Today’s author is Prince of Peace’s Director of Visitation & Congregational Care.
Do you like Jeopardy? Trivial Pursuit? Knowledge Bowl? If so, here’s a question especially for you: Which one of the following miracles of Jesus appears in all four Gospels?
- Jesus cures a paralyzed man
- Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding
- Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish
- Jesus raises Lazarus from the grave
If you chose #3 as your answer, congratulations are in order! You may have known this piece of trivia for decades. Or, perhaps you guessed the answer in light of the fact that we’ve been focusing on the feeding of the five thousand since hearing Matthew’s account of it in worship last Sunday.
I find it fascinating that of all the miracles of Jesus recorded in the Gospels (roughly 37 by most accounts), the feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle to be included in all four! Here are the common elements among them:
- Jesus goes to a certain place and is met there by a crowd of (at least) five thousand;
- There is a recognition that people are getting hungry;
- The only food on hand are five loaves of bread and two fish;
- The people are told to sit down;
- Jesus takes the bread and offers a blessing/gives thanks;
- The food is distributed;
- Everyone has enough to eat;
- The leftovers collected fill twelve baskets.
Although the details vary to some degree between the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), they are quite similar in their telling of the story. For example, in all of these accounts the disciples, knowing that the people must be getting hungry, want Jesus to send them away so they can go and buy food for themselves. And in all of them Jesus responds by saying, “You give them something to eat.” By contrast, in John’s Gospel, it is Jesus who expresses the concern for the crowd’s hunger, and Jesus, rather than the disciples, who distributes the food. I encourage you to read all four accounts of this story and note the similarities and differences. (See Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10b-17, and John 6:1-15.)
Perhaps you’re asking why this miracle is the only one that made it into all four Gospels. I’ve been pondering the same question. There’s no way to know for sure, of course. But perhaps it’s because it gives us such a clear picture of the nature of God. In Jesus we see a compassionate, loving, and generous God who satisfies all who are hungry – physically and spiritually.
Five loaves and two fish. Five thousand people. Everyone is fed until their stomachs are full, and still there are leftovers. Twelve baskets full, to be exact. An abundance of food, an abundance of love. For all.
Thank you, O God, for your generosity that knows no bounds. Give us generous hearts and hands, so that the world may know your abundant love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.