The Economics of Overflow: A Sermon on Matthew 14:13-21
Introduction: Scarcity is a Myth
We live in a world that is utterly dominated by the myth of scarcity. It is the central dogma of our secular age. There is not enough. Not enough money, not enough food, not enough time, not enough oil, not enough influence. This assumption governs our economics, our politics, and sadly, it often governs our churches. We operate out of a pinched, Malthusian fear. We budget based on what we can see, we plan based on what we can control, and we pray as though God were a cosmic accountant, carefully doling out just enough to keep the lights on.
This mindset is not just a practical error; it is a theological rebellion. It is a declaration of unbelief. It is to look at the God who flung the stars into space and say, "I'm not sure you can handle our budget deficit." It is to look at the Creator of all things and suggest He might be running low on supplies. The world is not a closed system, a zero-sum game where one man's gain is another's loss. That is the lie of the serpent. The world is God's creation, and it operates according to the logic of its Creator, a logic of super-abundant, generative, overflowing life.
The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is not a quaint story for Sunday School flannelgraphs. It is a direct, frontal assault on the lie of scarcity. It is a demonstration of kingdom economics. It reveals that the central problem of man is not a lack of resources, but a lack of faith. It shows us a world where five loaves and two fish in the hands of the Creator are more than enough to feed an army, with leftovers. This is not a suspension of the laws of nature; it is a revelation of the true laws of nature, the laws that govern reality from the throne of God. Jesus is not just performing a magic trick here; He is showing His disciples, and us, how the world actually works when the King is present.
This passage teaches us that our calculations are always wrong when we leave God out of the equation. It teaches us that compassion is the engine of miracles. And it teaches us that what we bring to Jesus, no matter how pathetic it seems, is the raw material for a feast.
The Text
Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself; and when the crowds heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” But they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” And ordering the crowds to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food. And breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. And there were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
(Matthew 14:13-21 LSB)
Compassion Overrules Calculation (v. 13-14)
We begin with the setting. Jesus has just received the grim news of His cousin John the Baptist's execution. He is grieving, and He seeks solitude.
"Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself; and when the crowds heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick." (Matthew 14:13-14)
Jesus, in His genuine humanity, is seeking a place to be alone with His Father. But the crowds are relentless. They are spiritually famished, desperate, and they pursue Him. Notice what happens when He comes ashore. He is not irritated. He is not frustrated by the interruption. He sees the vast, needy multitude, and He is moved with compassion. The Greek word here, splagchnizomai, is a gut-level word. It means He was moved in His bowels, in the very core of His being. This is not a detached, sentimental pity. It is a deep, visceral response to their brokenness.
And what does this compassion produce? Action. He "healed their sick." Before He feeds their stomachs, He mends their bodies. This is crucial. The miracles of Jesus are never sterile displays of power. They are always driven by His profound love and compassion for harassed and helpless people, who are like sheep without a shepherd. This compassion is the engine of the kingdom. All our ministry, all our service, all our evangelism must flow from this same source. If we see a needy world and are not moved with compassion, our doctrine is a clanging gong, and our efforts are dead works.
The Disciples' Deficit Mindset (v. 15-17)
As the day wears on, the disciples, ever the pragmatists, see a logistical problem. Their solution is entirely reasonable, entirely logical, and entirely faithless.
"Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, 'This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.' But Jesus said to them, 'They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!' But they said to Him, 'We have here only five loaves and two fish.'" (Matthew 14:15-17)
Look at their assessment. "This place is desolate." Fact. "The hour is already late." Fact. "Send them away." Logical conclusion. Their entire framework is built on what they can see and what they can manage. They are operating on the world's terms, according to the myth of scarcity. Their solution is to disperse the problem, to send the need away so that it can be handled by the ordinary mechanisms of the world's economy. "Let them go buy food."
Jesus' response is a direct challenge to their entire worldview. "They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!" He refuses to let them outsource the problem. He puts the responsibility squarely on them. He is teaching them that the resources of the kingdom are available right where they are, through them. He wants to stretch their faith beyond the limits of their own resources. He is telling them that they are the solution, because He is with them.
Their reply is almost comical in its pitifulness. "We have here only five loaves and two fish." They do a quick inventory of their own assets and find them laughably inadequate. This is the cry of the church in every age when faced with a task that seems too big. "We only have a small building." "We only have a few members." "We only have a tiny budget." We hold up our pathetic little lunch and declare the mission impossible. But we are missing the point entirely. The inadequacy of our resources is the whole point. It is the prerequisite for the miracle. God is not looking for our sufficiency; He is looking for our surrender.
The Divine Economy in Action (v. 18-20)
Jesus' command is simple, and it is the key to the entire event. It is the turning point from scarcity to abundance.
"And He said, 'Bring them here to Me.' And ordering the crowds to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food. And breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied." (Matthew 14:18-20)
"Bring them here to Me." This is the gospel. Take your inadequacy, your poverty, your "not-enough," and bring it to Jesus. Do not hide it, do not make excuses for it, do not try to fix it yourself. Bring it to Him. This is the first step of faith.
Next, Jesus brings order to the chaos. He has the disciples organize the crowd. This is not a frantic, disorderly handout. The King is hosting a banquet, and it will be done with decency and order. He then takes the bread and fish. He looks up to heaven, acknowledging the Father as the source of all gifts. He blesses it. It is crucial to understand that He is not blessing the food itself; He is blessing God for the food. He is giving thanks. This posture of gratitude is the channel through which God's power flows.
Then He breaks the loaves. This action is loaded with theological significance, pointing forward to the cross. His body will be broken for the life of the world. And then what does He do? He gives the multiplied food to the disciples, and they distribute it to the people. Jesus is the sole source of the miracle, but He uses His disciples as the means of distribution. This is the pattern for the church. We do not generate the life-giving bread; Christ does. But we are the ones commanded to take it to a hungry world. The ministry of the church is to distribute the endless supply that Christ provides.
The result is not mere sufficiency. They "all ate and were satisfied." The word for satisfied means they were filled to the brim, completely sated. God's provision is never stingy. He does not give "just enough." He gives in overflowing measure.
The Doctrine of Leftovers (v. 20-21)
As if to put an exclamation point on the whole affair, the story ends with an accounting of the surplus.
"They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. And there were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children." (Matthew 14:20-21)
This is the doctrine of leftovers. After a crowd estimated to be between ten and twenty thousand people has eaten its fill, they collect more at the end than they started with. This is not just a tidy cleanup. This is a theological statement. The economy of God's kingdom is not consumptive; it is generative. When you give what you have to Jesus, you do not end up with less. You end up with more.
And the number is precise: twelve baskets. This is not accidental. Twelve represents the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus is demonstrating that He is the true shepherd of Israel, able to provide completely for the entire people of God. The twelve disciples, each with a full basket, are a living object lesson. They began by wanting to send the people away because of their lack, and they end with their arms full of abundance. They are witnesses to the fact that with Jesus, there is always more than enough.
The final detail about the number of men, "besides women and children," underscores the sheer scale of the miracle. This was no small picnic. This was a logistical impossibility, a feat of divine, creative power. Jesus is Lord not just of the Sabbath or of the temple, but of molecules. He is the Lord of creation itself.
Conclusion: Bring Him Your Lunch
This miracle is a direct command to every Christian and every church. The world is a desolate place, and the hour is late. The crowds are hungry, not just for bread, but for meaning, for truth, for forgiveness, for life. And the disciples are still saying, "Send them away. We don't have the resources."
And Jesus is still saying, "You give them something to eat." He is still telling us to bring Him our pathetic little lunches, our five loaves and two fish. Your meager talents, your small savings, your limited time, your faltering faith. The command is simple: "Bring them here to Me."
When we bring what we have, give thanks for it, and place it in His hands to be broken and distributed, the miracle happens. He is the bread of life. He is the one who satisfies. And His kingdom is one of outrageous, inexplicable, glorious abundance. Stop believing the myth of scarcity. Start practicing the economics of overflow. Take what you have, however small it seems, and give it to the Master of the feast. You will be astonished at what He does with the leftovers.