Luke 9:13 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Luke 9:13

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He turns to them, and says – and this is an astonishing thing – ‘Give ye them to eat’, and they are shocked and dismayed. What can they do? Inquiries are made. In one Gospel, we are told that they estimated it would require at least two hundred pence, which meant in our King James Version two hundred days' wages, two-thirds of a year's salary to feed these people. What is two-third of a year's salary? Salaries vary so wildly, but you can talk about a minimum of £10,000 to £15,000, and if there were that 10,000 to 15,000 people in the crowd, that means the disciples say it will cost at least a pound a head to look after this vast crowd. But what would you get in a country place for a pound a head even if you could find the stores, the restaurants, the markets? and there weren't any; it was a desert place. They didn't have sufficient money, and there were not the shops. So the disciples are perplexed. What can be done? And they make further inquiries. Who in the companies has got food? You can almost see this being methodically done by them: let's take a sample check and ask this little group of people, what do they have among them? There was just one lad who had five loaves – five small barley cakes, the original indicates – and two little fish rather like sardines. This boy must have been a poor lad, who had gone out for the day, to have only barley loaves. Barley in those days was not considered fit for consumption. The Roman soldiers wouldn't touch them, we read. Josephus, the Jewish historian from around those days, said that no Jewish people would normally eat barley bread. So he must have been a poor slave boy to have been so equipped for his lunch. ‘What is the use of this if that is all we can find?’ So the disciples are utterly perplexed. ‘Give ye them to eat’, says the Lord. So we are learning that the need that has arisen is far too great for the disciples to meet. It cannot be done.

Application

Our need spiritually, which is reflected here, is the need of acceptance with God. How can we be accepted by the living God? All there is to be found is five little barley cakes and two sardines. It's the same with us. All we have got is a few good works. You can remember that every now and then you do something good and honest and kind. But what is that against the record of our rebellion against God? Our indifference to him, our failure to worship him and to serve him, our breaking of his commandments, the dishonesty that is within us, the pride which is constantly at work, the unreasonableness and the malice and the hostility, and even worse sins? How can we with a few little shreds of goodness ever be accepted by God who is holy and perfect and cannot abide sin? The difficulty in this miracle shows us our difficulty spiritually. It cannot be met.

The disciples couldn't feed that great multitude. The church cannot feed human souls in its own strength. If you go to a minister of religion and say, ‘Can you give me salvation?’, he has to say, ‘Of course I can't. I am a sinner like you. I need salvation freely from God. I have no power in me to dispense forgiveness of sins, to cleanse your soul, and infuse into you spiritual life which gives you contact with God and a new nature. I cannot do these things. I can only point you to God. You have to go to him.’ This is what the circumstances surrounding this miracle teach. Even the church cannot assist you. What part did the disciples play? What role did they have when this miracle was worked? When the food was produced by the Lord, they simply put it into baskets and distributed it. They didn't make it. They didn't create it. They just distributed it. That is all the church is: a distributor of the message. We plead with you. We tell you what Christ can do for you. We tell you the miracle he can work in lives. But we cannot do it ourselves. That's one of the great lessons of this miracle.

I cannot secure salvation for myself. I cannot successfully make myself a wonderful person, pleasing to God. Even if I could do that, I cannot do away with the record of my sin, which cries out against me. Nor can anyone else help me or do it for me. The miracle teaches that there is only one person who can solve our enormous need, and that is Christ. ‘You feed them’, he says. The greatest need that any human being has is to be forgiven by God. The second greatest need that a human being has is to be given spiritual life so that we can pray and commune with God and know him and walk with him. The third greatest need that any human being has is to have a new nature so that we can be better people and please him, so that we can be renewed in nature and in character by the blessing and power of God. How are these needs going to be met? How is this massive change going to be brought about? Don't say to yourself, ‘I'll find one of those churches that has priestly robes and special ceremonies and burns candles and does wonderful things. Maybe they can wave their hand over the place and mutter the right words, and that will do something for me.’ It won't. No human being can meet those three needs. Secure for us, pardon with God, put within a spiritual life and change, transform our natures.

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Luke 9:13 Commentary and Bible Study