What does Matthew 14:18 mean?

Disciples of Jesus have just been instructed to perform an impossible task. They are to feed thousands of people gathered in a desolate place at dinner time (Matthew 14:13–16). Later we will learn that the adult men number some five thousand, meaning the total of men, women, and children could have been as many as twenty thousand! The disciples have reported the facts: all they've been able to acquire are five loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:17; John 6:8–9). Jesus now asks that they give this tiny amount of food to Him.

In Mark's account of this same moment (Mark 6:37), the disciples also point out that they don't have enough money to even go into a village themselves and buy bread for the crowds. It's not that the disciples had not done the math. They knew what it would take to obey Jesus' instruction. They also knew it could not be done with their limited resources. This is not a brain teaser, or a test of their creativity. This task is literally, clearly, and obviously beyond the means of the disciples. Yet Jesus asks, anyway.

That, in fact, is the point of the miracle. Jesus was about to show them how unlimited His resources are, when we faithfully give Him what little we have.