What are some of the lessons that we can learn from Jesus' miracle of feeding the five thousand?

Question

Wiki User · Accepted Answer

The importance of feeding the 5000 is to show how powerful God is. He can make you die on the spot, H can heal anything that you have, He can do ANYTHING, except sin of course. God's perfect!! And He LOVE'S you more than anything else!

The alternative view of this event is that when the sharing of the loaves and fishes began, others in the crowd who had brought food began to share what they had - a true miracle in its own right!

Wiki User · Answer

That God can do anything and you shouldn't question what he can do. Also, that you don't have to fret about what you are going to eat because God will always provide.

that people should trust jesus to care for them

Wiki User · Answer

In Mark 6:35, the disciples asked Jesus to send the people away to buy food. Instead, Jesus collected five loaves and two fishes, from which he miraculously fed the five thousand people. This was apparently done out of compassion and there is no suggestion that he intended to teach anything by this. However, it is possible that the author of Mark's Gospel, in which this passage first appeared, wanted his readers to understand about Jesus.

There is also a story of Jesus feeding 4000 people soon afterwards and in remarkably similar circumstances. In Mark's Gospel, these accounts form part of a contiguous set of miracle stories that include a total of ten references or allusions to food (Mark 6:33-8:21 ), with a minor theme of not understanding:

Jesus and the disciples had no leisure so much as to eat, so they went into a desert place
Feeding the 5000
When Jesus walked on water the disciples were amazed, for they considered not the miracle of the loaves
Pharisees complain about the disciples eating with unwashed hands
Discourse - what goes into a man goes into his belly and does not defile
Greek woman metaphorically begs for crumbs from the table
Feeding the 4000
Disciples are hungry and have only one loaf of bread
Jesus warns the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and they reason, "It is because we have no bread," showing they do not understand
Summary by Jesus of the two feasts

These in turn form one part of a pair (pair R) in the framework structure of Mark, with the Last Supper as the matching event (this is a parallel structure, a literary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first): A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

The purpose of parallel and chiastic structures in ancient literature was to link two events by association and thereby create emphasis or a theme that was not otherwise apparent. Shortly after feeding the 5000, Jesus walked on water and the disciples were amazed because they did not consider the miracle of the loaves(Mark 6:52). By verse 8:21, the reader is asking, "Why don't they understand?" Later, at the Last Supper (chapter 14, the matching event R'), the reader understands, but knows that the disciples do not.

Wiki User · Answer

There are two accounts of Jesus feeding a multitude, in one case feeding 5000 and in the other case feeding 4000. Not only are the multitudes similar, but the miracles are remarkably similar, and they occur close together in time. At first glance, the moral would seem to be that Jesus cared for people. But then another message emerges. In the original New Testament account in Mark's Gospel, these accounts form part of a contiguous set of stories that include at least ten references or allusions to food (Mark 6:33-8:21 ):

Jesus and the disciples had no leisure so much as to eat
Feeding the 5000
When Jesus walked on water the disciples were amazed, for they considered not the miracle of the loaves
Pharisees complain about the disciples eating with unwashed hands
Discourse - what goes into a man goes into his belly and does not defile
Greek woman metaphorically begs for crumbs from the table
Feeding the 4000
Disciples are hungry and have only one loaf of bread
Jesus warns the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and they reason, "It is because we have no bread," showing they do not understand
Summary by Jesus of the two feasts, asking, "How is it ye do not understand?"

These in turn form one part of pair R in the framework parallel structure of Mark, with the Last Supper as the matching event (A parallel structure is a literary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first):

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)