What does Matthew 14:20 mean?

This miracle is impressive for several reasons. First, it begins with an impossible command to Jesus' closest followers. He seems to want them to understand that what He is asking them cannot be done—not by their own power or resources—and then for them to see Him do it. Lacking a clear supernatural miracle, there's no way five loaves of bread and two fish should be able to fill up thousands of people for an evening meal.

The miracle is also impressive because it replicates and adds to the miracle God did through in Elisha in 2 Kings 4:42–44 where a hundred men ate and had leftovers from 20 loaves of barley bread and some grain in a sack. What Jesus does makes that look quaint by comparison. If Elisha feeding a hundred with 20 loaves showed he had the power of God, then Jesus feeding thousands with even less food shows even more power.

Not just a little was left over. After everyone had eaten their fill, twelve full baskets of broken pieces were left over, one for each of the core disciples. The message of this miracle is both challenging and uplifting: when Christ asks us to accomplish, and give Him what little we have, He'll empower us to accomplish that task above and beyond what we could have imagined.