Sunday Link – JESUS is THE MIRACLE WORKER | sl20260802

Jesus is the Miracle Worker     

Matthew 14:13–21 (ESV)     

¹³ Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.  But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.  ¹⁴ When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  

¹⁵ Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”  

¹⁶ But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”  

¹⁷ They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 

¹⁸ And he said, “Bring them here to me.”  

¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing.  Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.  ²⁰ And they all ate and were satisfied.  And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.  ²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.  Matthew 14:13–21 ESV    

Today we hear a story about hunger, grief, and the generous love of God.  We will see how Jesus is the miracle worker.   

Matthew 14:13  

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.  But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.  

Sometimes it’s a real challenge to find time alone.  Has this ever happened to you?  You plan to get away to rest, to reflect — maybe take a day trip or a mini-vacation.  But obstacles keep popping up.  A work issue.  A family emergency.  Or maybe everyone you know decides they want to come with you.  There goes your quiet solitude. [You may want to share a personal story about not having been able to find time alone so you could rest.]  

In our story today, Jesus withdraws to be alone.  He has just received terrible news.  King Herod has killed John the Baptist.  John was not only a prophet.  He was Jesus’ relative and friend.  John was the one who pointed people to Jesus as the Messiah and said, “This is the Lamb of God,” meaning the One sent by God to rescue the world from sin and evil.  

So, Jesus is grieving.  He wants to be alone for a while.  He gets into a boat and heads to a quiet place.  But the crowds follow him.  

The thing about grief is life keeps on going.  Even though loss devastates us, life moves forward.  The earth keeps revolving.  And difficulties and challenges still happen.  Maybe you’ve experienced this.  

When a loved one dies, the loss is significant.  While being fully God, Jesus is fully human also.  He experiences grief just as we do.  In Jesus, we have a God who understands what we are going through when someone we love dies.  

So, Jesus cares for the crowds even though he wants some time alone to grieve.

Matthew 14:14  

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.   

And when Jesus steps onto the shore, he does not push the people away.  He heals them because Jesus is the miracle worker.  

Matthew says, “He had compassion on them.”  Compassion means his heart moved toward people in pain. Jesus heals the sick and cares for the crowd, even while carrying his own sorrow.  

Here we see the heart of God.  Jesus does not turn away from suffering people.  He moves toward them.  He’s not thinking of himself — he’s thinking of them and their needs.  

Here Jesus demonstrates that love is unselfish.  Long before he lays his life down on the cross, he lays down his life to serve these people in need.  He shows them the love of his heavenly Father through his ministry to them.  The Holy Spirit enables him to love and care for others in the middle of his own personal loss and grief.  

Matthew 14:15  

Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”   

As evening comes, the disciples seem worried.  Thousands of people are far from town, and there is no food nearby.  The disciples want Jesus to send the people away.  Jesus says something surprising.   

Matthew 14:16  

But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”    

The disciples count their food; it is not enough for thousands of people.  Do you think they felt panic?  

Matthew 14:17 and 18  

They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”  And he said, “Bring them here to me.”    

The loaves and fish are enough to feed one person, maybe two.  They clearly are not enough to feed thousands.  It’s obvious the disciples are unable to do what Jesus has told them to do.  

But Jesus is not troubled.  Jesus knows the generosity of his Father.  So, Jesus tells them, “Bring the food to me.”  

Matthew 14:19      

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing.  Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.  

Jesus takes the bread and fish into his hands.  Then he offers up the small meal of five loaves and two fish to his heavenly Father.  A miracle begins to happen.  Out of his infinite resources, the Father multiples the loaves and the fish for Jesus.  Jesus is the miracle worker.     

The astonished disciples begin to hand out what they have to the waiting crowds.  Soon everyone has had something to eat.   

Matthew 14:20 and 21   

And they all ate and were satisfied.  And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.  And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.    

Suddenly there is enough. Not just enough for a few people.  Enough for everyone.  More than enough — twelve baskets left over.  Everyone eats. Everyone is satisfied.  

Christians have long called this “the feeding of the five thousand” or the miracle of the fish and loaves.  And it was a miracle.  The disciples had only two fish and five loaves of bread.  They did not have enough.  

Maybe you feel like the disciples and think, “I do not have enough.”  Not enough strength.  Not enough wisdom.  Not enough money.  Not enough faith.  Not enough time.    

Yet amazingly, Jesus invited the disciples to join him.  And God invites us to join him too.  God wants us to participate in his ongoing mission of love.  

See Jesus continues his mission in the world.  The Father is still restoring lives.  The Son is still welcoming sinners and healing the broken.  The Spirit is still drawing people into the love of God.  

Notice this carefully: the disciples’ actions or choices did not set the miracle in motion.  Jesus is the miracle worker.  But Jesus did invite them to join in, and they responded with trust.  That is still how life with God works today. 

This is what it means to live missionally.  God is already at work restoring the world through Jesus Christ, and the Spirit invites us to join that work in everyday life.  

• We do not bring people to God the Father; Jesus already has.  
• We do not change hearts ourselves; the Holy Spirit does.  
• We do not carry the weight of saving the world; Jesus already carries it.  

So, we can live with peace and generosity.  

• We can trust the Father’s care.  
• We can follow the Son.  
• We can walk in the Spirit.   

And when we feel empty or overwhelmed, we remember this story: the God who fed the crowd is still faithful. 

• The Father still provides.  
• The Son still welcomes.  
• The Spirit still works.  

And there is still more than enough in Jesus Christ for the life of the world. 

The feeding of the five thousand is not mainly about the crowd.  It’s not mainly about the disciples — what they did or how we need to imitate them.  It is about Jesus.  He is always the main character.  

This story in Matthew 14 helps us understand who Jesus is and what he came to reveal about God, his Father.  It also helps us understand miracles.  Miracles are signs that reveal who God is.  

When modern people hear the word miracle, they may think of something strange, magical, or impossible.  But in the Bible, miracles are never random displays of power meant simply to amaze people.  Miracles are signs that point beyond themselves to reveal the presence, character, and kingdom of God.  We understand God’s kingdom as God’s gracious rule, already present in Christ.  It’s the reality of God renewing the world according to his love and purposes.  

A miracle in Scripture is an act of God  in which the Creator’s power breaks into the ordinary world.  This “breaking in” reveals that God is restoring what sin and evil have broken.  The world as we experience it is not the world as God intended it to be.  Human beings experience sickness, grief, fear, injustice, hunger, loneliness, and death.  The Bible describes this as the result of sin and the brokenness that flows from it. 

So, when Jesus heals the sick, feeds hungry people, calms storms, or raises the dead, he is not performing tricks.  He is giving signs of God’s kingdom — glimpses of creation being restored under the reign of God.  You see, in the kingdom, in the fullness of God’s reign, there will be no more illness, no more hunger, nature will no longer be destructive, and everyone who has every died will be raised to life.   

The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand reveals that Jesus is not merely a teacher or prophet. 

• Throughout the Old Testament, certain miraculous actions belong uniquely to God.  God feeds his people in the wilderness.  God rules over nature.  God provides life.  God rescues and sustains his people.
• Yet in the Gospels, Jesus is the miracle worker.  Jesus begins doing the very works associated with God himself.  This is why the miracles shocked people so deeply.  Jesus acts with divine authority.  He commands creation, and creation obeys him.  

Jesus’ miracles revealed that he was the Son of God.  And this mattered because he was also the Son of Man, fully human.  When he cut his foot, he bled.  He got tired and needed rest.  He got hungry and needed food.  People knew who his mother and father and siblings were.  How can this son of Mary and a carpenter be God?  

In this miracle, the connection to God’s work in the Old Testament is especially important.  In three weeks, we will begin a series of sermons in the book of Exodus.  We’ll see how Israel once wandered in the wilderness hungry, and God fed them with manna from heaven.  Now Jesus stands in a deserted place with another hungry crowd, and once again bread is provided in abundance.  

The writer of the Gospel of Mathew wants all to recognize that the God who fed Israel in the wilderness is now present among his people in Jesus Christ.  The miracle reveals that Jesus is God — the eternal Son of God who has come in human flesh. 

Yet the miracle does more than reveal Jesus’ divine power.  It reveals the heart of the Father.  Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).  Jesus came not only to save humanity but also to show us what God is truly like.  

Many people imagine God as distant, harsh, impatient, or reluctant to care for human beings.  But when we watch Jesus in this story, we see the exact opposite. 

In this miracle, Jesus reveals the compassion of the Father.  God is not cold toward human suffering.  God moves toward struggling people in love.  The meaning is deeper than merely showing us that God is capable of multiplying food.  We see that the heart of the Father is abundantly generous.  God is more than enough.  He is overflowing in goodness and provision.  

This miracle also points ahead to the cross.  Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to the people.  Later, at the Last Supper, Jesus will again take bread, bless it, break it, and say, “This is my body, given for you” (Matthew 26:26–29).  The feeding of the crowd becomes a picture of the gospel itself.  

Humanity is spiritually hungry and unable to save itself.  We cannot heal our own brokenness or restore ourselves to God.  So, the Father sends the Son into the world.  Jesus becomes human for us.  He lives the faithful life we failed to live, and at the cross he gives himself completely for the life of the world.  In his death and resurrection, Jesus does for us what we could never do for ourselves.  

The miracle also reveals the life of the Trinity. 

• The Father is the source of all provision. 
• The Son receives from the Father and gives generously to the people. 
• The Holy Spirit empowers and reveals the work of God. 

Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus lives in loving fellowship with the Father through the Spirit.  And through Jesus, humanity is invited into that same relationship with God.  

The feeding of the five thousand shows us that Christianity begins not with human effort but with God’s generosity. 

• Before the crowd asks, Jesus already sees their need.  
• Before the disciples understand what is happening, Jesus is already preparing provision.  
• Before humanity even knows it needs rescue, the Father already sent the Son.  

Miracles are signs that God has come near and that Jesus is the divine Son sent by the Father.  And miracles are signs that Jesus’ kingdom is arriving — and this is what the kingdom looks like: a world made whole.  

Finally, the miracle of the fish and loaves points us beyond bread itself to Jesus. 

• The bread mattered because the people were hungry. 
• But Jesus is the greater gift. 
• He is the true Bread from heaven given for the life of the world.  
• Jesus is the miracle worker.  

Small Group Discussion Questions