Miraculous Multiplication (Luke 9:10–17) | The Gospel of Luke (Part 63)

Transcript

JRNT 114
8/16/2026
The Gospel of Luke (Part 63)
Miraculous Multiplication
Luke 9:10-17
Jesse Randolph

Well, it is an exciting morning already, I’d invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 9. Luke 9, last time in our study of Luke, we saw that Jesus was multiplying His ministry through the Twelve whom He had originally called. Initially, He had been preaching the Kingdom of God, now they were. Initially, He had been proclaiming the Gospel, now they were. Initially, He was casting out demons, now they were. He had been healing the sick and the disease, now they would be too. Jesus was intentionally multiplying His ministry through these men, you’ll recall, because as we’re going to see later in Luke 9, the focus of His own ministry was about to change as He was about to go from ministering to the region of Galilee, to planting His heel in the ground to turning that heel and to setting His face, Luke 9:51 says, to go on to Jerusalem. It would be in Jerusalem where He would initially be received but then rejected. It would be in Jerusalem where He would be arrested and accused. It would be in Jerusalem where He would be flogged and tortured before eventually being nailed to a cross, where He would bleed and die for the sins, as it says in I John 2:2 “of the whole world.” So, Jesus was multiplying His ministry. He was entrusting the Twelve with more and more responsibility. Because He knew He would soon be going to Jerusalem and He would soon be going to die, and His message would need to be carried on in His eventual absence, through these men.

And we saw last time that these men followed orders. They dutifully follow their Master’s commands. In fact, look at Luke 9:6, which was a text we covered last Sunday where it says, “And departing, they were going throughout the villages, proclaiming the Gospel and healing everywhere.” So, they had been given these instructions to go out and preach the Gospel on behalf of, and with the authority of Jesus and they did so. They didn’t resist, they didn’t drag their heels, they didn’t protest, they didn’t tell Jesus they’d “pray about it” before they decided whether they’d follow His command. No. He “sent them out to preach, that’s what it says in Luke 9:2, and to heal.” And that’s what they did, they went about “proclaiming the Gospel and healing everywhere.”

That catches us up to where we’re going to start this morning. We’re going to be in Luke 9, starting in verse 10, and we’re going to work all the way down through verse 17. I’ll read it and then we’ll work through it. God’s Word reads, “And when the apostles returned, they recounted to Him all that they had done. Taking them with Him, He slipped away by Himself to a city called Bethsaida. But when the crowds became aware of this, they followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the Kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing. Now the day was ending, and the twelve came and said to Him, ‘Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and obtain lodging and find provisions, for here we are in a desolate place.’ But He said to them, ‘You give them something to eat!’ And they said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.’ (For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, ‘Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ And they did so and had them all sit down. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them. And He broke them and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full.”

Now, this account is given in all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And many of us are used to hearing the Sunday School version of this account where we learn that the food was in short supply and the people in the crowd were hungry, and their bellies were starting to growl, and Jesus, somehow caused their bellies to fill, as he turned five loaves and two fish into something much greater. hen its only taught at that level, Jesus sounds like He might be a step above your stereotypical Italian grandmother as He takes a little bit of food, and He makes it go a long way. But this isn’t just a Bible story about bread and fish. There’s much more going on in this account. There’s much more of this story than the children’s Bibles tend to portray. Remember when Luke wrote what he wrote here, sending it all the way back to those first few verses, the prologue of Luke’s Gospel. He said he was writing that Theophilus, Luke 1:4, so that he might “know the certainly about the things you have been taught.” Luke was giving Theophilus the full story, the full picture of who this Jesus of Nazareth was. Who He was in His humanity. Who He is in His eternal deity. Why He came. What He did. His motives for doing what He did, and what one must do to receive forgiveness through Him. This account, in our text, of these loaves and these fish it fits within one of those broader purposes for which Luke wrote this Gospel in the first place which was to testify to Jesus’ divine power and His miracle-working ability, as the God-Man, as God in human form and human flesh.

Now, in terms of an outline for this morning, in verse 10, this is what I’ve laid out here, to just frame it and follow along.
Verse 10, we’re going to see A NEED FOR SECLUSION.
Verse 11, we’re going to see A NEED FOR “SOMETHING”.
Verse 12, the beginning of verse 14 there’ll be A NEED FOR SUSTENANCE.
Middle of verse 14 into verse 16 A NEED FOR A SOLUTION.
And then fifth and finally, verse 17 will be A NEED FOR SATISFACTION.

Verse 10 – A NEED FOR SECLUSION.
Again, here’s what Luke writes, directed by the Spirit, he says, “And when the apostles returned, they recounted to Him all that they had done. Taking them with Him, He slipped away by Himself to a city called Bethsaida.”
Now, you may recall that last week, as we came to verse 2 of chapter 9, I noted that the words “He sent them out”, comes from the Greek verb apostello, which means “to send out”, it’s the word from which we get our word – “apostle.” Well, here in our text today, verse 10, Luke is now using this same root word, but it’s the noun form, as he identifies these men, the Twelve, as “apostoloi”, “sent out ones”, “apostles.” Now, up to this point, these men had functioned more like “disciples”, overall, in the account that we’ve seen of them. They’d functioned more like learners, or pupils, or students up to this point. Men who would continue to need to grow, who had much to learn. But now, having gone out, in the account that we saw last week, having been sent out, having gone out to heal, having gone out to proclaim the message of the Gospel they are identified by Luke now, as “apostles.” So, these men, the Twelve, the “apostles”, they came back from the ministry that we saw last week, that they were sent out to perform. They came back from their ministry of preaching and teaching and healing. They “returned” verse 10 says, and as they did so “they recounted to Him [to Jesus] all that they had done.” The sense here is one of joy. It’s one of triumph; it’s one of victory. These apostles had been given victory of some sort, over disease and over the sick, as they performed these miracles of healing. Apparently, there was some success rate with their labors. As they had gone out to preach and proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom, apparently, some had responded favorably. There was some receptivity, in other words, to their proclamation of the Gospel. So, these Twelve, they came back happy. They came back elated. They had tasted some success in ministry, and they were overjoyed. I don’t think it would be too big of a leap to say that for many of these men, they came back to Jesus, they would be ready to go right back out into the field. They’d be happy to sit at the feet of Jesus for some season, of course but they were ready to go back to healing and preaching and teaching and do the “real work of the ministry.”

But Jesus added a little wrinkle to their plans. Look at the second part of verse 10, it says, “Taking them with Him, He slipped away by Himself to a city called Bethsaida.” So, these “apostles” probably thought they were just going back to recharge temporarily, to get refreshed, and then, to get back out there. But Jesus had a better idea. He thought, and He saw that these men needed a little getaway. They needed some rest; they needed some seclusion. In fact, if you’ll turn with me over to the Gospel of Mark, we have a parallel of this account. This would be in Mark 6, and we’ll pick it up in verse 30, where we have in Mark 6:30, a record of the same account, albeit with some extra details. It says “And the apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ [and now, look at the parenthetical] (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.”

So, putting these two accounts together, what we see, is that it was not only Jesus who needed rest. And Jesus, by the way, in His humanity, did need rest. He got tired He got weary He slept. But what Jesus saw here, in His apostles, in these disciples, is that they needed rest as well. I mean, these were men who left behind their nets and their livelihoods and their family members, they left them behind. And they had since been going full speed, as they sat with Jesus and ate with Him, and listened to Him and learned from Him and observed His miraculous works and observed the opposition He was facing as He did those works. These men had been busy. What Jesus saw, being not only the faithful Teacher that He was but the attentive Lord that He is was that these men had grown tired. They had grown weary. They had been fighting off, and even on some occasions, been swallowed up by these innumerable crowds. So, they needed some quiet rest, they needed to get away, they needed seclusion. You know, Jesus Himself, as you work through the Gospels, you see that He went through these phases where He needed to get away. Where He needed to withdraw.

In Luke 4:42, after He healed Peter’s mother-in-law, it says, that “when day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place.” In Luke 5:16, we’re told that Jesus “would often slip away to the desolate regions and pray.”
So, if the Master needed a break so did His subjects, the Twelve needed a break too. So, back to our text in Luke 9:10, Jesus took them away. Luke 9:10 again, says, “Taking them with Him, He slipped away by Himself to a city called Bethsaida.”

Now just to orient ourselves a little bit here, remember that until now, Jesus and these Twelve had been in or around Capernaum, which would be on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Now, they’re making this seven-mile journey to the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee shore about a three-hour walk, to get to Bethsaida. So, they’re going from northwest to northeast, just walking along the perimeter of the Sea of Galilee, again, for about three hours. Now, this place – Bethsaida, fittingly means “house of the fisher.” It sits on the sea, and it also sits on the, I guess you’d call it the north fork of the Jordan River. It was a place, Bethsaida was, that was familiar to at least some of these apostles. John 1:44 says that “Philip”, one of the Twelve, was from Bethsaida.” In fact, just for fun, why don’t you turn with me to the Gospel of John. We have been in the Gospel of Mark, let’s now look at the Gospel of John, and specifically, John 6. By the way, as you turn here to John 6, you’ll want to keep a finger in this passage, because we will be coming back to it later. But let’s pick it up in verse 1 of John 6. Again, all four Gospels have an account of this story, including John’s. John 6:1 says “After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). Now a large crowd was following Him, because they were seeing the signs which He was doing on those who were sick. Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He was sitting down with His disciple. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.” Now look at verse 5, “Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, ‘Where should we buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

Now, there’s more to this question we’ll get into this question and its real import a little bit later but now, simply note that it was here in the vicinity of Bethsaida that this account, this familiar account of the feeding of the 5,000 took place. Also note that, according to John’s account, as they got to Bethsaida, Jesus asked Philip where they could buy bread there. Why Philip? Why not one of the other Twelve or eleven apostles at that point well, because Philip was from Bethsaida. This was his hometown. Of all the apostles, this would have been the one who would have known where you could buy bread. Again, we’ll come back here in a moment. Keep a finger in John 6. Back to Luke 9:10, where it says, “Taking them with Him, He slipped away by Himself to a city called Bethsaida.” So, Jesus took the Twelve away to this down on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, so that they could get some rest. He took them away so that they could get away from the crowds for a bit; they could get some seclusion. But as we read on, we see that it wasn’t to be, verse 11, it says, “But when the crowds became aware of this, they followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the Kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.”

If you’re a notetaker, this is our second point this would be: THE NEED FOR “SOMETHING”. Jesus and His disciples had made their way from Capernaum to Bethsaida. The whole aim here is to gain some seclusion, some quiet, to gain a respite, to get some rest but it wasn’t to be. Because here we have the same crowds from Capernaum, on the northwestern side of the shore. Now following Jesus and the Twelve to the entirely opposite northeastern side of the shore, all the way to Bethsaida. They somehow put an air tag on Him no; there were no air tags back then. No. They spotted where He was, and they descended upon Him. Then note, this is what’s of real importance here in the middle of verse 11, is that He welcomed them. But when the crowds became aware of this, they followed Him and then look at this next clause – “And welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the Kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.” Now, those in this crowd surely had needs. There were the sick and the diseased – hence, their need of healing. There were those who were discouraged and lacking hope and spiritually afflicted. Therefore, they need to hear this coming Kingdom that He would preach. There were those were hungry; we’re going to get into that a little bit later. And Jesus ministered to them all He welcomed them.

Joseph Hart was an English minister and hymnwriter in the mid 1700’s, and he wrote the lyrics to a beautiful hymn titled “Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy.” And the first verse includes these words: “Come, Ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and pow’r.” That’s exactly what we see happening in this scene. Jesus had tried to get away. He tried to gain some seclusion. He tried to get some solitude with these men. But out of the woodwork come these “poor and needy” and “weak and wounded” and “sick and sore.” Rather than turning them away and rather than telling them that He had more important things to do. Didn’t they realize He had a schedule to stick to? He ministered to them. He welcomed them. He was far more interested in tending to their needs, than He was keeping intact His agenda with the Twelve. He was far more interested in tending to their needs than certainly seeking His own convenience and ease. His posture here brings to mind His own words in Mark 10:45, where He Himself said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” The Lord Jesus was always accessible. He didn’t consider the intrusion of this crowd to be an “intrusion” at all.

Is that a good reminder to you here this morning? It really is to me. As I worked through this text and developed this sermon over the past week this was a needed word for me. To remember that, yes, it’s ok, I can take one more appointment. And yes, I can lose an hour of sleep. And yes, I can refuse to cling so tightly to the way that I would like my week to go. And yes, it’s not that difficult to erase that item on my day planner, or to delete that entry in my Google calendar. When someone who is hurting and grieving and suffering comes to me with their problem and needs some guidance and some support and some encouragement. I can move things around. I can bend on my preferences. I can let go of my preferences, including my preference that the week would go exact way I would hope it goes. I can welcome the intrusion just as Jesus did here. Jesus welcomed the intrusion, because He saw those who made up these “crowds” as souls, and He saw them as sheep wandering, aimless sheep. That’s exactly how Mark records Jesus’ perspective of these very crowds in Mark 6:34. You can just jot it down it says, “He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Those in this crowd, these were lost, aimless souls who had wandered from the fold. From a place of compassion, Jesus was eager to tend to them. Remember in John 10, that He identified Himself as “the good shepherd.” John 10:14, He says, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” But we sometimes forget that He also said this, in the next verse John 10:16, Jesus said, “And I have other sheep, which are not from this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” These “crowds” here in Luke, were such shepherdless sheep they were the “other sheep” that Jesus alluded to in John 10:16. And so, He welcomed them. He welcomed the interruption. He welcomed the intrusion. He not only welcomed the interruption, but He also gave them something of substance. Look at the middle of verse 11 where it says, “He began speaking to them about the Kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.”

I won’t belabor this; we’ve gone through this many times in this series in Luke already. But here’s that familiar one-two punch that we’ve seen over and over already in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus delivers this message of God’s universal, kingly reign over all things, being presented and offered in person, on earth, in the Person of His Son. A Son who will one day establish His physical kingdom here on earth. But until now, as He did with Nicodemus, in John 3:3, proclaims that “unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” That’s the message of the Kingdom of God. Jesus would regularly, as we’ve also seen, underscore that message of His coming Kingdom with His miraculous healings. Certifying His credentials to be God. To be the King of all the earth. The King, who would one day establish His Kingdom and rule on the earth in a time and a place where there will actually, in the future, be no need for healing. Because there will be no more sin.

Now, while Jesus was meeting the needs of those who were physically afflicted, “curing those [as it says in verse 11] who had need of healing.” while He was tending to the needs of those who were being tossed to and fro spiritually, as He proclaimed the message of the Kingdom of God to them. Another need came upon this crowd, namely, that of hunger.

Here’s our third point, if you’re a notetaker: THE NEED FOR SUBSTENANCE. Picking it up in verse 12, it says, “Now the day was ending, and the Twelve came and said to Him, ‘Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and obtain lodging and find provisions, for here we are in a desolate place.’” So, verse 12, “the day was ending.” Meaning, the same day that Jesus and the Twelve had disembarked from Capernaum and made their way over to Bethsaida, that day was ending. The sun was setting and sinking in the western sky. Given that these events likely took place sometime we think, April, this end of day would have been somewhere in that 5:00 to 5:30 pm window. That’s no man’s land, dietarily speaking, right? We’ve all been there at 5:30 pm where it’s that time of day where God has wired our brains in such a way that we know that darkness will soon fall. And we know that soon after that, our head will hit the pillow. And then we know after that, that after our head hits the pillow, we’ll be unconscious for a number of hours, until the sun comes up again. So, in the meantime, around 5:30 pm, we had better find something to eat really soon. Right? It was that time of day. But in context here, it’s not like Jesus and the Twelve were staying in a place that had some pantry full of food. No. At the end of verse 12, it says they were “in a desolate place.” They were outdoors. They were on the outskirts of Bethsaida. They were in the middle of nowhere. There were no Casey’s Gas Stations around. There were no fast food or grocery stores they didn’t have food truck fellowships in Bethsaida, 2,000 years ago. No. There was absolutely nothing around. So, if the members of this crowd, having come all the way from Capernaum that very day wanted to get something in their bellies before the sun went down, they’d have to leave that very privileged place of where they were, sitting at the feet of Jesus, learning from Him, listening to Him. They’d have to leave Him, leave His apostles and go somewhere else into one of the surrounding villages or cities and find something to eat. That’s what it says in verse 12, “Now the day was ending, and the Twelve came and said to Him, ‘Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and obtain lodging and find provisions, for here we are in a desolate place.’”

Now, this is interesting on a number of levels. I mean, first, note that apparently the Twelve suddenly thought that it was apparently their place to tell Jesus what to do. They’re giving Him a command here. They’re saying, “Send the crowd away.” They are imploring Jesus, commanding Him to do what they think He ought to do. Now, in the scene that we were in last Sunday, Jesus was commanding them. Remember, He was the Master, He was giving orders to His subjects, and they were dutifully following Him. But now we have the subjects attempting to give an order to their Master, by saying, “Send the crowd away.” An interesting dynamic shift, to say the least. Not only that, though the words of the Twelve here, “Send the crowd away.” They really highlight this unnecessary angst that the Twelve were experiencing. This completely short-sighted perspective. You might even say this oblivious perspective to who He was and what they had already witnessed through Him. I mean, let’s reflect for just a moment on what these men had already seen Jesus do since being called three chapters before in Luke 6.

They had heard Him preach His Sermon on the Plain. One of the things He said in the Sermon on the Plain was, Luke 6:21 “Blessed are those who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.” He also said, in Luke 6:25 “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry.” They’d heard those words. They had also seen Him, in Luke 7 heal the centurion’s slave raise the son of the widow at Nain declare the woman who had wiped and kissed His feet and anointed them with perfume – that her sins had been forgiven. They had witnessed Him, in Luke 8 demonstrate His power and His authority over the winds and the waves, as He calmed this storm which threatened their very lives. They had seen Him free a demon-possessed man from the spirits which had been possessing him. They had also seen Him, in Luke 8 heal the woman who had that twelve-year hemorrhage of blood. And on top of that, to bring Jairus’ daughter back to life. The point being these Twelve had seen these magnificent and mighty works from Jesus, these powerful works, these miraculous works. And further, they had every reason to believe, through those works, that the Person in who’s presence they were, from those three chapters, from our vantage point, was no mere man. Rather, they were in the presence of God Himself, God incarnate, God in the flesh. Who but God can forgive sins? Who but God can bring the dead back to life? Who but God can cause a deadly storm to be stilled? In fact, that’s the very question they asked in Luke 8:25, after He calmed the sea. They said, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him?”

By this point, they knew who He was. They knew that He was God. In fact, remember last week they’d gone out healing in His name. They’d gone out with His authority to proclaim the Gospel and to heal the sick. What type of authority was that? Divine authority. These men knew that this was God the God-Man, God in human form. Had they already forgotten how God, in Israel’s past, had worked in similar ways, providing food in situations where food seemed to be in short supply? Had they forgotten Exodus 16 and that bread came from heaven to feed the Israelites? Had they forgotten that scene where food was multiplied through the hands of the prophet Elisha? In fact, don’t take my word for it let’s go back to II Kings. Turn with me, in your Old Testaments, back to II Kings. I mean, I’d appreciate it if you’d take my word for it, but, ultimately, it’s God’s Word that’s powerful and authoritative here. I’m just saying, let’s get our eyes on it. II Kings 4, this is an account of the prophet Elisha, not Elijha, Elisha in II Kings 4. I’m going to turn us to verse 42. II Kings 4:42, it says, “Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, ‘Give them to the people that they may eat.’ And his attendant said, ‘What, will I give this before one hundred men?’ But he said, ‘Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says Yahweh, “They shall eat and have some left over.”’ So, he gave it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of Yahweh.”

Does that sound familiar? It should. It would have been familiar to these apostles, these Jewish men in the 1st century with Jesus. God, through Elisha, in that story, He multiplied an inadequate food supply, to feed a large group of one hundred men. So, the point is why couldn’t He do so again? Well, here in the scene we’re looking at, back in Luke 9 you can turn back to Luke 9. A few stomachs had started to growl, and apparently these apostles suddenly forgot Whose presence they were in. Their anxiety over their immediate circumstances started to overtake them. They were looking at this purely as a human problem. People needed to eat, so where are we going to get the food? They were thinking only in human terms, and only in terms of human solutions. Note their words in verse 12 again,
“Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and obtain lodging and find provisions, for here we are in a desolate place.” Well, Jesus had a reply ready, verse 13, “But He said to them, ‘You give them something to eat!”

Now, some context there. Remember, I told you to keep a finger in John 6, this is the time now, to exercise that finger, and turn back to John 6. John 6, where we saw that one of the Twelve – Philip, he was from Bethsaida, he was a local boy. Well, there’s more to this account in John’s Gospel that we need to draw out, to inform what’s going on in Luke’s Gospel. John 6, let’s start in verse 5. We read this already, but let’s just use this as the bridge, it says, “Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, ‘Where should we buy bread, so that these people may eat?’” Now, read on, look at the explanation that John gives for Jesus’ question, in verse 6, “And this He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do.”

In other words, Jesus wasn’t merely asking Philip for the location of the best bakery in Bethsaida, because He was curious about where the best bread could be found in Bethsaida. No. He was testing Philip’s faith. Would Philip, who, like the other apostles had witnessed Jesus perform all these miracles on all these different occasions, would he pass the test? Would he pass the test by demonstrating simple faith, reasonable faith, that Jesus, as He had done many times up to this point, that Jesus could perform a miracle here? Well, apparently not. Verse 7, “Philip answered Him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.’” So, Philip here is not thinking in terms of Jesus’ ability, miraculously to feed the multitudes. No. Philip is starting to jot down figures. He’s starting to do the math. He’s consumed with things like – how much money would it cost to feed a crowd of this size? To him, it’s not adding up. “Two hundred denarii” would be the equivalent of something like six month’s wages. That’s a lot of money. That’s buying a lot of bread. But even so, Philip is saying here that even if they have that much money on hand. Even if they had six months’ worth of wages on hand and then they backed up the truck to the bakery in Bethsaida and bought that much bread for a crowd of this size. Even if the people only ate just a little bit, right? Little morsels here and there, it still wasn’t going to work. They would still run out. Well, again, John tells us that Jesus asked Philip that question about where they could buy bread, not so that Philip would start running the numbers. Not so that he would start moving the abacus beads from left to right, or right to left, I’m not sure which way they go. But instead, to test Philip, to see if Philip would exercise and demonstrate faith. Philip failed the test.

Moving on to Andrew. Andrew steps up in verse 8, “One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ‘There is a boy her how has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?’”
So, more questions and more doubt. This time not from Philip, but now from Andrew. Now, I bring all this up, because this is kind of important as part of the backstory in Luke. Because it fills in some of the details about where these five loaves and these two fish came from. A boy, apparently here in Bethsaida. That’s where the spread came from. Now, go back to Luke’s Gospel, Luke 9. We left off in verse 13, where Jesus has just said to the disciples, “You give them something to eat!” Which was really an expression of sanctified frustration on the part of our Lord. He’s saying, in that statement, that exhortation, He’s saying, “Have I not taught you?” “Have I not already demonstrated to you who I am?” “Haven’t I given you power and authority?” “In fact, didn’t you just go out and exercise power and authority in My name?” “And now, with that same power and authority, can’t you figure this problem out?” I mean, Jesus, of course, knew that it was possible to feed this crowd after all, with God all things are possible. But the Twelve, by now, should have known as well. They should have known it was a possibility to get out of this jam with five loaves, two fish and lots of people. But it wasn’t “clicking”, and still in doubt, they replied, verse 13, “And they said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.”

Now, we saw, just a moment ago in John 6, that these were certain types of loaves. These weren’t your fresh out of the oven, sourdough type of loaves, that I know that the ladies love so much these days, and pass around and trade and all that. No. This is not that sourdough loaf that you tear apart, and that pungent fumes start to waft up and then make their way down the hallway. That’s not what we’re talking about. These are barley loaves. That’s what it said back in John 6:9. Barley loaves were the common bread loaves of the poor. Barley was commonly fed to livestock. Occasionally would make its way into these small flat pancake-looking wafers that could fit into the size of an adult’s hand the palm of an adult’s hand. So, the apostles had five of those types of loaves. These weren’t like French baguettes, or rosemary-sea-salt infused bread loaves. Nothing like that. These were small, flat barley pancakes. The fish they had at their disposal, two of them to be exact, they weren’t all that special either. These weren’t these large fish, the kind that you get up in Minnesota, and mount on your wall later on. These weren’t tasty fish, like perch or croppie or trout. Nothing like that. No. The Greek word that’s used to describe these fish, is typically used to describe a small fish, perhaps a very very small fish, like maybe even the size of a minnow or a sardine. Picture taking one of those small fish and crushing it and blending it with spices to make like a paste or relish to mask the flavor of this barley wafer that’s in your hand. That’s the kind of fish that we’re talking about here. That’s what the apostles had at their disposal. Five loaves like that, little loaves and two little fish like that. “We have no more [they say] than five loaves and two fish.”

The point that’s being driven here, and the point that’s being emphasized here is that there was no way that they could feed the crowds with what they had in hand. And so, they put forth another option. Still in verse 13. This is still the apostles speaking, it says, “Unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.” Now, there is a detectable lack of enthusiasm in the tone of their words there. This is their very non-committal, overwhelming way of saying, “There’s no way you would have us do that, right?” “Lord, I mean, I know these fish are small and this bread is thin and flakey or whatever, but You’re not going to make us go to Bethsaida and buy bread for everybody, right?” That’s the tone of what they’re saying. Well, then Luke adds a comment, in the parentheses at the beginning of verse 14, to note what a Herculean task this would be to feed this crowd. He says, “For there were about five thousand men.” Not exactly five thousand men, but “about” five thousand men. A figure which was not only an approximation, but a figure which we know, did not include women and children, because Matthew tells us in his parallel of this account, in Matthew 14:21, “And there were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.” Meaning, there could have easily been something like 10,000 or more people in this crowd on this day hungry people. All there was were these five barley wafers and these two tiny fish to feed them all. Luke is laying out this whole scene, as the Spirit moves him to write this it is just screaming for a God-given solution.

That’s our fourth point this morning, as we move deeper into verse 14. If you’re a notetaker: THE NEED FOR A SOLUTION. Middle of verse 14, it says, “And He said to His disciples, ‘Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ And they did so and had them all sit down. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them. And He broke them and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd.” Now, note He gives this command, it says, ‘Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” That word “sit down” is actually “recline” or “lay down.” That conventional way that the people of this time would eat a meal, right? Where they would prop their head up on their left elbow and extend their feet out. Then, with their right hand, take the food and dip it in whatever want to dip it in, before they partook. So, He’s painting that picture here that it’s time to feast. He’s telling the crowd through His Twelve, that a meal is about to be served. There are only these five barley loaves and there are only these two fish but He’s telling the crowds get ready to be served. Get ready to eat up. He’s answering a question that was actually asked back in Psalm 78:19, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?” Answer? Yes! In fact, Jesus, God incarnate, the Bread of Life was about to just that as He ordered His Twelve to divide up this crowd of maybe 10,000 into these “groups of about fifty” so that they could eat. They obliged, verse 15, “And they did so, and had them all sit down.” Same verb, meaning, He had them all lie down, recline as one would at a table back then.

Verse 16, and this is part of this account that most everyone has heard at some point. And most everyone is really familiar with where it says, “Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them.” Now, by “blessing” them, this is not saying that Jesus was somehow imparting a blessing upon the fish and the loaves. I don’t think you’re going to find a passage in scripture where people are praying for food or imparting a blessing on food, the way that we do when we get together for the potlucks or this super bowl or whatever. No. This would have been a prayer of thanksgiving from God the Son to God the Father which would have begun with the Hebrew words – Baruch atta Adonai eloheinu Melech ha’olam – meaning, “Blessed are You, Lord God, King of the Universe.” And then, He would have given thanks to God for those loaves and for those fish which were now in His hands. Now, look at the next part of verse 16, it says, “And He broke them and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd.”

Now, we obviously don’t have a photograph of this scene. There’s no video or YouTube account of what happened here. But we don’t need one. This language is incredibly vivid. I love how it comes out in the LSV here. “He kept giving them to the disciples.” There’s a continuous sense here. Right then and there, in the middle of this desolate region outside of Bethsaida the Lord Jesus was forming more and more bread with His hands and creating more and more fish with His hands. The more that He broke these items out with His hands or broke these items up with His hands the more came out of His hands. The more He broke things into smaller and smaller pieces, the more there actually was. You know, no less than turning the water into wine at the wedding at Cana. This was truly a miraculous event. This was an awesome demonstration of His creative power. Remember, Jesus is the One who created the seas. So, of course He could form some fish out there in the plains next to Bethsaida. Jesus is the One who created the land, the earth. So, of course He could create some loaves out of barley from grain, which would have otherwise come out of that very earth He created. That brings us to verse 17, where Luke reports, “And they all ate and were satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full.”

Here is point number five for the notetakers: THE NEED FOR SATISFACTION. Jesus had performed this miraculous work of multiplication. An act which had defined all logic, an act which defied all laws of natural order. So fruitful was He in forming the fish and this bread from nothing that there were actually, after something like 10,000 once hungry people ate twelve extra baskets full of broken pieces. We could talk all day about how amazing that is. How amazing this miracle was. Every miracle that He performed is amazing. But here’s the key takeaway, and here’s where I’m going to have to have us land on this final section of Luke’s Gospel with these words of verse 17, where it says, “And they all ate and were satisfied.” Christ’s act here brought this crowd satisfaction. Immediately, what He did, it was He brought satisfaction of their hunger, of course. But as we read those words in the context of this scene as a whole, we see that these “crowds” were filled that day, with more than fish and bread alone. In fact, if you look back at verse 11, where we began today, it says, “When the crowds became aware of this, they followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the Kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.”

So, yes, that day, their bodily appetites were satisfied, but more fundamentally and even more importantly, their souls were satisfied that day. Psalm 107:9 says that “hungry soul[s] are filled with what is good” by God. That is what happened on this account in Luke 9. Now, you, too. If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, you know exactly what Psalm 107:9 is referring to, when it speaks of “hungry soul[s] being filled with what is good.” It’s not just talking about fish and bread. No. If you are a follower of Christ, you know that you were once a wayward sinner who needed rest, and who needed respite. You were in need of spiritual shelter. And now, you are, by God’s grace, Psalm 91:1 living under “the shadow of the Almighty.”
You knew that you were in need of “something.” You knew that you were in need of rescue from your sin rescue from God Himself rescue from yourself you were in need of salvation and by God’s grace, it says in Ephesians 2:5, if you put your faith in Christ “you have been saved”, it’s a positional reality once and for all. You were in need of sustenance. Back in your old days, you were feasting on the delights of this world. Only to find out that they could never be satisfied fully and completely and eternally. Then, finally, by God’s grace, you partook of the Bread of Life Himself – the Lord Jesus Christ.

You needed a solution. You needed a solution for your sin problem which God supplied for you by offering His Son, the Lord Jesus to die on the cross for your sin and you were in need of satisfaction. You were, as it says in Titus 3:3, at one point, spending your “life in malice and envy.” You were like, as Solomon put it in the book of Ecclesiastes, striving after wind. But none of it gave you any hope, or joy, or comfort, or satisfaction. Rather, you were a spiritually famished, and restless and dissatisfied soul until you met the Lord Jesus Christ. But when the light came on. And when you came to Him in repentance and faith. And when you found that He is the solution for everyone of those needs you’ve been seeking answers for all of your life, He truly – in every way – became what He is – which is a sheltering, sustaining, sin-solving, and satisfying Savior. “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.” Amen.