Matthew 15:29-39 Feeding of Four Thousand

Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.  And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way."  The disciples said to Him, "Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?" And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few small fish." And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan. [Matthew 15:29‭-‬39 NASB]

This almost feels like a re-run. Jesus healed the sick and lame, and fed the multitude.

There are some differences between this and the previous record.

First, and most obviously, this is a different crowd. In Matthew 14, Jesus fed five thousand, here he fed four thousand.

We see in the book of Mark that when Jesus left Tyre and Sidon, He went into the region called Decapolis, on the Eastern side of Galilee. This region was predominantly Gentile, so it is reasonable to think that the majority of the crowd that came to Jesus in this place were Gentiles. He fed the five thousand on the Western side of Galilee, which is predominantly Jewish. Even though Jesus was, as He said, "sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," [Matthew 15:24 NASB] He, nonetheless, went to the Gentiles. In His life, he made it clear that His ministry was to be for the whole world.

The reaction of the disciples is interesting. Having just recently witnessed the feeding of the five thousand, you would think that they would expect Jesus to provide for the crowd. However, when Jesus told them that the crowd needed to be fed, they responded, "Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?" It's as if they had learned nothing.

Unfortunately, I don't think that their reaction is much different from what ours might be. How often has God proven Himself by providing for us? Yet when a crisis comes, how often do we fret as if He may not provide again?

I don't think that Matthew is being redundant in relating the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand. Jesus proved that He can provide by multiplying the fishes and the loaves. Then He did it again, proving that His provision is not a one time shot.

God has provided in the past, therefore we can have faith that He will provide in the future. When a crisis comes along, and we don't see where the answer will come from, that is the time to call out to Him and believe that He will provide.