He was showing them that He would supply what they needed for minister. Like the symbolic act of washing their feet in the Upper Room, the miraculous feeding of the multitude was a symbolic lesson for the disciples. Astonishingly, the lesson culminated, not in Jesus supplying the provisions to the disciples to minister to the multitude, but in his provision for the disciples themselves. Luke tells us, “They all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them” (9:17). Twelve baskets of leftovers! Jesus provided one basket for each of the disciples.
One of my sinful shortcomings is that I love to take matters into my own hands. I have a sneaking suspicion that I am not alone in this. Whenever I sense that things around me are less than secure, I tend to allow myself to be consumed with brainstorming, seeking counsel and devising plans to “fix the problem.” However, I often fail to stop and pray on the front end of whatever need I am facing. Not that long ago, my sister shared a somewhat cheesy–yet accurate–phrase with me that speaks to this particular issue. She said, “You’ve got to run to the throne, not to the phone.” We are all very good at running to the phone and not very good at coming “boldly to the throne of grace that we might receive grace and mercy to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). It is particularly necessary that ministers learn to do this as they face needs in ministry. Very early on in the Messianic ministry, Jesus taught His disciples this principle by sending them out without provisions and by the miraculous feeding of the multitudes. At the end of His ministry, Jesus taught the disciples this principle in the great catch of fish He provided for them. Consider how this principle is unfolded in these accounts:
When Jesus first sent the disciples out “to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:2), He told them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece” (9:3). We inevitably ask, “Why did Jesus give this command to His disciples? Was He teaching them about the value of religious asceticism? Or, are we to understand that men are more effective in ministry when they have nothing?” We can rest assured that this precise command was uniquely given to the 12 and is not for all ministers for all time. After all, the Apostle Paul commanded the churches to pay their pastors well–commensurate with their labors (1 Cor. 9:3-12; 1 Tim. 5:18; Gal. 6:6). In his little pamphlet, “A Dialogue Between a Presbyterian and a ‘Friend,’” Archibald Alexander provided the best defense of these passages in light of Paul’s statements about not taking payment from the churches that he planted.
However, we can also find in Christ’s command a timeless principle that is for all ministers for all time. Jesus was teaching His disciples that He would provide for them through the gracious reception of them by the people of God to whom they were sent. Jesus told the 12, “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them” (9:4). In essence, Christ has so ordered His church that one of the most significant ways in which He provides for His ministers is through believers’ joyful reception of them and provision for them. By way of contrast, the mark of unbelievers is that they do not receive or provide for Christ’s ministers. It is the mediated care of Jesus for His servants. Ministers are to learn to trust Him in this.