Feeding of the 5,000: An Animated Re-Telling

from Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14 

Imagine the rumbly feeling of your stomach when you’ve been waiting to eat a meal, far past the point when you were already really hungry.

In fact, you were already totally famished about four hours ago – OH SO HUNGRY! – but you’re in a big group and didn’t want to be impolite by breaking out your food. Plus, you noticed, it didn’t seem like anyone else’s mom or dad – (it didn’t seem like any of the moms or dads themselves) – had remembered to bring a single bite to eat. But – GOODNESS GRACIOUS! – you are hungry, famished, tummy-rumbling; impatient, tired and getting a little ready to shout out: “Snack break!”

You are sitting in a vast, open, seaside meadow. It is late-afternoon: a half-cloudy sky is overhead. The autumn light is starting to cast long shadows over and across the meadow; the golden light of soon-to-be sunset is against your face. Trying to stop the feeling of your hunger from making you angry, you start to watch the movement of the grass with the breeze right in front of you. It swirls and whirls and dances and does a little bow away from the wind: you start to imagine the grass is onstage: like a dancer…

And that’s when you begin to notice the murmuring of the people – the fact that that Teacher has stopped teaching – and that His friends, His disciples, are walking through the crowd. They are walking amidst families and groups and groupings who’ve come from villages together and they’re asking them: “Does anyone have any food?”

Apparently, no one has any food.

And if you hadn’t been sitting and listening to the wonderful words of Jesus all afternoon, you might’ve not said a word about the picnic basket you’ve been sitting on…

But because you’ve been sitting and listening to the wonderful words of Jesus, you suddenly hear yourself piping up:

“Right here! I’ve got some!”

And now, holding the hand of a friend of Jesus – his name is Andrew, you found out – you are approaching the front of the crowd to actually meet Jesus for yourself!

Jesus!

The Man from Nazareth!

That miracle-making Carpenter-Teacher who’s taken the Galilee by storm: you are just about to meet Him in the flesh!

And it’s everything you ever hoped it would be.

With a kindly smile, He kneels down on one knee and shakes your hand; He is treating you like the much-more-grown-up person you know yourself to be. And with a hearty thanks, He accepts your basket of food – five loaves and two fish – and now He’s standing up; turning back to His friends.

You begin to watch Him very closely, now. You have a sense that something fantastic is about to happen right in front of you.

And here’s what it looks like:

He lifts His hands to Heaven and, with a smile, begins to thank His Heavenly Father for His “new friend” who’d been so kind in giving up his lunch. (This is YOU, you suddenly realize!) And now, starting to break the bread and gently tearing at a portion of the first fish, He hands a handful of each to the first of His disciples. Then to the second. Then to the third…

And now you’re watching how these Twelve are taking hands- and basketsful of food to each of the groups who are sitting nearest the spot where Jesus stands. Then they go further back. Then, even further back. And you watch how people nearer are then asking for seconds and thirds; and you watch – amazed –
as those people are actually getting seconds and thirds!

And that’s when you begin watching Jesus again.

Time and again, He is breaking bread, tearing fish, handing out; then He’s reaching over to grab more and more and more to share. What had been the meal your mother packed you this morning is now spread out across the endless fields of people, eating in the evening air.

And that’s the exact moment you finally let your mind and heart understand the immensity of the miracle that Jesus is doing right in front of you. You realize you’ve never ever seen a crowd this big in your life – five, eight, ten, twelve- thousand? – and now they’re all eating your lunch!

And how does this amazing day end for you?

Well, what do you expect?

You see, once He’s finished feeding the entirety of the crowd, Jesus then turns to you, saying:

“And how about you and I have our meal together?”

You have a perfectly wonderful dinner with Jesus, sitting in the grass. He lets you ask a million questions about a million things. He’s all the more interesting when you catch Him for a quiet minute by yourself, like this.

Just wait till you tell your mom!

Let’s Talk About It

• Imagine yourself in this scenario. What would have made it hard for you to share your lunch with Jesus and the crowds?

• Talk about the last time you shared something with someone else. Ask Jesus if there is anything He’d like for you to share with somebody today!