A Revelation in The Feeding of the Five Thousand

Dad mentioned about New Creation church as he came back from work. One of his collegue actually listen to the messages online. I remember attending this church when I was in Singapore. It was a culture shock for me. One is to see a pastor who was like a celebrity while another was see lines of people queueing up for church, something which is very uncommon in Malaysia. As we sat over the table for dinner while opening the online sermon messages which was available via video steaming. Technology nowadays allow us to spread the message in whatever form possible. If you are free, have a listen and I know that you be blessed as much as I have.

It was interesting to see a young and vibrant deliver a message, a message that we commonly hear and know of. The story about the five loaves and two fishes (Luke 6:1-13).

1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),
2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.
3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.
4The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"
6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.
11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."
13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

It was rather interesting as he expounded on each of the verses. Hearing these verses in depth brought a revelation that each statement made had a meaning, a powerful meaning when it is cross reference with other verses or the historical details of the Bible. One of the powerful teachings that caught my attention was verse 11, "Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish." As much as they wanted.

God blessing is continuous and every flowing. When He gives, there is no stopping. The stopping comes when we say that it is enough. God limit the flow of blessings when we say it is enough. Do we limit God? Yes, all the time because God never limits. That is why when when he blessed, they couldn't even stop it. In the end there was left with 12 busket. Why 12? Initially, I never realise the significance of the number. It could be that each busket was for the disciples who had helped during the feeding of the five thousands. Or it could be that could purposely left 12 busket as an indication that He always remember the Jews, the chosen people despite him leaving to minister to the Gentiles (verse 1). God's favour upon His chosen generation.

As much as the revelation I had received from listening to this one and half sermon messages, there were a couple of things that bothered me. The idea of commercialisation in the church especially those that have a huge amount of congregration. The likes of New Creation, City Harvest, Hillsongs. All spell out mega churches. Its amazing to see the growth they have gone through. However, its another side to see how commercial it has became. I sit and wonder sometimes is this all necessary. Pastors are put on pedestals where their name are publicise. Joseph Prince. Kong Hee. Brian Houston. Jesus?

I choose to believe that each church whether it be big or small are made for a purpose, to reach out to the various types of people group with different type of preferences on what church is like. However, at times I find it hard to comprehend the irony of living a humble life as compared to a life of popularity and fame. Is this the result of success? Are we able to project ourselves in a way that we had done this on our own strength. If not, shouldn't the glory or appreciation be extended to God himself and not our individual self. Pride may soon set in unnoticely. Its debatable. But debates are neverending unless we choose to stand on our grounds on certain aspects of church, a principle that would keep us on par with his teaching and not caused us to fall away into darkness.