This morning we have come to one of the most beloved stories in all of the Bible. Probably most of us have pictures of this event in our mind from children’s story books or Sunday school lessons. On the one hand, it’s good that many of us are very familiar with this event. But on the other hand, it can almost be a hindrance. It can be a hindrance because we’re so familiar with it, we think we know everything we need to know about it. We can very easily fall into thinking that we have nothing to learn from it. If that is your attitude this morning, I ask that you change it. If you are as familiar with this passage as many of us are, I’m not going to tell you anything novel or new. I’m going to do what I always try to do. I’m going to tell you what the text says. And as we look at what the text says, I hope that we can see how it applies to our lives today. After all, if it didn’t apply to our lives today, the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have inspired John to include it, would He? As a matter of fact, He not only inspired John to write about this event, it is the only miracle that He inspired all four Gospel writers to include. So it must be important. Important enough for us to dig into like we’ve never seen it before. The first verse starts with the words, “after these things.” Remember that John was more concerned with logical flow than he was with chronological flow as he wrote. As a matter of fact, the events in chapter 6 took place somewhere between 6 months and a year after the events in chapter 5. So it was indeed “after these things”, but don’t think that it was immediately after the things in chapter 5. During the 6 months or so between chapter 5 and chapter 6, the other three Gospels make it clear that Jesus was having an extensive ministry in Galilee. He was preaching and teaching. But He was also performing many miracles. Everywhere Jesus went, He was healing people and casting out demons and doing many miracles. Because of that, everywhere He went, the crowds were huge. As soon as they found out Jesus was in the area, people would pour in from everywhere. And they would do it at all hours of the day and night. If Jesus wanted to spend time alone, or just spend time with His disciples, He had to be very intentional about the way He could do it. That’s what was happening here in the first three verses of our passage. Jesus went to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. That’s what verse 1 means when it says “over the sea of Galilee.” He was on the part of the shoreline that was fairly remote and desolate. He was looking to get away with His disciples. But the crowds followed Him there. So Jesus took His disciples on up a mountain. But the people even followed them up there. And when they got there, they got more than they ever expected. As we look at this event, I want us to notice the characters involved.
First, let’s look at the characters involved. The first character in the story is introduced to us in verse 2. Actually it’s not an individual character—it’s a group. Verse 2 calls this character “a great multitude.” And that’s not an exaggeration either. This was a large group of people. Verse 10 says that there were about 5,000 men. When Matthew records the event in his Gospel, in 14:21, he says, “And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.” That means that there were somewhere between 15-20 thousand people there. Think of it like the total population of both Bluefields were all there in one place. And it wasn’t the Beaver-Graham game. This was a massive crowd. And it was getting late and the people were hungry. Now, when we think about being hungry, it’s not that big of a deal to us. Some of you might have known what it’s like to really be hungry. I’m sure that many of these people in the crowd that day knew what it was like to really be hungry. I’m sure that many of them were needy people. This wasn’t a rich area of the country. Galilee wasn’t wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. So these people were in need of more than a snack. Plus the fact that they had been chasing Jesus all over the countryside didn’t help. They were away from home, it was getting late, and they were in physical need. It’s easy to know when you’re in physical need, isn’t it? And when you’re in physical need, you do whatever it takes to get your physical need fixed. If you’re sick, you go to the doctor. If you’re cold, you turn up the heat or put on more clothes. If you’re hungry, you get something to eat. These people knew that they had a physical need, so they were following One who they thought could fix their need. Verse 2 says that they followed Him, “because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased.” The problem was, they only knew that they were in physical need. They didn’t even recognize the fact that they were in spiritual need. How do I know that? Two reasons—it’s evident when Jesus starts talking to them later on in the chapter. But it’s also evident because of the reason that verse 2 says that they followed Jesus. Why did they follow Him? They followed Him because they saw His miracles. They knew that they had physical needs and they were looking for someone to fix them up. They were looking for something for themselves. They were looking for what they could get out of it. They might have been following Jesus, but you can rest assured that they were looking at themselves the whole time. “Jesus, I’m following you because of what you can do for me.” “I’m following You for what I can get out of it.” That was the crowd. They were the first character. Let’s look at the second character involved.
The second character involved was Philip. Can’t you just picture Jesus and the disciples sitting on this hill side with the peaceful sea breeze at their backs and the sound of the water off in the distance? Things are quiet and peaceful just for a few minutes. And then they look down the hill and see the people coming. I can picture Jesus looking over at Philip, then glancing down the hill and pointing. “Here they come, Philip.” “What are we going to do?” Did Jesus ask the question because He didn’t know what to do? Of course not. He asked the question in order to test Philip. That’s what verse 6 says. As a matter of fact, just in case there were any questions, John made it perfectly clear. Verse 6 says, “And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.” Probably the right answer would have been, “I don’t know Jesus, what do You think we ought to do?” But Philip didn’t do that, did he? What did Philip do instead? Philip engaged his brain. Different people have different kinds of brains, don’t they? Some people have philosophical brains. They like to take everything to some really deep level. Some people have dramatic brains. They get all melodramatic and poetical about everything. Some people have mathematical brains. They make good engineers and accountants. I think that Philip must have had a mathematical brain. Look at how he answered Jesus’ question in verse 7. “Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.” Two hundred pennyworth. That’s literally 200 denarii. In those days, if you had a good job, you might pull in 200 denarii in about 8 months. I don’t know what caused Philip to come up with that number… maybe that’s how much money they had in their till. But, for whatever reason, he chose that number. And the calculator in his brain began to click it all around and all he could come up with was, “Jesus, we don’t have enough money to feed these people.” “Even if we completely drain the account, we won’t even have enough to give people a little scrap of food.” If nothing else, Philip was being practical. He was a realist. He saw the number of people. He saw the amount of money. He knew what could be bought for that much and came to the only reasonable conclusion. It can’t be done. “Jesus, you might be interested in feeding these people, but I’m here to tell you, it can’t be done.” That was Philip. But there’s another character.
The third character involved was Andrew. You’ve got to love Andrew. We don’t see him a whole lot in Scripture, but every time we see him, he’s introduce the same way and he’s doing the same thing. He’s always introduced as Peter’s brother. Those of you who have brothers who are more famous than you are can probably relate to Andrew. “Here’s Andrew. Who? You know—Peter’s brother. Oh, him.” So that’s the way Andrew’s always introduced. But he’s also always doing the same thing. Every time Andrew is mentioned in Scripture, he’s always bringing somebody to Jesus. And that’s what he’s doing here. Verse 8 and the first part of verse 9 says, “One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes …” Now, just for a minute, you need to get the flannel graph picture out of your mind. This boy didn’t just present himself out of thin air. Andrew had to go looking for him. Jesus wants the people to be fed, so Andrew immediately heads off into a crowd of 15-20 thousand people looking for food. And out of all those people, the only one he can find with food is a young boy whose momma wouldn’t let him leave home without his lunch bucket. Andrew tenaciously tracked this boy down and brought him to Jesus. And wouldn’t it have been wonderful if he would have just left it at that. “Here Jesus, I brought you someone who has some food.” But Andrew didn’t do that, did he? He had to finish verse 9. How did he finish verse 9? He said, “but what are they among so many?” Andrew was sensitive to what Jesus wanted. He was a man of action. He was tenacious in his search. Jesus said food. Andrew went and got food. He brought everything that he could and presented it to Jesus. And then he said, “But Jesus, it’s not enough.” “It’s not going to work.” “Jesus if we just had more food, it would work.” “If we just had more… we could do what you’re wanting us to do.” “If we just had more, then we could really do something.” “But all we have is this little bit.” “What good’s that going to do?” That was Andrew. But don’t forget about the boy.
The fourth character involved was the boy. If I was to ask you to tell me everything you know about this boy, what would you say? Not much. Because there isn’t much to say. First, the original word translated “lad” indicates that he’s a child. He’s a child with a child’s lunch. Don’t get the wrong impression by loaves and fishes. Once again, get the flannel graph picture out of your mind. These weren’t five full loaves of bread. They were more like biscuits. And the fish were probably like salt cured sardines. They were typically used almost like a spread on the dry biscuits. This wasn’t rich people food. This was food that poor people ate. And because he was a little boy and there were five biscuits, that means that food was supposed to last him for a while. I don’t know if you’ve ever been poor enough that you didn’t know where your next meal was coming from. But if you have, you know it wasn’t a casual thing for this boy to give up his food. But he did. He was a child. He was poor. And he was so insignificant that Scripture doesn’t even record his name. Andrew brought the boy to Jesus, but notice that he didn’t even bother to introduce him by name. That was the boy. A child. A poor child. An insignificant poor child. All he had was a few biscuits and a couple of sardines. But what did he do with them? He willingly gave them to Jesus. He wasn’t like the crowds. He wasn’t looking for something out of it. He wasn’t like Philip. He wasn’t calculating all the ways that it wasn’t going to work. He wasn’t even like the one who brought him to Jesus. He wasn’t like Andrew. He wasn’t looking for anything else. He brought Jesus everything he had. And he was just looking for what Jesus was going to do with the little bit he brought Him.
And notice what Jesus did. He did four things. He put the people in a position of expectation. Verse 10 says that Jesus told the disciples to make the people sit down. The word literally means “recline”. Reclining was the position they ate in. Jesus had the crowd to assume the position of eating. In other words, get your fork and spoon in you hand and get your plates ready. “Ummm, Jesus… there isn’t any food.” Doesn’t matter. Jesus put them in a position of expectation. Then in verse 11, what did Jesus do? After putting the people in a position of expectation, He gave thanks for provision that was yet to come. He gave thanks. He blessed the food that wasn’t there yet. Then, it was only after that, that Jesus blessed the unbelieving crowd with food. Verse 11 says, “as much as they would.” They ate until they were stuffed. Finally, Jesus grew the faith of the believers. Notice what Jesus did for His disciples. He gave each of them a basket of bread to feed their faith. Now, these weren’t little bread baskets. These were large baskets that they normally used for transporting fish. So each one of the disciples gathered up a couple of bushels of bread to take with them and munch on for the next several days.
Did you know that the same Jesus who did that, is the same Jesus who is walking in our midst this morning? He is the same Jesus that Scripture tells us is the head of the body, the church. That’s who Jesus is in this church today. Now, let me ask you this. Who are you in this church today? Are you the crowd? Have you just come here this morning because you’re looking for what you can get out of it? Are you here just to have your needs met? Maybe you’re more like Philip this morning. You know what Jesus is asking you to do, or us to do as a church. But you look around and say, “There’s just no way.” “We’re going to have a hard time paying our bills, much less reaching this area for Christ.” “Have you seen our giving lately?” “We just don’t have enough!” Is that you this morning? Maybe you’re more like Andrew this morning. You’ve worked hard and brought Jesus everything you can find. But then you’ve laid it down in front of Him, thinking that Jesus needs more stuff to accomplish His will. “We could be a really good church if we just had….” And you have a list of things you can fill in the blank with. You might have walked in here this morning like any one of those. But here’s what I’m asking you now. I’m asking you to leave here like the little boy. You don’t have to be anybody. You don’t have to have anything. I’m asking you to turn whatever you have over to Jesus. This isn’t about your offering. This is about your life. This is about Jesus being Lord of every area of your life. Maybe you need to publicly profess Him as your Lord and Savior this morning. Maybe you need to follow His command to be baptized this morning. Maybe you need to come and be a member of this church this morning. Do you remember what Jesus did back in verse 5 when He saw the crowds coming? He looked over to Philip and basically said, “You know what needs to be done. What are you going to do about it?” This morning, you know what needs to be done. What are you going to do about it?
