(There were about five thousand men.) He told His disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”For they were about five thousand men. He said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.For they were about five thousand men. And he said unto his disciples, Make them sit down in companies, about fifty each.
4 sermons cite this verse
… Instead of sending them away, Jesus says, no, you give them something to eat. Jesus moves toward the pain, towards the problem. Now, I want to ask you a question. What do you do when you're loving people, when you're trying to love people, and they become problematic or the situation becomes problematic? And people have different ways of responding. Sometimes when people see pain and problems in the world, they try to profit from it. For some people, they play politics with it. It's interesting how so many of our political discussions get into this whole thing about politics when it's really just about caring for people. If kids are hungry, for example, what does that have to do with politics if kids are hungry? But some people will play politics with people's pain. Some people will use theology to try to minimize people's pain. Or some people blame the people for their suffering. Or we do what I was mentioning earlier. We just disappear on people. We try to get rid of painful people in painful situations by passing them on to others. …
… he don't want to just add to you he wants to multiply you i can paraphrase it for you best if you look in luke chapter 9 verse 10 through 17 but long story short um this was probably theologians believe the largest crowd jesus ever spoke to and um he it's it's chronicled in the bible as the miracle of 5 000 the fish and the loaves but what ended up happening at this moment is that Jesus is preaching. Start at 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock, and he's still preaching. Literally, the disciples was like, yo, when is bro about to stop preaching? I'll prove it to you right now. Look what it says in verse 12. It says, when the day begin to wear away. Let me tell you what that means in Hebrew. When the day began to wear away, the 12 came to him and said, hey, Jesus, yo, we probably need to send the multitudes away. …
… you this morning, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian, is that I find Jesus's response to these disciples to be a fascinating thing. What does Jesus tell them? He says, you give them something to eat. And immediately after that, that disciple responds and says, we don't have enough food. We only have five fish, two loaves of bread. And what does Jesus say next? He tells them to sit down, if only for a moment. And now I think in my Sunday school timeline for how this story unfolds, I think of this as a pretty rapid process, that the bread and the fish, well, they just kind of instantaneously multiply, and everybody is just filled with as much as they could want. But I don't know if that's the case. I think Luke means to cue us up here to say that this is going to take a moment. That in the midst of this crowd's hunger, Jesus is telling them to wait. To sit in the midst of that hunger. …
The 103rd Psalm. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits. who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. …