ALMS - LUKE 9:10-17
10 And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.
12 And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.
13 But he said unto them,Give ye them to eat.And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.
14 For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples,Make them sit down by fifties in a company.
15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.
16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.
17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets. KJV
In this account of the multitude feeding we hear the words of the Apostle Luke. We notice from this record that this was not a planned meeting by Jesus to minister unto a multitude. The disciples were returning from ministering with great excitement when the Lord Jesus moved them to an isolated location. In verse 11 we see the nature of man, which is selfish because the Lord specifically took them to a private place in order to avoid interruptions from people. However, it is noted in verse 11 that when the people discovered their hiding place they interrupted their meeting. The people were seeking Jesus and as soon as they found Him they wanted to listen to His Words and have their desires fulfilled. There is nothing wrong with desiring to be with Jesus. However, when the Lord is already spending time with His disciples to minister unto them we should not push our will over His. It is impolite to start your own meeting with Jesus at the expense of someone else simply because you want to. Thank God today we can all fellowship with Jesus at the same time because He is not limited to one physical body (location) on this earth. In His glorified spiritual body He can handle multiple conversations at once because He is God, and He is our Savoir whenever we need Him. We also see the goodness of God in verse 11 because Jesus stopped what He was doing to receive the people. This receiving included preaching/teaching about the Kingdom of God and healing their sick. In verse 12 we can see this was an all day affair which shows us that Jesus is willing to spend all day with you. We must know that God is never in a hurry to dismiss us. Our Lord is gracious and loving toward us all day long for every day of our life. The twelve disciples who were supposed to be relaxing with Jesus did not share the Lord’s patience or graciousness. They were much like us, in the sense that if we are with people all day long by nightfall we generally are looking for some measure of rest. Thus, the twelve disciples looked to close the meeting but since Jesus started the meeting (received the people) they could not close it apart from Him. They needed Jesus’ permission to send the people away but the Lord had another ideal. The disciples mentioned food because they knew the people needed to eat and the food supply was scarce in this desert place which would make one logically think to close the meeting. We all know what is impossible with men is possible with God we just need to think like He thinks. Jesus commands His disciples to give them something to eat. This caught the disciples off guard because two different things were happening at the same time. For one, the Lord Jesus was saying no to their plan of closing the meeting and secondly the Lord was asking them to do something they believed they could not do. Welcome to the term, “We walk by faith and not by sight” according to 2 Corinthians 5:7. It is a fact that the disciples could not feed the people with out the wisdom of God but the key to their mystery was that Jesus had a plan. The Lord always has a plan to help meet the needs of His people the issue is, “do we ask Him for His Plan or do we opt for our own plan?” Notice the disciples presented all they had to Jesus and their little was more than enough for the multitude when touch by the Hand of Jesus. Jesus represented the way into God's provision because He knew that option was available to them. Now that we know Jesus had a plan, we now need to know what is our part in His Plan. The twelve disciplines were instructed to have the multitude sit down in groups of fifty to establish a head count. This is how the Lord knew approximately how much provision to believe God for. The adequate provision was not by accident but rather it was planned by Jesus Christ. The disciples did their part first before they saw the miracle. We must be willing to do our part first of obeying God's Word before the miracle can be manifested in our life too. Then notice from verse 15 that the disciples obeyed Jesus and the people obeyed the disciples. This principle of obeying God’s ministers (His hands) reminds us that we must properly submit to God's ministers in our life if we desire to see God's Hand of blessing operate in our provision. Dear believer, heed the wisdom of God, if you are obedient to give people God's Word concerning a problem in their life they also must be willing to submit to your encouragement to use God's Word if they are to see the Power of God work in their situation. Many people think that God can do anything, that may sound good but that is not the mold of operation for God. Remember, the Lord likes everything done decently and in order according to 1 Corinthians 14:40. Some would argue Jesus could have made food appear in a large pile and people could grab as much as they wanted. However, that could of cause mass confusion and potential danger of some people being hurt because of the pushing and shoving. The fact is the Lord has a systematic approach to everything and that systematic approach is going to take precedence over our personal thoughts and ideals about how God should do things. Christians as followers of Christ must be willing and obedient to follow His Ways to reap the full benefits of His blessings. The Lord can never bless disobedience but He can always bless those who humbly submit to His Words. Notice from verse 16 that when everyone had done their part the Lord Jesus did His part to multiply the little into much through the Power of God. This miracle was a process that brought forth "alms" for a multitude. This reminds us that when we decide to give "alms" to someone it too will be a process. A common procedure would be to listen to Jesus (God's Word) on when to give (follow your heart), then follow God's Word on how to give (privately, without drawing attention to yourself) and after that perform the giving of the gift (obedience). When you are faithful to do your part in love and peace the Lord will do His part to bless the person receiving the gift. The gift itself is a blessing from God but wrapping the gift in love and humbleness brings more glory and honor unto God. In verse 17 we see the principle of sowing and reaping because all those who received the "alms" were blessed (filled) and moreover the people who gave to those people had a return harvest of more food than they started with. Praise the Lord for He is Good and His Mercy endures forever. How the Lord can take just a little and increase it to a complete multitude is beyond our natural logic but it is easy to believe when considering the Power of God. As Christians this type of miracle encourages us to help others with "alms" when opportunity arises because giving to meet a Godly need is a sure way to bring God’s Will to the scene. Amen!
In His Love, Eric & Angela Foster