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In Matthew 14 Jesus steps away to go and mourn the death of his cousin. He doesn’t make it far as the crowds follow him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. When he gets out of the boat Matthew tells us that He “has compassion on the people” and he healed their sick. Mark shares a detail in 6:34 that He also has compassion on them because they were, “sheep without a shepherd and began teaching them many things.” Here is what Matthew tells us happens next. 

“…when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ But Jesus said, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’” The disciples are justifiably concerned here responding, “We only have five loaves here and two fish.” Jesus responds, “Bring them here to me”, prays over the food, and then proceeds to multiply the 5 loaves of bread and fish enough to feed upwards of 25,000 people! Not only that but we’re told that there are 12 baskets full of leftovers. This is nothing short of miraculous!

But wait… there’s more! To really appreciate the depth of this passage we need to understand not just the magnitude of the miracle but also the timing of everything. 

Evening in Immediate Context

When the disciples approach him, by evening they mean after noon. As in, literal noon. There are two evenings often mentioned in Jewish writing. First evening actually comes around 12:00 p.m. which is when they would typically pause during the day to eat. For Matthew to tell us that it was now evening could either mean lunchtime or sunset. Beings verse 19 tells us that Jesus has them sit down on the grass we have good indication that He’s operating by sunlight, not moonlight here. Further evidence is found in verse 23 which tells us that “evening came” when Jesus was on the mountain. This gives us our timestamp of first evening or around 12:00 p.m. So, it’s lunchtime in the middle of nowhere. The disciples decide that it’d probably be best for Jesus to go ahead and read the benediction and send folks on their way. In other words, “Wrapt it up Pastor. Tummies are grumbling, they’ve got a good walk to the nearest village, and they better get going if they’re going to beat the United Methodist Church of Bethsaida to the buffet line.” Honestly, not an unjustified response. 

However, there’s more to this than a quick read through may allow. Jesus’ miraculous work here not only meets the current needs of those in His presence but points to a greater need He will meet later. 

Evening in Theological Context

If the multiplication of bread sounds much like the stories we read in Exodus 16, Numbers 11, and 2 Kings 4 that is because they are meant to. It is by no accident that before these stories we read of God’s specific instructions concerning keeping the Passover. In Exodus 12:6 we read, “…you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.” Twilight is evening 1. Some older translations even say that their lambs shall be killed “between two evenings”. The Passover lamb was killed between these two evenings. 

Now, fast forward to Mark 15:25 and we read that Jesus was “crucified at the third hour.” The third hour is 9:00 a.m. We read in 15:33 that “darkness fell from the sixth to the ninth hour.” The sixth hour is 12:00 p.m. or noon and the third hour is 3:00 p.m. Mark tells us in 15:34, “at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani? Which means ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”…and then he breathed his last.” What does all this mean? It means that Jesus died within the sacrificial window required for the slain lamb to atone for sins! He died between the two evenings and His cousin John the Baptist’s words were validated when he cried from the wilderness, “Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world.” John wasn’t just using poetic imagery but prophetic language right down to the timestamp! 

This has all been totally calculated by the goodness and sovereignty of God. This scene serves as a living illustration of Christ’s greatest act of compassion for the lost! Jesus didn’t just come to bring physical healing to the diseased and food for the hungry. Jesus came to heal the spiritual leper and to offer Himself as Bread of Life to the spiritually hungry! He came to give us life and life abundantly in Himself. Incredible, isn't it?

God provided between two evenings, we can trust Him from evening to evening, can’t we? I suspect you will agree with me in the words of our good friend, George Muller, “The living God still loves and cares for his children. He has never failed in the smallest or greatest of our needs. The Lord delights to increase our faith, that we might not only see his hand in the great but in the daily bread.”

Trusting Him with you,

-Pastor Ricky