Providing Food

Another way that Christ ministered to those He was with on the earth was by providing food and drink to them.  Even though His ultimate mission was of far more importance than physical sustenance, He choose on many occasions to serve those He was around by giving them food or drink.  He showed this even after the Resurrection when He visited His apostles.  They were fishing in the Sea of Galilee, and He on the shore had prepared “a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread” (John 21:9).  Here He was, the Son of God and a resurrected, glorified, perfect Being, come there to remind them of their divine charge to take the gospel to all the world, and yet He took the time to serve them and perform the mundane task of making them a meal.  He further instructed them on how to catch more food, and then said to them, “Come and dine….  Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise” (John 21:12-13).  He ministered to them by serving them food before He then taught Peter the great lesson on feeding His sheep the spiritual food of the gospel. 

               On several other occasions He similarly took time to minister by giving food and drink to others.  For example, His first recorded miracle in Galilee was turning water into wine.  This was not a miracle to save lives but He still provided a drink for the pleasure of the company and as a service to His mother.  In another miracle that He performed He raised the daughter of Jairus to life in her home.  As soon as she “arose straightway” the Savior “commanded to give her meat” (Luke 8:55).  He had just raised her from the dead in a most remarkable miracle, and yet He was concerned that she be given food to eat.  The greatest miracle relating to food was when He fed the five thousand and their families.  Clearly for Him the spiritual was more important than the physical, and yet He still showed compassion and wanted to serve the people by giving them food.  “They need not depart; give ye them to eat” He said before turning five loaves and two fishes into food for thousands (Matt. 14:16).  Shortly thereafter He provided a similar miracle by taking “seven loaves and a few little fishes” and multiplying them to feed “four thousand men, beside women and children” (Matt. 15:34-38).  These miracles were reminiscent of the miracle He had provided for the children of Israel in the wilderness by miraculously sending “manna forty years” for them (Exodus 16:35).  Surely the disciples would be reminded of this as they were personally served food by Him at the final Passover: “He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:19-20).  Of course the symbolic message was of far greater importance than the physical sustenance He provided, but it was still an act of service that He provided to His disciples.  The food the Savior gave to those He was around was a show of His love for them as well as a symbol of His desire for them to partake of the far more important spiritual food He had to offer.