The Simple, Extravagant Meal
And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men. (Mark 6:41-44)
A huge crowd of people followed Jesus, hearing Him teach and wondering with amazement at the miracles He did. The multitude was hungry; the disciples wanted to send them away, but Jesus wanted to feed them.
The disciples quickly estimated that it would take about a year’s wages to feed them all and could only think of telling them to go away. The disciple’s solution was to get rid of the need by getting rid of the needy. Clearly, they thought spending about a year’s income to feed this multitude for one meal was not only impossible but also a waste.
Jesus’ suggestion must have seemed so extravagant to the disciples. “Jesus if we had that kind of money, we would never spend it on one meal for this crowd. They annoy us, and they would be hungry again in a few hours. Shouldn’t the money be spent on something else?” But Jesus would perform an extravagant miracle because He wanted to sit down to a dinner with the multitude – because He loved them.
When Jesus looked up to heaven and blessed before the meal, He didn’t bless the food; He blessed God for supplying it. The idea of praying before a meal isn’t to bless the food; it is to bless God in the sense of thanking and honoring Him for blessing us with the food.
They were so blessed that they all ate and were filled. Jesus miraculously multiplied the loaves and fishes, until far more than 5,000 were fed. Seemingly, the miracle happened in the hands of Jesus.
It seemed too extravagant. Why feed the multitude until they were filled and couldn’t eat any more? Why not just give them a little meal? Wouldn’t that be enough? No. Jesus had people He loved over for dinner, and He will always provide more than enough food. That’s how much Jesus loved them and loves us.
Jesus provided extravagantly, yet simply. If He was making food miraculously, He could have served steak and lobster, but Jesus gave them a simple menu: bread and fish. When Jesus provides, don’t be surprised if He provides simply.
If someone left hungry, it was either because they refused the bread from Jesus or because the apostles didn’t distribute the bread to everyone. Jesus supplied plenty for everybody to eat a good meal. But everybody had to eat for himself. Sometimes when we attend a spiritual meal, we gather food for everyone else except ourselves.
By faith, receive what Jesus serves to you today – Himself, the bread of life.