Feeding the 5,000

In one well-known episode, Jesus satisfied thousands of hungry people by multiplying two fish and five loaves of bread offered up by a young boy.(Matthew 14:13b-21)

The Feeding of the 5,000 alleged location. The thing that looks a little like a tombstone is a monument to the event. There's a double ring of rocks just big enough to sit on, and it's tempting to imagine the disciples sitting in a circle, listening from behind as he preached to the crowd.

The Meal
The little boy had two small fish and five loaves of barley bread. The fish were probably sardines, the smallest of three main kinds of fish available in the Sea of Galilee. The five loaves of ‘barley bread’ were the food of a broke peasant. Usually used for animal fodder, people only consumed barley when they could scarcely feed their families. It didn’t taste as good, didn’t digest as well and wasn’t as good for you. The fact that they were eating it in the spring or summer, not long after the summer, is another indication of poverty; good food shouldn’t run out until winter is approaching. Perhaps his family was in danger of being taxed off their land.

In other words, this boy gave pretty much everything he had to Jesus.

Kind of like we should.

A snapshot of the alleged place where 5,000 men, and some of their families, listened to Jesus preach and consumed the free fish and bread he created for them.

Additional Information
Expanded Version of This Article (Fish, Bread and 5,000 Men)
More Information: Where Do You Put 5,000 Men?
God & Fish: Scripture and the Sabbath

Feeding the 5,000 Spirituals
Somehow when I saw that hillside, and added five thousand faces, and saw two yucky fish and five loaves of animal fodder, and realized it fed them all, something clicked. Of course Jesus is the first hero, but think further. The little boy is a hero too.

"See what you can find," Jesus said.

"Here's a small boy with two shrunken fish and five loaves of crappy bread," Andrew answered.

Good chance there wasn't another option waiting for that small boy at home, yet he gave it anyway. I've got two shrunken fish and five loaves of animal fodder too. I feel a little like Andrew - "Here's a little bit of writing talent, Jesus. I don't see how you can do anything with that though. Look at all the people out there! The competition! The cost! What are you even thinking?"

It’s an interesting and seemingly out of character commentary that Jesus multiplied barley bread, not wheat bread. So I write this book, and he multiplies it into 25,000 sales of figurative animal fodder? Charming. I like the idea of a Jesus that turns something not-so-great into something that’s at least good far more than a Jesus that takes something not-so-great and uses it just the way it is. On the other hand, I suppose it’s encouraging that God can use not-so-great stuff in amazing and powerful ways.

My dad shot himself a few months ago, and I’ll never forget sitting on the steps of the gazebo near his grave, consoled by the fact that he lives on in the lives of underprivileged children that only had a chance at this thing called life because he donated money to get them off the streets. He used to work on a suicide hotline, when he was younger, and he lives on in the people that made it through life because there was someone to call.

Yet the success, the money, the respect, the social status –they didn’t even make it to the grave.

Neither would un-given fish and fodder.

Travelogue
I was so busy taking pictures that I left my guidebook on the wooden stand at the front...oops. One thing about this traveling alone thing - you don't figure out as much. It's kind of frustrating, and if I ever come again it would be a lot more useful to come with a tour. Everyone thinks it's so cool I'm traveling by myself - but you're really better off with a tour, I think.

Anyhow - so I went to the bookstore there, and the guy there took the strangest interest in me. He thought I should buy this book on Galilee, so he said "I'll make a deal with you. I'll give you this key to a private beach. It is very beautiful. Go down there, look at the book, if you still don't want it, fine." OK. The weird thing was, it was exactly the most perfect-est book I could have wanted. Thanks God!

So I went to pay for it. 'Are you in a hurry? Can you wait a minute? Here, you can sit here, behind the counter." I wandered around the store instead, until I had everything memorized three times over (it was a small store). Then he came over and totally surprised me - "What do you like in your coffee? I made you some." I am getting so puzzled.

Well I waited another half hour or so, then he had time. It turned out he was from Nazareth (an hour away). He'd dug out some brochures on Nazareth that they had in the back. So he sat there and went over them with me, said everyone passes through Nazareth in a day but it has much more to offer, see here on the map and hundred meters down is this, etc. Here's when they have this special ceremony, here's the Annunciation procession Sunday, etc. etc. Here's my phone number, here's the store number, keep in touch, let me know if you have any questions.

Modern Nazareth is quite a substantial size, as you can see in the background to this picture of the Nazareth ridge.

Etc. etc. You get the idea. I was massively perplexed by this time - three hours after I'd wandered into a small souvenir shop looking for a specific book. So I started to leave, until he realized I didn't know enough about the sites right around, so he said, go here, this one closes between blah blah blah and yakety yak...(a 2.5 hour lunch break?!!)

Well so I wish this story had some ending punch line but all I was left with was confusion - was God trying to tell me something? And if so, what? The book part and the beach parts were obvious, but that was about it. Go to Nazareth, I guess!

I left with the most puzzled look on my face, found a little scenic overlook and stared into space for a bit, trying to decipher the point of the entire thing. Then I realized I forgot my Fodor's, and wound up sitting in the church pondering fish, for a good long while.

A year later - Lord God, forgive me for being too chicken to go there? I am so sorry...and regret it so much.

Last Updated: May 27, 2009