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.
Luke was a great historian, recording facts about people, places and events. Here he gives a concise summary of what Mark goes into detail to describe. What is it Luke wants us to take away from this event? In following after Jesus, He wants us to learn to see the need around us. Luke says they came to Him and presented the problem as they saw it: "Lord, it's late; it's time for dinner and then rest; they need to go." Of course, Jesus sees things differently than we can, so Luke records: "But He said..." His solution was that the people have dinner before going to find lodging. They again are able to see the problem: "we don't have enough food." Jesus then takes control of the situation and shows them how He will solve the problem. They willingly follow His every direction, doing their part in distributing the food and collecting the leftovers. That's the process God wants us to go through: see the problem, care enough to talk to Him about it, then submit to the way He wants us to be a part of the solution.
If you missed it, Luke presents something the other writers did not say:“Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging..." Did the disciples dare to say to Jesus after dinner: "Okay, that was good. Now, what are we going to do about lodging for everyone?" Just a thought.
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