5000+

Matthew 14

 13 As soon as Jesus heard the news (about John the Baptist's death), 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!

hmmmmmmm...

5000 men...

It also says plus women & children.

I've never been to a public religious meeting where there were more men than women, but for the sake of conversation, let's say there were 5000 women there too. That would make the total adults to be 10,000.

Now they didn't have day care back then, so the women had to bring their kids with them. We all know they had many children, due to the high mortality rate & the need for children who could work & contribute to the family income.

But for the sake of conversation, let's say the women brought 2 kids a piece. that would make it 10,000 children, & totaling the whole crowd to 20,000.

Hockey arenas, or basketball areas for pro teams or for college teams usually can hold around 20,000.

We've all seen the interiors of those arenas on TV, or maybe we've even been inside one. They are VAST spaces.

I went to a conference in Atlanta where there were 8000 people in attendance. Chik-fil-a brought up box lunches, in numerous trucks. It was a gargantuan undertaking, before, during, & after - Chik-fil-a pulled it off without a hitch. But it was a finely tuned & choreographed job for them.

Think about that, think about the logistics of getting the food out to that many people, & then the clean up afterward.

That's how many people Jesus & the 12 disciples fed that day.