10 On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. 12 Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” 13 But he 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.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 And they did so, and had them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

(ESV)

When the apostles returned from their short-term mission to preach the gospel of the kingdom, they told Jesus all that they had done. Jesus took them alone to a town called Bethsaida but the crowds figured out where they went and followed Him. Jesus had compassion and welcomed them (even though He wanted to be alone with His disciples). He spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed it. As the day drew to a close the disciples advised Jesus to send the crowd home so they could find a place to eat and sleep because they were in a desolate place. But Jesus said to them, “You give them something to eat.” This seems like a bizarre response, how were they going to feed the crowd? The crowd was five thousand men (plus women and children, see Matt 14:21). They looked around for what was there (too little—five loaves and two small fish) and they considered going to buy food for everyone (too costly). They limited themselves to the natural and forgot about the supernatural. Jesus wanted them to see that the task was humanly impossible. Jesus had them sit the crowd down in groups of fifty. When all were seated, Jesus took the food they had, looked up to heaven and said a blessing over it and broke the loaves. He then gave the broken pieces to the disciples to distribute. Everyone ate to their satisfaction and there were still twelve basketfuls left over. Each disciple had a basket full of bread after the crowd was full. The lesson for the disciples and us is that God can supply enough for us to minister to others with more than enough left over to supply our needs as well. Do you have the faith to start with the little you have and let God turn it into what He needs to work with?

When Jesus finally got alone time with His disciples to pray, He asked them who the crowds thought He was. They told Him about the stories that were circulating, that He was John the Baptist [raised from the dead] or Elijah or one of the Old Testament prophets raised from the dead. Then Jesus asked the important question, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered correctly, that Jesus was the Christ of God, the Messiah. Yesterday we recognised that curiosity about who Jesus is can be a good thing but we all need to come to a place where we acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ and trust in Him alone for our salvation for there is no other way to God (John 14:6).