Tuesday 20th January 2026

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said.  And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.  The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Reflection

Following the death of John the Baptist, Jesus left Herod’s jurisdiction and went by boat to a solitary place.  But crowds were already there when he landed;  Jesus “had compassion on them and healed their sick”.  Later, His disciples were concerned for the physical welfare of the people, and they were told that they were to feed everyone.  Jesus miraculously multiplied the tiny quantity of food available so that everyone was well fed, and there were twelve baskets of leftovers.  Jesus used the disciples and the boy to bless others, which should remind us that God uses us to bless others as well. 

Our fellowship, like many others, has a café open to all, through which we also work with rough sleepers and others in need, particularly those with limited access to food and other necessities.

Matthew, Mark and Luke do not record any reaction from the crowd to this miracle of feeding so many with so little (John says they recognised it as a sign and wanted to make Jesus king).  The lack of reaction seems odd to me – after all, if we experienced such a miracle, wouldn’t we tell everyone about it?

 Or would we?  I think back twenty years, to when I was a leader with a group of unchurched 14-16 year olds.  We met on the church premises;  they would arrive straight from school and stay for several hours, so we leaders would prepare an evening meal.  We rarely knew in advance how many would come, but noticed that there was always the right amount of food;  never leftovers (not with hungry teens!), but always enough so that we “all ate and were satisfied”.  I still have no rational explanation for how it was possible to serve from a casserole more food than was put into it.

 And yet even my closest friends reading this will be surprised, because I have told so few people.

Prayer

Loving God
thank You for your generous provision for us, 
for our “daily bread”. 
Thank You for those people and organisations 
who seek to feed the hungry,
and to help the poor to develop the means to produce food. 
We pray for those who are hungry today, 
asking that You will stir up Your people to feed all who are in need.
May this be for Your glory.