But
the multitudes, perceiving it, followed him. He welcomed them, and spoke to them of God’s Kingdom, and he cured those who needed healing. The day began to wear away; and the twelve came, and said to him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and farms, and lodge, and get food, for we are here in a deserted place.” But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.” For they were about five thousand men. He said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” They did so, and made them all sit down. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to the sky, he blessed them, and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. They ate, and were all filled. They gathered up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.
Luke 9:11-17
He took them, and withdrew apart to a deserted place of a city called Bethsaida.
Luke 9 [11.] But the multitudes, perceiving it, followed him. He welcomed them, and spoke to them of God’s Kingdom, and he cured those who needed healing. The day began to wear away; and the twelve came, and said to him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and farms, and lodge, and get food, for we are here in a deserted place.”
Luke 9 [13.] But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.” For they were about five thousand men.
He said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” They did so, and made them all sit down. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to the sky, he blessed them, and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. They ate, and were all filled. They gathered up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.
Luke 9 [18.] As he was praying alone, the disciples were with him, and he asked them, “Who do the multitudes say that I am?”
Meaning:
Jesus had taken the apostles away to a quiet place near Bethsaida after their mission (Luke 9:6-10), but the crowds found out and followed. What follows is the only miracle of Jesus, apart from the resurrection, recorded in all four Gospels (Mark 6:35-38; Mark 6:39-44; Matthew 14:14-21; John 6:8-9).
- “He welcomed them”
Jesus had gone away to rest with his tired disciples, yet when the crowds arrived he did not send them off. He welcomed them, taught them about God’s Kingdom and healed the sick. Mark says he had compassion on them “because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34).
- “Send the multitude away”
The disciples’ suggestion was sensible. Evening was coming, they were in a lonely place, and the crowd needed food and shelter. They were concerned, but their solution was to send the problem away.
- “You give them something to eat”
Jesus’ answer must have shocked them. In Greek the word “you” is emphatic. Jesus was not mocking them; he was teaching them that the needs of the people were now their responsibility, and that they would have to depend on him to meet them. They had just come back from a mission in which they had seen God’s power at work through them (Luke 9:1-5). Now they faced a need they could not meet.
- “We have no more than five loaves and two fish”
The barley loaves of ordinary people were small, flat and round; the fish were probably dried or salted. John tells us they came from a boy in the crowd (John 6:9). “About five thousand men,” not counting women and children, makes the gap between need and supply enormous. Buying food for so many would have cost far more than the disciples possessed.
- “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each”
Jesus organised the crowd in orderly groups, like Israel in the wilderness, where Moses set rulers over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens (Exodus 18:21). The order made it possible to serve everyone, and it pictured God’s people gathered as a community around their Shepherd.
- “Looking up to the sky, he blessed them, and broke them”
Jesus gave thanks to God as the head of a Jewish household did before a meal. The actions, taking, blessing, breaking and giving, are the same ones Luke describes at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19) and at Emmaus, where the risen Jesus “took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave to them” (Luke 24:30). This meal points ahead to Jesus giving himself for his people. Notice also that Jesus gave the food “to the disciples to set before the multitude.” He did the miracle, but they served it.
- “They ate, and were all filled”
No one went home hungry. The prophet Elisha once fed a hundred men with twenty loaves: “they ate, and had some left over, according to Yahweh’s word” (2 Kings 4:44). Jesus fed five thousand with five. Like God giving manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:15), he provided bread in a deserted place.
- “Twelve baskets of broken pieces”
There was more left over than there had been at the start: one basket for each apostle. God’s provision is not only enough but abundant.
The Significance of Luke 9:11-17
- Small resources in Jesus’ hands
The disciples counted what they had and saw only lack. Jesus took the little they had, gave thanks for it and multiplied it. What we bring to him, whether time, gifts or money, may seem tiny compared with the world’s needs, but in his hands it is enough.
- Jesus is the bread of life
John records that after this miracle Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry” (John 6:35). The bread that fed the crowd points to the deeper hunger that only Jesus can satisfy.
Cross-References:
Mark 6:34: "were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things." Jesus’ compassion for the crowd.
2 Kings 4:44: "So he set it before them, and they ate, and had some left over, according to Yahweh’s word." Elisha’s miracle of multiplied bread.
John 6:35: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." The meaning of the sign.
Conclusion: In Luke 9:11-17 Jesus welcomes the crowds who follow him to a deserted place, teaches them and heals the sick. When the disciples want to send the people away to find food, Jesus tells them to feed them. With only five loaves and two fish, he has the people sit in groups of fifty, gives thanks, breaks the bread and gives it to the disciples to distribute. Five thousand men eat and are filled, and twelve baskets are left over. Jesus abundantly meets his people’s needs and calls his disciples to serve with what he provides.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible