“Free Fish Sandwiches or the Bread of Life”
John 6:1-15, 26-40
John 6 includes a two day account of Jesus’ ministry. If your stomachs are empty this morning, I’m not offering free lunches today, but if your hearts and souls are empty, then God has Himself to offer you to fill you.
I am just going to look at the first 15 verses of this fabulous story what has been known as the “feeding of the “five thousand”. We are going to look at these verses section by section so I invite you to open your Bibles to John 5:45 to give us the setting and transition into chapter 6. There we read the following: "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
These verses are the culmination of Jesus’ testimonies about Himself in chapter 5; He is saying that Moses was a type of Christ Himself who was to come and fulfill all the prophecy of the Old Testament. Jesus’ statement indicates a most important fact: The entire Bible is a proclamation of Jesus as Lord God! The Jehovah/Jahweh of the Old is the One True God revealed in the Jesus of the New Testament, who is revealed clearly as the Eternal Son of God revealed in the New Testament, and is declared finally in the book of Revelation. The Old Testament looks forward to this promised Savior Redeemer who was to be born of the lineage of David, promised from the very beginning in Genesis 3:15.
This is the Jesus whom Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph typified. This Jesus is the one who would deliver His chosen people from the bondage of sin and death, typified by the LORD’S miraculous Redemption of the children of Israel from Egypt all the way to the promised land of Canaan. (The verb derivative of “Canaan “describes the process of synchronicity; bringing elements from a wild, feral state into a state of common order and mutual benefit (like, a trade agreement)… Synchronicity may demand the abandonment of one's naturally free state.” (from abarim-publications.com) The land of Canaan describes Heaven, doesn’t it? In order to gain access to Canaan, the Kingdom of God, we have to abandon our own agendas and submit to the will of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. He has to give us a new heavenly heart that is “in synch” with His Heart, to love Him with our hearts and lives and deny ourselves.
The Judges and Prophets all called the children of Israel to honor this Great God who would send the Savior-Son in the flesh to redeem people from sin. David and his rule typified the king and The Kingdom which would be eternal in the coming of King Jesus in the flesh, fully God and fully man, sent from the Heavenly Father’s side. This is the Jesus of John 6:1-15.
*1 “After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias ). 2 A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs (remember that John’s Gospel reveals these “signs” which point to a greater spiritual reality) which He was PERFORMING on those who were sick. (They were following Him because of the signs, not because of His Divine Person and Work for which He was sent.)
Now I want you to think of Psalm 23 as we read the following verses and the later revelation in John 10:11 where Jesus says: “I am the Good Shepherd.” Remember that a “Good Shepherd” would lead His sheep up into the mountains where there were green pastures so that they would have the best food and a place to rest, trusting in the leading of their caring shepherd.
*We read in John 6:3 “Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. (Verse 4 is very significant: John mentions three Passovers, which the other Gospel writers do not. It meant that there were many people traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate their redemption from Egypt. The blood of their slain Lambs would be applied to the doorposts of their homes and so the angel of death would “PASS OVER” their house and their firstborn sons would be saved from death. At Calvary, the Only Begotten Son of God would give His Life as a sacrifice to save many whom He had chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless by faith in this LORD Jesus, the anointed One from God Himself.)
*Look at verse 5: “Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat ?" 6 This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. (Jesus FOREKNEW the need, He knew the people and their hearts, He knew how many, He knew HOW He would provide, and MAKE NO MISTAKE AT ALL: HE KNEW the reaction of the people beforehand! He knew Philip. He HIMSELF KNEW all these things and no one but GOD could know this beforehand!)
*7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii (7 months wages, He must have been somewhat of an accountant or mathematician) worth of bread is not sufficient (to be SATISFIED) for them, for everyone to receive a little." (So Philip figured, “If we had 7 months wages on hand, we would not be able to sufficiently feed all these people. I checked a Chick Fila menu and a chicken sandwich is $3.05. Keep that in mind.)
*Verse 8 continues: “One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?" 10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place.”
(I wondered when I studied this passage: Why did God lead John by the Spirit to write, “Now there was much grass in the place? So I went back to the beginning of the chapter and read it again. You have this beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus leading His chosen sheep, His disciples up the mountain, much like the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The shepherds would lead their sheep up the mountains to greener fuller pastures and where there was more verdant grasslands. There the sheep would be content and well fed. Where God leads His sheep there is abundant grass and never any shortages. “He makes me lie down in green pastures. Ps. 23 :2 What a beautiful picture and fulfillment of Psalm 23 and the Lord Jesus being the Good Shepherd who would lay down His life for His Sheep, those who would follow Him.)
*So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. (It was the size of a Mega Church! That was just the number of MEN! Estimates put the total number at 10,000 people, including women and children; Multiply10,000 times $3.05 and you come up with needing $30,500 on hand to feed all these people a simple fish sandwich! The disciples didn’t have those kind of resources! {and neither do I!})
*Look at verse11: “Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, (We all know that word “thanks”-“eucharisteō”, the root word is GRACE; WE are thankful because we have received much. That’s where we get the word “eucharist’, the word many still use today to refer to the Lord’s Supper in which we will participate in a few minutes.) He (Jesus) distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.
*12 When they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be LOST." (Look at those words, “GATHER UP THE LEFTOVER FRAGMENTS”. In the Greek the word means the broken pieces, the remnants. That is why Jesus came. Luke 19:10 says: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." God will NEVER ALLOW HIS MIRACLE of Grace to go to waste. All that are EFFECTIVELY CALLED by God will be GATHERED up. None will be lost! He has come to save the remnants, the broken ones.)
*13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. (Twelve baskets, twelve tribes, the fullness of Israel. Jesus called 12 disciples: It was the fullness of all He called, knowing from the beginning that Judas would betray Him. But Jesus is the TRUE ISRAEL. He is the Chosen of God and all who believe in Him will be saved: they are the true circumcision, the Israel of God as it says in Galatians 6: 14: “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” Not everyone who is born a Jew is a Jew, but not one that He has chosen beforehand will be lost. Those whom He has called will be saved, justified, sanctified, and eventually glorified!)
*14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is TRULY the Prophet who is to come into the world."
THE MIRACLES of Jesus are impossible to miss. His CALL of the GOSPEL is undeniably from God! He proves that He is from God and He is God. If you “don’t get it”, it’s not God’s fault. God makes it crystal clear! The FAULT of NOT FOLLOWING or not BELIEVING is not God’s fault but the sin, arrogance, and unbelief which is the condition of man’s sinful heart. Man is the culprit, not God, and sinful man is responsible for his disobedience to the Holy God who gave him life. Saving grace abounds for those who seek Him and plead for His mercy on His terms.)
*Listen to verse15: “So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone. (Jesus knows the INTENTIONS of man’s evil hearts BECAUSE He is sent from God, God’s one and ONLY SON, the TRUE PROPHET come from God. He KNEW that the intent of the people’s heart was not in line with God’s will and purpose, so HE WITHDREW. The word for “perceiving” was the Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman-to have INTIMATE and THOROUGH KNOWLEDGE: Jesus had intimate and THOROUGH knowledge of what was in the heart of every one of those people, and we will see the truth of their hearts later in this chapter.)
The other word to consider in verse 15 is “by FORCE”. “By force” is what the enemy usually does. It is translated as “snatch out” in John 10:27: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish ; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all ; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30"I and the Father are one." ( No one forces God to do anything.)
I can imagine some of the thoughts of the crowd: We have the catch of a lifetime here. Jesus could be a great leader. No more hunger. No more work. We could just pack this hillside out everyday. We could expand and have wine tasting booths (I heard that He changed water into the most fantastic vintage EVER!) I would love to have Him as my CEO. What a profit I could make if I had him manage my business. We just ate all the fish sandwiches possible with 5 loaves and 2 fish. With Jesus at the helm, we could open a FISH-FIL-A chain and make a “killing”.
We’re going to skip the next 10 verses for now: Jesus’ disciples leave in a boat to go across the lake, a storm arises, He walks on water, they get safely to the other side, and so does the crowd. The next day the crowd wonders how Jesus got there, and He doesn’t answer them; Instead He says this in verse 26:
*6:26 Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you SEEK Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 "DO NOT WORK for the food which perishes, but for the food which ENDURES to eternal life, which the Son of Man will GIVE TO YOU, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal." 28 Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we DO, so that we MAY WORK the works of God ?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is THE WORK OF GOD, that you BELIEVE in Him whom He has sent."
30 So they said to Him, "What then do You do for a SIGN, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? 31 "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness ; as it is written, 'HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT." (The people were putting a condition on Jesus. They were testing Him and basically saying, as many do today, if you perform a sign or miracle then we will believe.)
In verse 32, Jesus again reverts to past history: “Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the TRUE BREAD out of heaven. 33 "For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."
34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread." 35 Jesus said to them, "I AM the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36 "But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of ALL that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and BELIEVES in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."
Without being drawn by God through the Holy Spirit and a birth from above, people will not accept Jesus on His terms. Many “think” they have “accepted” Him, but it has been on THEIR TERMS and not on account of being born again from above.
It is Jesus whom we worship because He has become our food. He is the one who saved us and nourishes us through the gift of faith but also through His indwelling Spirit. He is the Bread come from Heaven, the True Manna from God. It is the Life and Death of this Bread of Heaven that we commemorate at the Lord’s Table. The LORD JESUS is indeed my Shepherd and has laid down His Life for His Sheep. Come eat and remember that He gave Himself so our sins might be forgiven and we might enter into His Holy Eternal Kingdom.
