Day 19: Jesus feeds five thousand Jewish families
Think of a time when you have felt hungry. Really hungry. Now, imagine you had been in the middle of a wilderness at that time and not near any house or store or restaurant where you could get food. Think about how you would feel. Today, we’re going to read about a time when lots and lots of people were hungry and Jesus gave them so much food they couldn’t even eat it all!
In verses 31–32, how does Jesus show His care for His disciples?
What happened when Jesus and His disciples tried to go to a quiet place to get some rest (v. 33)?
How do we see Jesus’ care for the crowds who come to Him (v. 34)?
In the Old Testament, God is often described as a shepherd to His people. For example, Psalm 23 begins, “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing” (Psalm 23:1).
What do the disciples tell Jesus to do in verse 36?
How does Jesus respond in verse 37?
What problem do the disciples raise in verse 37?
In verse 38, Jesus asks them to see how much bread they have. How much food do they come back with for the massive crowd?
What do you think you would have said if you had been in Jesus’ position, and it turned out there were only five loaves of bread and two fish to feed a whole crowd of people?
In verse 41, what does Jesus do with the five loaves of bread and the two fish?
In verse 42, what happens, and why is it surprising?
In the Old Testament book of Exodus, God’s people wander in the wilderness, and they run out of bread. So, God makes stuff appear all over the ground every day. The people call it “manna,” which means “What is it?” But it turns out that you could make this manna into bread, and they live on manna bread for forty years!
In verse 43, how much food was left over after all the people had eaten? Do you think that was more or less than the amount of food that Jesus started with?
In verse 44, how many men had eaten?
Men would have been counted as representatives of their families, so Jesus actually feeds far more people, because there would be lots of women and children too!
How does this miracle remind us of when God made manna in the wilderness?
How does this story help us to trust God to take care of us today?
Tell your heavenly Father about something that you’re worried about, and ask Him to help you in that situation. Ask Him as well to help you trust Him when it seems like everything is going wrong.