Matthew 14:13-21

If you have your Bibles with you, I invite you

to open them to the 14th chapter of Matthew's

Gospel. I'm going to look at a very familiar

passage of Scripture this morning, beginning

in verse 13. When Jesus heard it, that is the

death of John the Baptist. That's the context.

When Jesus heard it, he departed from there,

that is Capernaum, his hometown, by boat to a

deserted place by himself. Now we know from Mark's

Gospels his disciples are with him. But when

the multitudes heard it, they followed him on

foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out,

he saw a great multitude. And he was moved with

compassion for them, and he healed their sick.

And when it was evening, his disciples came to

him, saying, This is a deserted place, and the

hour is already late. Send the multitudes away,

that they may go into the villages and buy themselves

food. But Jesus said to them, They don't need

to go away. You feed them. You give them something

to eat. And they said to him, well, we have only

here five loaves and two fish. That's it. And

he said, bring them here to me. And then he,

that is Jesus, he commanded the multitudes to

sit down in the grass. And he took the five loaves

and the two fish. And looking up to heaven, he

blessed. And he broke and gave the loaves to

the disciples. And the disciples gave to the

multitudes. So they all ate and were filled.

And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments

that remained. Now those who had eaten were about

five thousand men, besides women and children.

Let's pray. Oh, Father, Lord, would you help

us this morning to behold your Son, who he is,

the Christ, sent from heaven. Lord, I am utterly

incapable and inadequate of preaching the glory

of Christ. Lord, I need you, Lord. God, I pray

for your help. Lord, I pray that you'd anoint

my tongue and my lips and give me help from heaven

to preach Jesus before your people. And I would

ask this in his name. Amen. We've been studying

Matthew's Gospel now for two years. We're right

in the middle. It's important that we remind

ourselves, really, what is his purpose in writing?

You have to keep in mind that Matthew, also known

as Levi, he is a Jew, and he's writing primarily,

not exclusively, to a Jewish audience. He's wanting

to convince all those Jewish readers that Jesus

is the Christ. So he opens his gospel in a unique

way. He opens showing that Jesus is the true

fulfillment of Israel. He's the true Israel succeeding

everywhere the nation Israel failed. Now, how

does he do that? Well, he deliberately traces

the nation's history showing how Christ fulfills

Israel's calling. For example, you don't need

to turn there, but in chapter 2, verse 15, Matthew

quotes Hosea 11 .1, which says, out of Egypt

I've called my son. But he applies that to Jesus

and his escape from Herod when he was just a

child, when they fled into Egypt to escape Herod's

wrath. So just as the nation Israel, which was

called God's son, if you go back to the Old Testament,

Israel was known as the son of God. So Israel

the nation, God's son, was taken out of Egypt

in the Exodus. Jesus, God's true son, was taken

out of Egypt leading to a new and greater Exodus.

Israel, after the Exodus, was tested in the wilderness

for 40 years. Jesus was tested in the wilderness

fasting 40 days. Later, Satan came to him at

the end of that fast and tested him severely.

We go to Matthew 5 in the great sermon on the

mount. Jesus is on a mountainside as Moses was

when he gave the law. Jesus is the new lawgiver,

preaching from that mountainside. He's the new

and greater Moses. And what is he doing in the

sermon on the mount? He is giving. the definitive

interpretation of God's law. You've heard it

be said, but I say to you. So just as Israel

was baptized as they passed through the Red Sea,

the Lord Jesus began his public ministry by being

baptized. Additionally, Matthew opens his gospel

giving Jesus' genealogy. He is the ultimate descendant

of both Abraham, And David. He is called, in

verse 1 of Matthew 1, he is the, not a, the son

of David, the son of Abraham. Jesus is the true

and faithful heir of all God's covenant promises.

But that's not the only reason. Matthew has even

a greater reason. He doesn't want to just show

the Jewish audience that Jesus is the true Israel.

Not only is Jesus the new and greater Moses,

the prophet likened to him but far superior,

but this is what we're going to see today. And

this is where I feel totally incapable of presenting

this. Jesus is Yahweh in the flesh. The Christ

who's been sent from God, he's not just a deliverer.

He's not just a man. He is God. How does Matthew

show that? In chapter 1, he quotes Isaiah. And

he says that Jesus' name, he will be called Emmanuel,

which means God with us. Do you remember how

God, Yahweh of the Old Testament, first dwelt

in the tabernacle? Later, he dwelt in the temple.

And here we see Jesus is Yahweh in the flesh,

dwelling among his people. In chapter 9, Jesus

forgave a paralytics man his sins. Man, the religious

leaders were just dumbfounded. They were so mad.

They were outraged. And they correctly claimed,

who are you? Only God can forgive sins. Jesus

was forgiving sins. In chapter 12, Jesus got

in more trouble with the religious leaders because

he said of himself that he is the Lord of the

Sabbath. What audacity. Jesus claimed authority

over the Sabbath day, which was instituted by

God himself in the law? This would have been

blasphemy had any other individual claimed such

authority. Not even Moses had authority over

the Sabbath. But Jesus said he was Lord of it.

How? He was God in the flesh. In chapter 8, Jesus

calmed a raging storm. Remember the disciples

thought they were going to die. Jesus awakes

and rebukes the wind and the sea, and they immediately

obeyed his voice. But don't forget what the psalmist

said in Psalm 89. O Lord, that's O Yahweh, God

of hosts, who is mighty like you, O Yahweh? Your

faithfulness also surrounds you. Now look at

verse 9. You rule the raging of the sea. When

its waves rise, you still them. Yahweh, God,

rebukes wind and waves. In Matthew 8, Jesus rebukes

wind and waves. This is what we see the Lord

doing. Jesus does what only God can do, and he

has the rights. that only God possesses. See,

Matthew does not come out and immediately say,

Jesus is God in the flesh. Had he done that,

that would have been off -putting to his Jewish

readers immediately. He's showing through his

actions, through these titles, who he is. He's

pointing to the fact that Jesus is no ordinary

man. He is Yahweh in the flesh. Remember back

in Matthew chapter 2, we call him the wise man

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

or the magi. Remember, they came from the east,

and upon seeing the Christ child, they come into

the house, and they fall down, and what do they

do? They worship him. Matthew 2 .11. And when

they had come, that is the wise men, into the

house, they saw the young child with Mary his

mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.

Friends, worship is reserved only for God. To

worship anyone other than God is idolatry. These

wise men were not idolatrous. They were worshiping

God. Jesus forgives sins. He has authority to

rule over nature. He has authority over the law

of God. He is to be worshiped. What is Matthew

saying? Jesus is God incarnate. And today in

our text, we will see another example proving

that Jesus is the prophet greater than Moses.

Just as Moses gave them bread, so Jesus will

give them bread. But he is no ordinary man like

Moses. He's God in the flesh. Now, we're in chapter

14. If you look at chapter 14, it kind of divides

itself. There are four movements. The last time

I preached, we looked at the beheading of John

the Baptist. Today, we will see what we call

the feeding of the 5 ,000. But it's the feeding

of the 5 ,000 men. And then you see next week,

Lord willing, Jesus walking on the water. And

then the last movement, we'll see Jesus go into

Gentile territory where he will do several healings.

Now the feeding of the 5 ,000, this is interesting.

This is the only miracle that is recorded in

all four Gospels except the resurrection of Jesus.

That's it, just the feeding of the 5 ,000. So

clearly this is very important. It also must

have left some deep impression upon the disciples'

and apostles' minds because they were present

to witness it. It left an extraordinary impact.

Now, when the chapter opens, chapter 14 opens,

you have John the Baptist, the forerunner of

Jesus. He was brutally executed by Herod Antipas.

Now, John's disciples, they take the grim news

to Jesus in verse 13. So Jesus hears about it,

and we pick up our text in verse... or verse

13, excuse me. When Jesus heard it, the news

of John the Baptist dying, he gets out of there.

He goes by boat. Notice it says to a deserted

place. Again, Mark chapter 6, the parallel gospel,

Mark 6 · chapter mention

says that Jesus and his disciples got into a

boat. But when the multitudes, the crowds had

been there in Capernaum. Remember, Jesus is popular.

When they heard about it, they know there's not

a lot of places. The Sea of Galilee is not a

large body of water. They know where he went,

and they're going to follow him there. So what

you find here is Jesus wants to get out of Capernaum.

Matthew doesn't tell us why. Perhaps Herod's

already been jealous of John the Baptist. Jesus,

his popularity is rising. Maybe he's going to

garner too much attention. But for whatever reason,

because he knows he has to die in Jerusalem.

So he gets out of Capernaum, gets into a boat,

and he goes on to the northeast side of the Sea

of Galilee. We call it the Sea of Galilee. It's

a lake. It's also known as Lake Gennesaret. If

you read some Gospels, we'll call it that. It's

a big lake. Some of you, I've been there myself.

So now he and his disciples, we know, have been

busily serving the people. They're tired. They

want to rest a while. But when the multitude

who had been around Jesus got word of it, they're

like, ah, wherever he goes, I'm going. So they

decide to walk around the lake to the place where

Jesus was. Why? Well, Jesus is wildly popular

at this point. Wherever he was is where they

wanted to be. He's healing sick people. And everyone

knows someone, and Jesus can do this. You have

someone in your family that's sick or that's

on their deathbed, let's get him over to Jesus.

Now this would not have been a very long walk.

It's probably about four miles away, so it wouldn't

have been too long of a journey. But four miles

is no walk in the park either. Verse 14. And

when Jesus went out, he saw the great multitude.

He went out of the boat. And he was moved with

compassion. And he healed their sick. Now, in

Mark's gospel, later on, if you want to study

this on your own, go to Mark 6. We are told that

Jesus and his disciples didn't even have time

to eat. That's why they left. They wanted to

get away, be by themselves, refresh, and eat.

They'd been so busily serving the people, they

hadn't eaten. So they're tired, Jesus and his

disciples are tired, and they're hungry. You

ever been tired? That's a bad combination, right?

Because you have tired and hunger. That makes

you irritable. At least it makes me irritable.

You're hangry, we call it. You're hungry and

you're angry. You're impatient. Now, had I been

there and seen the people following me, I think

I would have been aggravated. I would have said,

come on, don't you see that I'm tired? I've been

with you people all day. I haven't even had time

to eat. Do you all care about me or do you only

care what you can get from me? That's not Jesus

at all. I mean, Jesus left so he could eat and

rest. But he comes out of the boat and he sees

this multitude. And he's not aggravated at all.

In fact, Matthew and Mark both say that he was

moved with compassion when he saw them. Mark

6, 34. And Jesus, when he came out, he saw a

great multitude, moved with compassion for them.

Why? Because they were like sheep, not having

a shepherd. Now notice what Mark tells us that

Matthew doesn't. So he began to teach them many

things. What had they been doing all day earlier?

Healing and teaching. What's he now doing? Healing

and teaching. But I find this interesting. Jesus

is moved with compassion. He's not bothered.

He's not annoyed by their neediness or their

presence. You ever think God gets tired of hearing

from you? You ever think God's like, oh, not

again. Friends, this isn't our God at all. There's

no even vestige or semblance of annoyance in

Christ. He's their shepherd, and the sheep needed

him. And the good shepherd is always willing

to sacrifice himself and his desires for the

needs of the sheep. The good shepherd will never

put his own needs first. He won't do it. But

you know the religious leaders. They're also

called shepherds, the shepherds of Israel. In

Ezekiel chapter 34, God himself rebukes the religious

Ezekiel 34 · chapter mention

leaders, the leaders of Israel, the shepherds.

Why? Because they're derelict. They're not doing

what they're supposed to be doing. They took

care of themselves and neglected the people.

And we see this in Ezekiel 34. Now notice the

contrast. And the word of the Lord, the word

of Yahweh, came to me, Ezekiel, saying, Son of

man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.

Prophesy and say to them, you go preach this

to them. Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds,

woe. Woe to the shepherds of Israel. Why? They

feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed

the flocks? But you eat the fat and clothe yourselves

with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but

you don't feed the flock. The weak you've not

strengthened. Nor have you healed those who were

sick. What's Jesus doing? Healing the sick. Nor

bound up the broken. What's Jesus doing? Binding

up the broken. Nor brought back what was driven

away. You've not sought what was lost. What's

Jesus doing? Seeking the lost. But with force

and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were

scattered because there was no shepherd. And

what does Mark tell us in Mark 6? Jesus was moved

with compassion because he saw them as sheep

having no shepherd. He's going to fill in the

gap. Jesus, the good shepherd, he'll feed those

people. He will feed the sheep before even feeding

himself. What do we see him doing? Well, we know

from Matthew he's healing. We also know that

he's teaching. He's binding up the broken. He's

caring for the weary. He's seeking the lost sheep

of Israel. What's Matthew saying without saying

it directly? Jesus is the good shepherd sent

by God. And friends, this is what I want you

to see, how the Bible ties itself together. You

start to see echoes of Psalm 23, and I hope to

point that out to you today. Psalm 23, verse

Psalms 23:1

1. The Lord. Most of you know this, but some

of you may not. In the Old Testament, when you

see the word Lord, and it's in all caps, L -O

-R -D, all capitalized, that is a special meaning.

That's the covenant name of God for Israel. It's

the word Yahweh, every time. Now, if you see

L, capital, then little O -R -D, that's the word

Adonai, master. But when it's capitalized like

this, this is God's name, Yahweh. They don't

like to pronounce it. So, Yahweh is my shepherd.

I shall not want. Jesus is the shepherd spoken

of in Psalm 23. Now Matthew said Jesus healed

the sick who came to him, but Mark adds a little

bit of a detail saying he also was teaching them.

But Jesus himself, he's already tired, he's already

hungry, and he proceeds to spend the rest of

the day until evening ministering to the people.

Verse 15. And when it was evening, his disciples

came to him saying, as if he didn't know this,

this is a deserted place. It's a remote place.

No villages nearby. And the hour, it's already

late, Jesus. Send the multitudes away that they

may go into the villages and buy themselves food.

You almost get the idea that the disciples are

standing in the wings. Now, I know they don't

have watches, but stay with me. Looking at their

watches, I'm like, hurry it up, Jesus. Listen,

it's getting late. We've not eaten. You've not

eaten. Let them go. A crisis is mounting here.

Sunlight is fading. They're in a remote place.

People are now hungry. They've been there all

day. There's no place nearby where they can even

go buy food, even if they had the money. So you

start to see a little bit of panic in the disciples.

So they're letting Jesus know it's time, Jesus.

Dismiss the crowds. Send them on their way. They

need to get back. They still have a long walk

ahead of them. We know at least four miles. and

evening's already upon us. Makes sense. But to

their surprise, Jesus had another plan. Look

at verse 16. Jesus said, no, they don't need

to go away. You, and in Greek, you is emphatic.

The pronoun's there. You give them something

to eat. You, disciples, feed them. Now, you know,

if you're sitting there, and Peter, it's not

said, Peter, we don't know, I'm sure, what he's

thinking. He's like, what? What do you mean?

You want us, 12, to feed them, the multitude?

Now keep in mind, this is a massive amount of

people. In verse 21, we're told it's 5 ,000 men

apart from women and children. So we call this

the feeding of the 5 ,000. But even conservative

estimates, easily 15 ,000 to 20 ,000 people.

Easily. Now they must have thought, the disciples

must have thought, Jesus is either joking or

he's out of his mind. There's not enough food

for themselves. How do I know that? Because in

just a minute, Andrew, we know, is going to tell

Jesus, all we have here is five loaves, two fish.

That's all they have, verse 17. And they said

to him, they, we know that remember the boy brought

his lunch to Andrew. And they said to him, we

have here only five loaves and two fish. So this

is the little boy's lunch, probably. That is

mom packed for him. And by the way, the five

loaves are not like big loaves like we think

of. This is barley loaves, the bread of the poor.

It's a poor little boy. Two fish, more like sardines.

It's a small pickled fish. So five loaves of

poor bread and two sardines. That's all the food

they could muster. So there's not even food that

they have. So what could this small amount of

food do with such a massive crowd? Now friends,

that's a reasonable thought if you discount the

one with whom they were speaking. You have meager

resources and a large crowd, and they are hungry.

That usually does not produce a good outcome.

It doesn't. Five loaves, two small fish, 15 ,000

people, no matter any way you slice it, it's

insufficient. If you take Jesus out of the equation.

Although that is all the food the disciples had,

it is enough. When you factor Jesus into the

equation. And this is what I'm saying for us,

friends. Your resources, whether they be meager

or massive, your resources plus Jesus is more

than enough every single time. Because he's not

limited. Verse 18, Jesus says, bring them here

to me. Give me what you have. It's an act of

faith. Give it to me. Give me the five loaves.

Give me the two fish. Remember Psalm 23. The

Lord, Yahweh, is my shepherd. I shall not want.

It means I shall not lack. There's no need here.

Why? If God, because God is the one taking care

of me, there is no reason for fear. There's no

reason to panic. There's no reason for worry.

Why? Because God is my shepherd. He's the one

taking care of me. And the good shepherd is always

faithful to provide for his sheep. Look back

at the Old Testament. God fed a couple million

Hebrews in the desert for 40 years with manna.

Every day. For 40 years in a hot desert, God's

people did not have replacement shoes or clothing.

But their shoes did not wear out. Their clothes

did not rip. There was no dry rotting there.

There was no lack. How do you explain that? Who's

your shepherd? It's God. The message that we

need to see over and over again is that God's

hand is not shortened. He is not limited by our

scarce resources. Ever. Scarcity does not mean

insufficiency when we're talking about God. In

2 Kings 6, Pastor Kyle has been going through

the kings in this passage on Sunday nights. In

2 Kings 6, you have the king of Syria. He wants

to kill the prophet Elisha because Elisha keeps

informing the invading army, the opposing army,

of the king of Syria's plans. That's the backdrop.

So he wants this prophet dead. And he tells his

commanders, go get, and they're like, he's like,

who's the traitor? And they're like, there's

no traitor. There's a prophet in Israel whose

name's Elisha, and he always tells about your

plans. And he says, go kill him. So they go.

The army of Syria goes to Dothan, where Elisha

and a servant were. Well, early in the morning,

Elisha's servant, Gehazi, he wakes up and he

sees that they are surrounded by the Syrian army.

And you know what his response is? The same ours

would be. He's afraid. We're dead men. We're

two and there are thousands. Now, he goes and

gets Elisha. And he's like, look, we're vastly

outnumbered. What's Elisha do? And when the servant

and the man of God arose early and went out,

there was an army. the Syrian, surrounding the

city with horses and chariots. And the servant

said to him, alas, my master, what shall we do?

So he, that is Elisha, answered, don't fear.

What? Yeah, that's exactly what I had to do.

No. For those who are with us are more than those

who are with them. Again, are you out of your

mind? Verse 17. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord

Yahweh, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.

Then the Lord, Yahweh, opened the eyes of the

young man and he saw. And behold, the mountain

was full of horses and chariots of fire all around

Elisha. Elisha wasn't afraid. He had no fear.

Why? Yahweh was his shepherd. I will not fear.

I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Remember

the widow of Zarephath. Do you remember? She

had flour and oil, just a little bit. But Elijah,

this time, told her, it's not going to run out.

What do you see? 1 Kings 17. For thus says the

Lord God of Israel. Now notice, this is God making

a promise to a widow. Just trust me is what he's

saying. The bin of flour shall not be used up,

nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day

the Lord sends rain on the earth. It's not going

to rain for about three and a half years. Verse

16. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did

the jar of oil run dry, according to the word

of the Lord, according to the word of Yahweh,

which he spoke by Elijah. Do you see what the

scriptures are saying? To God, it matters not

whether we have a little or whether we have a

lot. What matters is whether we have him. This

is what we need to see. God's the deciding factor,

not our resources. Now the disciples should have

known by now, because they've seen lots of miracles

take place, that when Jesus commanded them to

feed the multitudes, he was going to see to it

that they would have enough food. Verse 19 again.

So he, Jesus, commanded the multitudes to sit

down on the grass. We know that they got into

groups of around 50. Now notice here, there's

small little things that we need to pay attention

to. He told the crowd to have a seat on the grass.

If you look at Mark 6 .39, he says, have a seat

in groups on the green grass. Doesn't that seem

redundant? Why does Mark tell us the grass is

green when we know that grass is green? Where

are they? They're on the Sea of Galilee. Water.

Still water, by the way, on the shoreline. And

he's commanded them to sit down in the green

grass by the still waters. What Psalm 23 says.

He makes me to lie in green pastures. He leads

me besides still waters. What's Matthew showing

us? Jesus is the good shepherd, spoken of in

Psalm 23. But who is the shepherd in Psalm 23?

YAHWEH. Who is Jesus? He's Yahweh. We know that

the psalm says, He restores my soul. He nourished

their body with physical food, but he had also

nourished their soul, Mark tells us, teaching

them all day. Okay, so now let's see the miracle

here. The latter part of verse 19. And he took

the five loaves and the two fish. He looks up

to heaven. That's the typical way that they would

have given thanks. He blessed. He gave thanks.

He broke and he gave the loaves to the disciples

and the disciples to the multitudes. Does that

language sound familiar to you at all? Many commentators,

and I think they're right on, they see a foreshadowing

here of the Lord's Supper. In Matthew 14, he

took the loaves. In 1 Corinthians 11, he takes

the bread. In Matthew, he looks up to heaven

and bless. He's given thanks. In 1 Corinthians

11, he gives thanks. In Matthew, he broke the

bread. At the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians

11, we read he broke the bread. In Matthew, he

gave to the disciples. 1 Corinthians 11, he gave

to the disciples. The miracle. of providing bread

points forward to Jesus, who gives himself as

the bread of life. Now, I told you this miracle

was mentioned in all four Gospels. John's Gospel,

as soon as this miracle is finished, he goes

into what's known as the bread of life discourse.

John 6, 33. For the bread of God is he who comes

down from heaven. and gives life to the world.

And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he

who believes in me shall never thirst. Look down

at verse 40. And this is the will of him who

sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, who

is that? That's Jesus, and believes in him may

have everlasting life. And I'm going to raise

him up at the last day. See, Jesus' miracles

were never designed to be sensational. They're

not there to satisfy any intellectual curiosity.

Rather, they are signs that point to him as the

promised Christ who had come to save his people.

Can you get a sense of what Matthew's doing here?

My friends, I love it. He is showing that Jesus

is Yahweh. He's the good shepherd of Psalm 23.

He's the one who provides for his people. But

God doesn't just provide for his people by giving

them bread. He provides for his people by giving

himself as the bread. He's the food. As he says

in John 6, 33, he's the bread of life. When the

nation of Israel... Remember when they were wandering

in the wilderness, they were always tempted to

complain, and that's understandable. And they

complained against God. And they asked this question

in Psalm 78. Yes, they spoke against God, and

they said, now notice the question that they

asked. Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

We're in a desolate place. Can God give us food

here? Verse 20. Can he give bread also? So Israel,

the nation, is questioning, can God provide food

for them in a remote wilderness place? What's

Jesus doing in Matthew 14? Providing food for

his people in a remote wilderness place. Can

God provide a table in the wilderness? What's

Jesus doing there? He's providing a table of

bread in the wilderness. What does Psalm 23?

You prepare a table before me. Whoever has God

as their shepherd will not lack. And I love this.

We're almost finished here. Jesus didn't just

provide a paltry dinner. He didn't provide just

a little bit, some snack to hold them over. This

is a meal of abundance. Look at verse 20 and

21. So they all ate and were filled, all 15 to

20 ,000. And they took up 12 baskets full of

the fragments that remained. No waste. Now those

who had eaten were about 5 ,000 men besides women

and children. Now notice, they all ate and were

filled. Liberal people, liberal commentators

said, they all just got a little bit. That's

so dumb. What do you mean? They ate and were

filled. 20 ,000 people here filled to the brim

because our Lord multiplied five loaves and two

fish. In fact, there was such abundance. People

could eat all they wanted, and there's still

some left over. How much? Twelve basketfuls.

Now, twelve, why? Because the apostles, each

one of the twelve would have been carrying a

basket. Twelve baskets, twelve apostles. Each

one carrying a full basket. Now, why? Those full

baskets foreshadowed their future mission, or

they're going to go throughout the nation, distributing

spiritual bread to the world. These baskets show

us something. That our good shepherd, he's not

selfish, friends. He's not begrudging. He is

abundantly generous. Abundantly, exceedingly

abundant above all we could ever ask or think.

God. is generous with his people. And this miracle

here, it's just a glimpse, it's just a preview,

just a small, tiny view of the generosity that

our Lord is going to show his people. Now listen,

when we feast with him at the marriage supper

of the Lamb, when the kingdom of God arrives

in its fullness, there will be a lavish banquet

then. And today, if you leave simply being amazed

that Jesus can multiply fish and bread, you've

missed the point. We've missed the point altogether.

Matthew is not so much focusing on what Jesus

can do, but rather who he is. He's the Savior

sent from God. Here's the point. The Jesus, the

carpenter from Nazareth, is God. He's Yahweh.

He is the one that you must trust if you're going

to enter the kingdom of God. Every one of those

people who ate that day later hungered. They

got hungry again. Yet Jesus tells us in John

6, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me

shall never hunger. And he who believes in me

shall never thirst. This same Jesus who broke

the bread to feed the people would soon give

his own body to be broken to save his people.

This is what we celebrate every Lord's Day. Every

time we gather, it's to see something of the

glory of God in Christ. See, the Lord Jesus,

he doesn't only satisfy physical hunger, he also

satisfies the deepest longings of the human soul.

You're never going to hunger or thirst again.

Not physically, friend. Spiritually. Through

his broken body and his shed blood, Jesus provides

forgiveness for our sins, reconciliation with

our God, and eternal life in the kingdom that

is to come. What's the psalm say? Yahweh is my

shepherd. I shall not want. I won't want. So

the question is, and this is for every single

person in here, is Jesus, Yahweh in the flesh,

your shepherd? Whoever believes upon him is what

he says. Most assuredly I say to you, he who

believes in me, only him has everlasting life.

Why? Verse 48, I am the bread of life. You must

come to him. He is the one who can save. Not

one among many who can save. The only one sent

by God, the Christ, the son of the living God.

Trust in him today. And for all those of us in

this room who have. Jesus is not a dead Savior.

He's a living Savior. He's risen. He's ascended.

He's at the right hand of the Father. And we

get to commune with him. He says, come, my people,

come to me. I'm the good shepherd. I'm still

providing bread. It's my flesh and my blood.

Come. I'll feed you. I'll feed you with myself.

Come and let's feast with him, remembering what

he did, anticipating the kingdom to come, and

rejoicing with our God presently through this

meal that he's given to us. Father, we thank

you. God, you are so rich, so generous. Lord,

we are so poor, so undeserving. Lord, would you

open our hearts and our minds to receive your

word as it is, to believe it, to profit by it,

to grow in our understanding of it. Lord, we

can never mind the depths of sacred scripture.

The more we look at it, the more rich it is,

the more glorious it becomes. Because, Lord,

it is a living word testifying to the living

Christ, the embodied word. God, we need you.

We're weak. All of us in here are weak, Lord.

None of us have had a perfect week. None of us

can come to the table of the Lord in our own

merit. We come and, Lord, we desire to be fed

with manna from on high. You're the true bread,

Jesus, who has given your flesh for our life.

Lord, we thank you for that. Let us commune with

you now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.