“But Jesus said to them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish unless we are to go and buy food for all these people,’ for there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, ‘Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ And they did so and had them all sit down, and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven instead of blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd and they all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.”
– Luke 9:13–17
The feeding of the 5,000, a very familiar story to followers of Jesus. And I read it here. I want to lead us to pray according to it as a reminder of what Jesus desires to do through your life and in your life in that sense.
Luke 9:13–17 Shows Jesus Authority over all Creation
Just imagine this story from the perspective of the disciples. You think we don’t have near enough resources for all these people, and little did they know who they were talking to in Jesus.
It’s like they were standing in front of Niagara Falls and saying, I don’t think we have enough water. Jesus who owns everything with all authority and all creation, he’s more than sufficient to meet the needs of 5,000 men plus women and children who are hungry. So Jesus takes these five loaves and two fish, and he blesses them as he prays. Then he breaks the loaves. What I love is he gives them to the disciples to set before the crowd. Just imagine being in their shoes. You get the spread and you start handing out and you go back and you get more. You go back and get more and go back.
I just picture the looks on their faces as they’re looking at each other smiling like, “Where’s all this coming from? This is amazing. There’s more bread. There’s more bread. We got bread for this 50 over here and that 50 over there, and there’s 50 over there. And it was just five loafs. We got all this bread in our hands.” They were so astounded, overjoyed as they’re passing out all these bread and fish and then they pick back up 12 baskets, every one of them coming back with a basket of broken pieces.
Luke 9:13–17 Makes it clear the Jesus is able to meet all our Needs
Do you realize that Jesus, one has all authority in heaven and on earth today that he is able to meet the needs of so many people around us, and he has called us to be the instrument through which his miracles are made known in other people’s lives? Can I just say that again?
Jesus has invited you to be the instrument, the agent, the hands, the feet through which he performs miracles and meets needs in people’s lives. So can we just pray today? Sign us up, Jesus, we want to be a part of your work in people’s lives around us today. We want to be instruments in your hands. God, we want to dispense grace and mercy from your hand into others’ lives. We want to be an encouragement to them. Lord, we want to pray over them with power and faith. We want to share the good news of your love with them. The miracle of salvation will come about when we share it.
God help us to be faithful to share it and to see not just people fed for a meal, but saved for eternity. Yes, Jesus, sign us up. We say to you, help us to trust your power, trust your authority and be the instruments you’ve called us to be in people’s lives today, in our homes, in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, our cities where we live.
Praying for the Chechen People
God, use us as your instruments among the nations. We pray for Chechens in Russia and around the world that the gospel might spread to them through us, through our praying right now, our giving, multiply our giving for the spread of the gospel among the nations, and our going, we can right where we live and wherever you lead us in the world, God help us to be faithful instruments in your hands for the dissemination of your mercy and your miracles in people’s lives.
And we look forward to the joy that we will experience in the process. We don’t want to miss out on that joy. God, don’t let us live just casual Christian lives that miss out on this kind of work in other people’s lives, as we’re your instruments of mercy and grace and love and spread of the gospel in the world. Yes, God sign us up for this brand of Christianity, what we read about in Luke 9:13–17. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
