Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given
Spence Island, Lake Murray
“Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people. And they all ate and were satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full.” Luke 9:16-17
Notice the all sufficient provision of Christ. The Greek word for satisfy, chortazo, means to feed, fatten, fill, and satisfy. The multitudes weren’t merely satisfied, as the English connotation might imply, they were stuffed; even more, 12 full baskets were filled with the broken pieces that were collected after everyone had been filled to abundance.
Consider this scene as it relates to the Lord’s supper recorded in Luke 22:19 in which Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it, saying “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me”. In the Lord’s supper, we now see the revelation of what the scene with the multitudes was pointing to. Christ isn’t just sufficient in His provision of sustenance, but He’s sufficient unto salvation in the giving of Himself as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for the sin of the world. The miracle of provision for the multitudes points us to the real miracle of the Way to salvation for all people.
After Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus appears to two men on the road to Emmaus and would later dine with them. Luke 24:30-31 records, “When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him”. The two men would later say, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”
The question this leads to, is do we really ‘see’ Jesus until our eyes are opened to the reality of His all-sufficient and perfect sacrifice on the Cross? Our heart might burn when we hear Truth, some of the greatest agnostic thinkers and philosophers of the world will attest to this, but salvation isn’t found there. If we see the Cross but don’t see it as all-sufficient, we’re missing Jesus. If we seek to add good works, church ordinances, or religious rituals for the purpose of salvation, we’re missing the Cross and not truly trusting in Christ. To trust in Christ is to fully and completely trust our salvation and eternal destiny to the finished work of Christ, adding nothing to it. To add anything to the finished work of Christ is to say, in essence, that Jesus is not sufficient unto salvation, and more is required to earn salvation. And to look upon the incomprehensible Cross of Christ and say that wasn’t sufficient, is utter blasphemy and foolish self-righteousness.
We are absolutely called for, and to, good works (Ephesians 2:10), but the good works are always and purely a response to receiving the overflowing, unending, amazing grace of God. Redemption precedes morality, and our choosing morality and good works is always ‘in Christ’ and out of a heart of unending joy and overflowing thankfulness for His amazing grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
