Flowers Fade Friday: 4,000?

I have always been slightly confused by Jesus and the feeding of the four thousand. Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s great that Jesus fed 4,000 hungry people fish and bread after he had been preaching to them for three days (see Mark 8). I have just always wondered about the significance of this event since it comes not long after Jesus’ miracle of feeding FIVE thousand people. It has always seemed slightly lesser, slightly irrelevant, compared to his first feeding miracle, so what’s the point?

Jesus’ feeding of 5,000 people who had been listening to him preach all day by miraculously multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish is the only of Jesus’ miracles that is recorded in all of four of the Gospels (Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, John 6). And 5,000 is an understatement. The Bible tells us there were 5,000 men present – not counting women and children – which means Jesus likely fed more than 10,000 people with those meager loaves and fish. So basically, the chapter heading should say “Jesus feeds 10,000+ … booyah!” This miracle is amazing, and it also shows Jesus’ merciful heart as he didn’t want to send his eager listeners away hungry, where they might faint on the road as they walked miles upon miles back to their homes at the end of the day.

But then a few chapters after the recording of this miracle, another miracle is recorded in Matthew 15 and Mark 8…  Jesus feeds 4,000 people. Well, obviously He could feed 4,000 if he already fed 5,000. So why is this story so important?

I always thought it was simply to show the disciples floundering in their faith (which can be both infuriating and comforting at the same time!). When Jesus asks them to find provisions to feed this second crowd of 4,000 they answer hopelessly that they will never be able to gather enough food for the task, as if they didn’t just see Jesus feed 5,000 people a few weeks earlier.

Although it’s comforting at times to see the disciples flail in their faith, only because I know that Jesus loved them dearly and they went on to do amazing things to establish God’s church on this earth, which gives me hope for my own heart, I don’t think the point of sharing the story of the 4,000 is to show yet another doubtful moment by the disciples. The importance of this second story is about the sheep. It’s about the people to whom Jesus is preaching. In the first miracle, the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus is preaching to his own Jewish people near the Sea of Galilee. These people come to hear him speak, and he sees they are “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). After he teaches truth to them, he feeds them because he loves them.

However in Mark 8, the setting has changed. Jesus has been travelling outside of Jewish territory and is now in Decapolis, which is a Gentile region. The importance of Jesus feeding 4,000+ here is not about the number of people or the few loaves of bread or the seven baskets of food left over, although all those things are extraordinary. It’s about the fact that Jesus taught and fed that crowd. At all. Period.

You see, I am a Gentile. I am not Jewish. I am not of God’s “chosen nation” – at least not ethnically speaking. You are probably a Gentile too. We don’t really think in terms of Jew and Gentile anymore, but when Jesus was on earth, this division was a big deal. Jews and Gentiles did not get along. There was rampant animosity between these groups and, in fact, this animosity still is in the Middle East today. But Jesus saw past all that. He was looking to a day when Jews and Gentiles would be brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God. Jesus loves me. I have been grafted into Abraham’s family and will spend eternity in heaven with God, because Jesus preached to the Gentiles. Because he saw 4,000 Gentiles as his sheep and he lovingly taught them and fed them.

And regardless of ethnic background, the story of the 4,000 reminds me that I have done nothing to earn God’s love. It doesn’t matter where I am from or what I have done. God chose me. Jesus saw me – a helpless sheep – and took compassion on me. He gave himself for me and he loves me. I am thankful that he chose to feed the 4,000 that day and I am thankful that he chooses to love me today.