Luke 9:12 And the day began to decline, and the twelve came and said to Him, Send the crowd away so that they may go into the surrounding villages and fields to lodge and find provisions, because we are here in a deserted place. 13 But He said to them, You give them something to eat. But they said, We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people. 14 For there were about five thousand men... (16) And He took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And they ate and were all satisfied. And what was left over among them was taken up, twelve handbaskets of broken pieces.
The disciples asked the Lord to send the crowds away so that they could obtain food for themselves, but the Lord told the disciples to give the crowd something to eat. Their concept was to ask people to do something; this is the principle of the law. But the Lord's concept is to give people something to enjoy; this is the principle of grace. The loaves were from the disciples, and they brought them to the Lord. After being blessed and broken by the Lord, they were given back to the disciples for distribution to the crowd, to whom the loaves became a great satisfaction. This indicates that the disciples were not the source of blessing; they were only the channels used by the Lord, who is the source of people's satisfaction. Luke 9:17 not only displayed the Man-Savior's power of deity as the Creator, as the One who calls the things not being as being (Rom. 4:17), but also signified the bountiful and inexhaustible supply of His divine life (Phil. 1:19). Furthermore, the twelve baskets of broken pieces indicate that the resurrected Christ is unlimited and inexhaustible, and also that the Lord's provision for us is abundant, more than sufficient to meet all our need.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Luke, pp. 176-177. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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