Matthew 15:32-39 – God will do it again

All the four Gospels carry the account of how Jesus fed the multitude with five loaves and two fish. We were told that many ate till they were full and the fragment of broken pieces that were left behind filled twelve baskets full. But now, in Matthew 15:32-38, we find another miraculous feeding. This second account of miraculous provision is only recorded by Matthew. The number of people who participated in this account of miraculous provision was less. Although they had a little more to begin with here than previously, the result nonetheless is just as amazing.

Earlier in Matthew 15:29, we learned that Jesus came up to the mountain and was seated. Great crowds of people came bringing to Him the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. Each one was healed by Him. The healing was so amazing that it left the people praising God. From verse 32 we know that those people were already with Jesus for three days and ate nothing. We can tell that the reason of Jesus’ earlier provision was the same here. He felt compassionately for them. He didn’t want to send them back hungry, for He didn’t want them to faint on the way home. It shows us that the Lord wants us to have a sustained journey toward our destination. So He called the disciples together and expressed His concern. Obviously the disciples had not learned from the earlier experience where He miraculously fed the multitude with just five loaves and two fish. Their perspective of Him had not changed. They felt the same way as they did earlier. So they asked the Lord, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?”

The Lord then asked them how many loaves they had. “Seven, and few small fish,” they replied. They had forgotten that in the last miraculous feeding, they had less, yet had more left over.  So like the last time, the Lord told them to get the people seated on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and fish, He gave thanks, broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to be distributed to the crowd. The crowd ate till they were full and satisfied, and yet they could pick seven baskets full of broken pieces. Matthew tells us that the baskets used were not small but big ones. The number of people who had eaten of the bread totaled 4,000 men besides the women and children. Jesus then sent the crowd away satisfied, while He and his disciples proceeded toward Magadan in a boat.

This second account was perhaps to seal the lesson once and for all that Jesus is our amazing provider. Even if He has to do it again to teach us that lesson, He will. The response of the disciples tells us that they had not learned from the previous incidence. Aren’t we like them sometimes – dull headed and slow to learn? We can trust the Lord to provide again and again. In our journey with the Lord, sometimes we find ourselves in similar situations and similar circumstances. They could be indications that we have not learned from our past experience. And the Lord knows we need to go through that precious lesson again. He is a God of the second chance and He will teach us again. We should then wise up and respond appropriately to Him. For those of us who find ourselves in a circumstance and needing the Lord to grant us a breakthrough, let’s not be tempted to think that He will not help us again. Let’s remember His challenge to us is to ask, seek and knock persistently. To everyone who asks, receives; everyone who seeks, finds; and everyone who knocks, the door shall be opened.