Throughout the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) we find Jesus expanding our understanding of God and his view of righteousness … (3) In verses 10-17, why did Jesus command the disciples to feed the five thousand when they did not have the means to do so? After His ascension, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to fill and empower us to serve His Kingdom on earth. He looked for a place to sit down and begin teaching them. It was not abnormal for people to sit at the feet of the teachers since this is how rabbis regularly taught, but this was no normal teacher. Jesus is teaching, a great crowd gathers, they are hungry and far from home, Jesus has compassion on them, he talks with the disciples about feeding them, they only have a small amount of food, Jesus instructs the crowd to sit down, he gives thanks for the food, he has the disciples distribute the food, everyone eats and is … Why would he do this? There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. As Luke writes in the opening words of Acts, “I wrote the former account, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). One of the ways Jesus interpreted the Torah was to stress the importance of the right attitude of heart as well as the right action (Matt. 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. Jesus hands the scroll to the attendant and sits down. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. All eyes are intently fixed upon him. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues “to do and teach,” and that means through us. What does Jesus do in response to the large crowds? Jesus sat down to teach, and His disciples came to Him to listen. 5:27-28). He did the same with the fish. When Jesus heard it, He marveled (was astonished, NIV), and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! The disciples spread their cloaks on the donkey for Jesus to sit on, and the multitudes came out to welcome Him, laying before Him their cloaks and the branches of palm trees. Rather, as Matthew Henry comments, Jesus taught “as one that knew the mind of God, and was commissioned to declare it.” Mark does not record as much of Jesus’ instruction as the other gospels do, so let us consider passages such as Matthew 5:21–48 in order to get an idea of what it meant for Jesus to teach with authority. After Jesus left Nazareth, “He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath.” Jesus taught people on the Sabbath. This week we are learning how to live our life’s purpose by looking at the example of Jesus. He came to complete it and to show how to correctly keep it. In Luke 4:31, we see that Jesus’s life was marked by authoritative teaching. These are the “tensions of our text,” the answers to which will provide us with the necessary keys to understand what the events described by Luke were designed to teach the disciples, as well … "The return of the people to the inert quiet and security of their dwellings (Joh 7:53), at the close of the feast, is designedly contrasted with our Lord's homeless way, so to speak, of spending the short night, who is early in the … And they did so, and made them all sit down. Jesus reads about how this foretold One would preach a release to the captives, a recovery of sight to the blind, and the coming of Jehovah’s acceptable year. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives—This should have formed the last verse of the foregoing chapter. Just think of being able to sit at the very feet of Jesus and hear His teaching. (Luke 9:15-16 AV) Now Jesus Christ feeds the 5000 men, plus women and children. The people hailed and praised Him as the “King who comes in the name of the Lord” as He rode to the temple, where He taught the people, … They needed physical help and Jesus was able to provide it. Let's notice the last verse in this section. Contrary to what some think Jesus did not come to do away with God's Torah or Old Testament. The verb tense in Greek indicates that this was something He did … 10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down."