And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and two fishes, and looking up to Heaven, he blessed and brake, and gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. Hebrews 14:19
Each mealtime, as we prepare the food and then sit at the table, we bow our heads and give thanks to the Lord. Why do we do this? Surely it is not as one little boy expressed, to make the food safe to eat! No, our prayer is to express our thanks to God for providing the food, and to ask for His blessing upon the food and those who eat it. We see in our text that the Lord Jesus believed in taking time to do the same. But there were some major differences in His case, and it’s not just that He looked toward Heaven rather than bowing His head. As One co-equal with the Father, He had no reason to bow. His blessing was one of power and provision.
Watching Him, the crowd would have no idea what was about to happen. Those near enough to see the tiny bit of food He was blessing were surely puzzled. Perhaps they thought he was going to eat the lad’s lunch Himself. That would have been contrary to His character, because the Lord Jesus was ever thinking of others, not Himself. But as the miracle unfolded, as the baskets were filled and dispensed to the multitude, amazement would fill everyone, including the disciples. They had brought the loaves and fishes with very little expectation, and now they were watching them multiply to meet the need and to provide leftovers for disciples. Nobody had ever seen such power and such a miraculous provision before. A famished multitude that was now filled to contentment was proof that the Lord Jesus had indeed blessed that lunch.
The miracle that Jesus performed when He blessed the loaves and fishes is repeated every time we sit down to a meal. Nothing on our plates is deserved by us, regardless of how hard we worked for it, or how much we paid. The God Who feeds the ravens and sparrows is also generous with us. So it behooves us to give thanks for all His blessings, including our daily food. We ought to be grateful, and, like the multitude, we ought to be amazed that our God continues to supply our needs. Just as He cared for the multitude and had compassion on them, so He cares for us and has compassion on us. When we bow our heads in prayer, there is no divine power in our action; we are simply responding to the divine power that has been displayed to us. But when the Lord Jesus lifted His head, he did so in power and provision. He was not pleading with His Father to provide, because He had within Himself the power to multiply the loaves and fishes. He displayed that power in a marvellous way that day, and He displays that power in a marvellous way every day.
Today, the Lord Jesus has provided meals for billions, not just five thousand men. Do we appreciate that He provides our meals today? -Jim MacIntosh