(Read 1-14)
The feeding of the five thousand is an account from the ministry of Jesus with which most, if not all, of us are very familiar.
It is significant to note that it is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded by all four gospel writers. Even John, who wrote his gospel some years after the other three, and therefore left out much of the historical information they had already covered, chose to give his own record of this day.
Now, I can’t say that I can come up with a reason for it, but John is the only one who specifically names the disciples who played key roles in this miracle.
They are Philip and Andrew. Now there is another thing of significance worthy of mention, and that is the different way that each one, Philip and Andrew, responded to the situation. We will discuss that later.
For now, let’s sharpen our focus to verses 5 & 6 and see what message there is for us there.
John has opened this chapter pointing out that the feast of the Passover was at hand. The Passover is the largest and holiest of the Jewish holy days, and it was the time when Jews from all over the civilized world would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem -bringing their lamb for sacrifice or buying it there- and stay for the holidays.
So here we see Jesus, going up a hill with His disciples, possibly for a rest while on their own way to Judea for the feast.
But there were many others traveling that way also, and by now the word was spreading rapidly that there was a Rabbi in Israel who many saw as a prophet. He spoke as no other man spoke; as One having authority; not as the scribes, whose teaching contained much speculation and theory and debate.
Many were asking, “Could this be the long-awaited Messiah?”
But more importantly, at least to the multitudes, was that the word was, He was doing miracles. He was healing sickness and casting out demons. They wanted to see.
So Jesus, sitting down to rest and spend time with the disciples, looks up and takes notice of a great multitude of people, who have also left their journeying to follow Him there.
Immediately, as was so typical of Him, His heart is filled with compassion.
Matthew wrote in his gospel that Jesus had compassion for the multitudes because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd.
Marvel, will you, at the great love and mercy of our Lord, who, filled with compassion for the lost sheep, thinks first of their comfort...meeting their needs, before His own.
I want you to notice also, His mastery at seizing every opportunity to teach His disciples.
Our Lord has much to teach us, brothers and sisters, in the everyday events and circumstances. No matter how ordinary or mundane we may see them, if we are sensitive to His voice, we would often see opportunities throughout our day to learn more about Him and His ways.
Today, it was Philip’s turn. “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?”
Philip’s chin must have bounced off his sandals!
“Where? WHERE are we to buy bread? Well, that’s hardly the question, Lord.
Here we are, near the Southwest shore of the sea of Galilee, sitting on a hillside to rest from our journey...
...quite frankly Lord, I was just wondering to myself if we had enough food in our own bags to get the twelve of us to Jerusalem.
So let’s talk a little sense here...”
Now, we can’t be too critical of Philip, can we? That is precisely how we think. Jesus lays it on our heart to do something, or maybe He sends someone to us to suggest some area of ministry for us to become involved in, and the first thing we do is think of all the reasons that we can’t do it! Or reasons that it won’t work!
Well, OUR church doesn’t have the money to do that!
We only have about 20 people who attend on a regular basis; what can WE do?
We don’t have room! We don’t have supplies!
or we personalize our excuses...
I have a lot of other obligations! I’m just trying to pay the bills and keep food on the table!
Lord, do you know what a dweeb my husband is? Do you think he’s going to cooperate with my devoting my time to the church?
Lord, my wife expects me to be with her during the few hours each week that I’m not busting my chops on my job!
That’s a long way to drive! My car is in bad shape!
Oh, it goes on and on, doesn’t it? I think that some of our most inventive, imaginative moments in life, are when we’re making excuses in our mind for not following Christ in ministry.
Well, Jesus asked, “Where are we to buy food?”
Don’t you think that by now Philip should have known better?
This is well into the second year of Jesus’ ministry. Philip had seen Him calm the storm and the sea; cast out demons, raise the dead. In fact, a chronological blending of the gospels indicates that this feeding of the five thousand happened very shortly after the disciples came back from being sent out two-by-two, during which time they themselves healed and cast out demons by the power the Spirit.
Wouldn’t it have been much wiser and safer for him to say, “Lord, you can do all things. Tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it”
Instead, his mind goes straight to the purse.
Now, a denarius was the equivalent of a working man’s daily wage. So by Philip’s calculations, (saying ‘two hundred denarii) two thirds of a years wages wouldn’t give this crowd milk and a graham cracker, much less enough to satisfy their hunger.
He was very sure of what COULD NOT be done. He had no vision for what COULD be done.
But verse 6 tells us, “and this He was saying to test him; for He Himself knew what He was intending to do”
This should tell us volumes about our Lord, people!
He Himself knew what He was intending to do!
Did Jesus know about the little boy with the loaves and fishes?
Was His plan this intricate? Was His divine knowledge of all the circumstances surrounding Him at any given moment this complete?
Was He already counting on Andrew’s ability to slick-talk this boy out of his lunch?
I can’t answer those questions specifically, but I can say that He knew what He intended to do. HE WAS GOING TO FEED THE FIVE THOUSAND.
He was going to do it. He already knew there was no City Market just over the hill! He already knew exactly what the group had in their small treasury! He didn’t need an analysis of their financial status; or of the magnitude of the task at hand; or a lesson on economics or supply and demand; He didn’t need a seminar on the effectiveness of outreach programs and their historical success or failure based on cultural or regional distinctives...HE KNEW WHAT HE INTENDED TO DO!
How often do we speak of trusting the Lord, when, in reality, we are leaning on some circumstance, or set of circumstances? How often do we speak of living day by day, in simple dependence upon God, when, if we judged the actual condition of our souls before God, we would find that we were looking to some human or earthly source of supply?
In verse 9, Andrew, Peter’s brother, says, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”
Now folks, I don’t know about you. But I know myself fairly well. I think that if I had been in Andrew’s place, standing on that hillside near the sea of Galilee next to Jesus, looking around me at another sea; a sea of hungry faces; and I looked down and saw a small boy carrying a basket containing five loaves of bread and two fish, I wouldn’t even have spoken aloud.
In my own mind, I would have said, “Nope, that won’t work. We’re in trouble.”
Think about it! If we had a fellowship dinner announced for today, and no one had brought a dish of food, and after the morning service we were all standing around wondering what to do about it...would it make sense to pull a Snicker’s bar out of my pocket and say, “Well, I have this candy bar, but what is that among so many”?
Now, I might say that...but would it make sense? NO! You’d all be thinking, “Right, Clark, what is that among so many?” And you’d all be heading out for Golden Corral or home.
But Andrew did mention it, and I think I understand why.
He may not have known any more than Philip how they were going to do it; but he knew the Lord had brought it up, so He must have something in mind.
I think that by then, Andrew had realized that Jesus didn’t speak frivolously or jokingly about the needs of people.
I think maybe Andrew was remembering the commanding of the storm and the raising of the dead and the casting out of demons.
I think Andrew was at the very least, a hopeful optimist. I think that where Philip produced figures to show what could not be done, Andrew brought food, hoping that something might be done.
His faith might have been wavering -”but what are these, among so many” - BUT HE HAD FAITH!
Faith, waiting on God, allows Him to use whatever means He pleases. It does not ask Him to bless our means, but lets Him use His own.
There is another lesson to be learned in this account; one that perhaps Philip and Andrew and the others learned about Jesus that day.
Not just that He can supply our needs. Not just that if we have faith in Him we will see miracles.
We can learn from this that He often has so much more in mind than the immediate circumstances when He does something.
I mean, we see the moment, and say to ourselves, “I must do something about this”. We are reactionary. We see a problem, and the more serious our mind perceives it to be, the more desperate we become to deal with the moment. Do something now! Take care of this! Make the problem go away, so we can get back on the trail of life and go on our journey undistracted.
Do you think Jesus was reacting this way? Do you think He only saw physically hungry people and wanted to feed them so they’d listen more closely to His sermon?
No way! He didn’t even preach! Still, He had much more in mind than filling their bellies. His plan, as always had an eternal goal. Something to teach them; feed them with; that would last much longer than bread and fish.
What it was, we don’t see until later in this long chapter, but there is an undeniable connection.
Jesus avoids the crowd, knowing that in their hearts they have not gotten the message and do not understand His mission; and goes off by Himself to pray.
Later that night, the disciples are on a boat on the sea and Jesus walks out to them on the water. Another volume of sermons there...but picking up again at verse 22, we are reintroduced to the multitude from the day before.
What happens, when you eat, and then it’s the next day?
YOU GET HUNGRY AGAIN! Right?
They see that Jesus has shown up on the other side of the sea, follow Him there, and express surprise that He is on the other side of the sea, since no one saw Him get into a boat.
Now, on the surface, all we see is a bunch of “Jesus groupies”, following Him around the sea of Galilee. But we know what was really on their minds only because Jesus knew what was on their minds.
It was breakfast time!
See verse 26? “Jesus answered them and said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you; you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves, and were filled’.”
From there, He embarks on His discourse on the Bread of Life...which is, of course, Himself...in the midst of which He says:
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
So Philip and Andrew learn a valuable lesson about trusting Jesus to fill all needs; physical and spiritual...
...the people have their immediate needs met and are blessed by the grace and mercy of God in having those needs met in such a special way...
...but Jesus uses this miracle as a lesson that, if listened to, leads to eternal life.
“I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst”
What a vast difference there is for us, between the actual feeding of the five thousand and the later discourse! We can read all about these folks eating the bread and fish, and be blessed as we read of this miracle of Jesus so long ago...but at the end of the reading of it, if we ourselves have not been munching on something, WE’RE still hungry.
On the other hand, the rest of this chapter can fill us right now, as immediately as it could have filled those listening to His very words that day, IF we believe them.
He IS the bread of life. HE IS OUR PROVISION! He is not only our provider, He is our provision!
At the last supper with His disciples, as he broke the bread, He said, “This is my body, broken for you...”
Have you taken that bread and eaten it? Have you taken and consumed His provision for your eternal good...your eternal life?
Can you say, that He will raise you up on the last day, because you have believed in Him.
He provided bread for the people on that hillside so long ago, so that the next day He could use that very clever tool to impress on them that He is not only the provider, but the provision.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not die, but have everlasting life”
He IS our provision. Take. Eat. Live.
Now believers, we need to get in the practice, before we run out and try to get for ourselves the things we think we need, of asking Jesus in prayer, “Lord, is there some way you want to provide this need for me? Is there something you want me to learn about You instead of going out and running up a credit card, or maybe buying something I don’t really need anyway?
As His church, we need to get in the habit of asking, “Lord, is there something in this that you want us as a congregation to learn about our relationship with You? Is there something you want to teach us as we exercise faith?”
We mustn’t be afraid to step out in faith, Christians, as a local body of believers...
...but we also mustn’t be quick to step out on our own. We won’t necessarily go wrong, but we may miss a blessing by not praying and waiting for HIS timing.
We may supply a present need in our own strength and power, but by so doing we may miss an opportunity for Him to fill that need in such a way as the testimony of it can be used to reach souls in the future.
When Jesus asked of Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?” He wasn’t looking for an answer. He wasn’t looking for a solution to a problem. He was looking for an expression of faith from his follower.
“...for He Himself knew what He was intending to do”.
Y’know what folks? I believe that God wants us to be a lot less independent.
I think He wants us to be a lot slower to analyze a situation and choreograph a solution; and a lot quicker to say, “Jesus, we see an opportunity here for you to show your glory; show us what you would have us do, but please, YOU BE THE PROVIDER...FOR YOU, YOURSELF, ARE OUR PROVISION.”
Here is our little bit, Lord; take it and make it a lot.
And we will give You all the glory and the praise, for without you we have nothing.
“When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit;
His grace has no measure;
His power has no boundary known unto men,
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!”
-A.J.Flint
