Each of the gospels includes the story of the feeding of the five thousand men and the uncounted women and children. In each account, (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6: 1-21) Jesus has just heard about the death of his cousin, John the Baptist, and he is deeply distressed. He decides that he needs some time and space to process the loss, so he withdraws in a boat and searches the shoreline for a welcoming place. However, the crowds follow him, and, from dawn to dusk, the day proves to be not about his needs but theirs. With compassion for the crowd, he puts aside his grief and heals all manner of infirmity throughout the day, and when evening comes, people are hungry. Over the complaints of inadequacy by the disciples, Jesus tells them to gather up what little food they have and bring it to him. John’s gospel is the only gospel that tells of the young boy who has five barley loaves and two fish. He becomes the provider for the sign of Jesus’ power, born out of a spirit of compassion, generosity and abundance. While they sat on the grass, they had the most miraculous picnic of their lives. All were fed and satisfied, and there was even ‘leftovers’ for the next day!
Can you imagine what Jesus would feel and do today when gazing upon situations around the world where hunger brutalizes the poor? Below are some facts about hunger we should all know:
World Hunger By The Numbers
- The world produces enough food to feed all of its 8 billion people, yet 733 millionpeople (1 in 11) go hungry every day.
- Hunger rates in Africa are especially high, with 1 out of 5 people going hungry each day.
- 2.8 billion people around the world cannot afford a healthy diet — 35% of the global population.
- In low-income countries, 71.5% of people cannot afford a healthy diet. In high-income countries, that figure drops to 6.3%.
- According to the 2024 Global Hunger Index, hunger levels are ranked Serious in 36 countries.
- The 2024 Global Hunger Index also rates hunger levels as Alarming in 6 countries: Burundi, Chad, Madagascar, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.
- The number of people experiencing hunger has gone up by approximately 152 million since 2019.
- As of this writing, the Integrated Food Phase Classification(IPC) estimates that 1.33 million people around the world are experiencing famine or famine-like conditions.
- Half of all child deaths are linked to malnutrition.
- 9 million people die from hunger-related causes every year; many are children under the age of 5.
World Hunger By The Causes
Power determines who eats and who goes hungry, who lives and who dies.
The climate crisis is driving hunger and malnutrition around the world.
Humanitarian emergencies disrupt and destroy livelihoods for millions of people.
Extreme poverty, lack of sufficient food, and hunger are inextricably linked.
Conflict is the number one driver of hunger.
There is a no more horrifying example of this last cause than what is taking place in Gaza today. Debates rage globally over Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war. In the transcript of a conversation among Michelle Cottle, David French and Lydia Polgreen, (Starvation in Gaza Has Reached a Tipping Point, NYT, August 3, 2025) French writes:
And we’ve reached a point now with the freezing of aid to Gaza, where we’re seeing what is just a kind of undeniable level of human suffering involving hunger, and hunger, I think, is particularly resonant because it’s such a universal human experience. And historically, as I’ve covered famine and hunger across the world, it does have this ability to activate a response in people. It’s interesting because hunger is very intimately linked with the birth of the idea and the coining of the word genocide. Raphael Lemkin, the man who invented the term in the Holocaust, really identified hunger and starvation as a critical weapon in this type of war. And I think people know it when they see it. When you see these pictures of emaciated children, women who are unable to nurse their newborns. It just reaches a level of horror.
Nations around the world have begun to respond to this horror in principled and meaningful ways. Germany, France, the UK and Canada have suspended the shipment of arms to Israel. The Trump administration has only recently taken a more active stance on the issue, acknowledging “real starvation in Gaza” and urging Israel to allow more food into devastated territory. However, it has not directly criticized Israel for creating the horrific conditions in Gaza and has certainly not acknowledged starvation as an intentional ‘weapon of war’ for Israel. (I have read, however, that a few days ago Trump shouted at Bibi Netanyahu when the Israeli Prime Minister denied using starvation in Gaza as a weapon of war!) As far as I know, sadly, there have been no discussions about limiting military aid, the very bombs being launched by Israel.
I was quite unsettled yet again by an article in a recent edition of The Atlantic (August 10, 2025). Peter Wehner and Robert P. Beschel Jr. make the following encouraging observation about the plummeting popularity of Trump and his policies:
As a result, a politically toxic impression is hardening. Trump’s approval rating in the most recent Gallup poll is 37 percent, the lowest of this term and only slightly higher than his all-time low of 34 percent, at the end of his first term. (Among independents, Trump’s approval rating is down to 29 percent.) Americans already understood Trump to be corrupt, (I would add immoral) and proved themselves willing to tolerate that. But now they are coming to believe that he is inept. In American politics, that is an unforgivable sin.
I’m not sure that in American politics being inept is an ‘unforgiveable’ sin. There are an extraordinary number of inept and unprincipled politicians being elected over and over again, both nationally and statewide, people who sit on both sides of the isle. Indeed, the American voter elected Trump, the felon, twice, this after he ineptly served as president before. What bothers me most is our tolerance of corruption and immorality. Interestingly, there seems to be a fracturing in Trump-world over the Epstein Files and what they may be concealing about Trump’s knowledge of his sex trafficking crimes. Perhaps this is a bridge too far for the community that sold its soul for power and well it should be. Moreover, I am encouraged by reports that MAGA is also rupturing over the horrific suffering in Gaza, breaking with Trump over his inability, unwillingness, to respond with compassion and aggressive action. AWAKENED Christian voices are now being heard and heeded, and these voices are not citing the ineptitude of Trump but his lack of character, compassion and a sense of moral responsibility. Who knew?
In the Lukan account of Jesus’s feeding of the five thousand followers there is such an inspirational opening to the story:
10 On their return the apostles told Jesus[a] all they had done. Then, taking them along, he slipped quietly into a city called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds found out about it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed to be cured.
This morning, I can see Jesus and his disciples in Gaza City sitting amid the bombed-out homes and hospitals welcoming and reaching out to the injured and ill, the hungry, homeless, and hopeless, the angry and grieving and especially the children. He is talking to them about the Kingdom of God and attending to whatever each person needs. He then feeds them. And so should we!
May God truly bless us all in this time of challenged living.