Matthew 14

13 As soon as Jesus heard the news (of the death of John the Baptist), he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone.

But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns.

14 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

  15 That evening the disciples came to him and said,

"This is a remote place, and it's already getting late.

Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves."

  16 But Jesus said, "That isn't necessary—you feed them."

  17 "But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!" they answered.

  18 "Bring them here," he said.

19 Then he told the people to sit down on the grass.

Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them.

Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people.

20 They all ate as much as they wanted,

and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers.

21 About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!

Let's think about the numbers for this miracle...

Verse 21 says there were 5000 men there.

I have trouble wrapping my brain around how many that is.

Think Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

It seats a little more than 5 thousand.

Now, I don't remember many church gatherings I've been to that had more men than women,

but for the sake of conversation, let's say there were as many women as there were men.

That's not too far fetched, is it?

So now we've got 10,000.

The Red Rocks Ampitheater, just west of Denver holds almost 10,000 people

Now let's include the children.

We all know people had lots of children back then, since there was little birth control, plus, people needed kids to help with the business, farms, or whatever.

So, for the sake of conversation, let's say 2 kids per couple.

I know there were more, but for this missive, let's say the women brought 2 kids with them – remember there were no Children's Friend or baby sitting services online back then.

That's 10,000 kids.

We now have a crowd totaling aroun 20,000

What seats 20,000 people?

Most basketball arenas.

Like Phillips arena, where the Atlanta Hawks play.

And Jesus fed them all with 5 loaves & 2 fish - & had 12 baskets of leftovers

Let that sink in...