Matt.14:19-21 – And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
The miracles of Jesus are infinite windows into the kingdom of God. The feeding of the 5000 is one of the greatest of the miracles of Jesus and it contained a powerful message and a look into the goodness of God. For the hungry people in the crowd that day, they were shocked and thankful that the Lord had met them in the wilderness and fed them this bread and fish. For most everyone there that it was a great meal but still it was just bread and fish. Sadly there are many people that are satisfied with just that, physical provision for our needs from God. That wasn’t the point the Lord was making that day, He was after something far more important. Now of course Jesus is concerned for our needs in this life, He made that clear as He healed the sick, cast out demons, and healed broken hearts. This bread was about more than hungry bellies, this was about hungry souls in need of spiritual food. That’s what Jesus came to give us, the Bread of Life. He is the Bread of Life and He came to fill our hungry hearts by giving us Himself. Here is how Luther described this miracle.
“Out of the mass of powerful words in the holy Scripture there is almost no stronger word that Christ is a bread and meal given by God, and that whoever eats this bread lives forever and becomes content, no longer hungering or thirsting. . . . It is a settled point that here in this chapter the Lord is speaking about spiritual food, for he himself explains it as the hunger and thirst of the soul. The soul wants to live forever, to not be cursed, to have a merciful God, to be able to stand before the wrath and judgment of God, to not be condemned by sin and the law or go to hell. Those are the soul’s desires. It is a spiritual thirst and hunger, for which we need a spiritual meal and drink. And so the Holy Spirit comes and says, “If you do not want to die or be damned, then come to Christ, believe in him and cling to him. Eat this spiritual meal, believe in Christ, that is the most important thing.”
So this miracle is a window into God’s world; “eat my flesh and drink My blood and you will live forever”. Healing the blind was like that, He opens physical and spiritual eyes that look to Him so that they can see His glory. The healing of the lepers shows us the cleansing power of God. I love the miracles of Jesus, when I look at them I can see the glory of God.
