, after all the people had eaten all they wanted, 12 baskets of fragments, of leftovers if you will, were gathered up.   Where did all these people come from? Five thousand men, plus woman and children. That is a whole lot of people. Jesus did not advertise, "come to hear the gospel by the sea." There were no newspapers, or radio or television in those days. They did not have the internet with UTube to promote things. In fact, Jesus did absolutely NO advertising of any kind.   These people could have all been someplace else. They had jobs. They had other things that probably needed doing. So what was it that caused them to skip work, to stop their house cleaning, to set aside all the plans for that day to go and listen to Jesus instead?   I am trying to put myself right into the story. WHAT was the thing that drew these people to Jesus.What could he have possibly said or done that would make all these people from all different walks of life, from poor people to wealthy people, from the leaders to the lowliest followers come  out to hear Jesus?   It was the fact that Jesus LOVED them. He was talking to them about a kingdom founded on LOVE. His ideas and concepts were so startling and innovative, so mind boggling and yet compelling that these 5000 men (plus women and children) not only came to hear what Jesus said, they stayed all day. They were spell bound by what they were hearing.   It made sense. It fed the deep longings of their hearts. Jesus showed them he loved them. There were entire villages  where Jesus had passed through where there was not even one sick person. Jesus had healed them all. He LOVED them.   He did not just TALK about love, he WALKED the walk about love. He healed them all. And here we find that the disciples were concerned. These people had been listening to Jesus all day!!! They had not gone anywhere. They could not get enough. And now it was almost night. The disciples were suddenly aware that THEY were hungry. They said, "Jesus, send the people away so they can go into the surrounding towns and villages and get something to eat." And Jesus said, "no.I have a better idea. YOU feed them."   With WHAT? the disciples asked. Even if we had thousands of dollars, we can not buy a meal out here away from all the towns and villages. There are no facilities here to cook anything. How are we supposed to feed this vast multitude. There were probably at least 10,000 people there including women and children as well as the men. Imagine the expense of catering for that many people. It would have cost a fortune, if it could have even been done. I mean a simple wedding meal today costs several thousand dollars for a few hundred guests.   And Jesus said, YOU feed them. One disciple said, "all we have is this one little boys sack lunch." All it is is 5 small loves and two tiny fishes. What good is that among 10,000 people? It barely will feed the boy who brought it. You have got to be kidding Jesus. Feed these people. HOW???   Then Jesus blessed that tiny bit of food and started giving it to his disciples. They started handing it out to the crowd of people. And everyone ate all they needed, and there were twelve baskets of left overs. One basket for each disciple. YES!! It was a miracle.   The disciples knew it. The people knew it. The little boy who shared his lunch with Jesus knew it.   Imagine the story he had to tell his mother.   "Mom!! You won't believe what happened!! Jesus took that little lunch you gave me and fed over ten thousand people."   Why did not Jesus send the crowds away hungry? It would have been the sensible thing to do. It was what the disciples suggested.   I would suggest that he did not send them away hungry because He felt their need. He loved them. This was just a graphic illustration of God's love, of Jesus love. He was teaching everyone, including the twelve apostles, a lesson. It was a lesson that they never forgot. And now we can read about it in the bible.   The reason all those people came out to hear Jesus was that he LOVED them.   Sincerely, David A. Youngs