“After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of
Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following Him,
because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the
mountain, and there He sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast
of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up His eyes, then, and seeing that a large
crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread,
so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for He Himself knew
what He would do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread
would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of His disciples,
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley
loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the
people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down,
about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had
given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish,
as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, He told his
disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So
they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five
barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that He
had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the
world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make
Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.” (John 6:1–15, ESV)
(Caps added to pronouns referring to Jesus)
I’m still thinking about Jesus’ comment in John chapter 5
when He said that the things He was yet to do would make people marvel (verse
20). On the heels of chapter 5 and Jesus’ strong statement to the Jews about
His relationship with the Father and the fullness of the authority granted
Jesus, John presents another amazing sign demonstrating that Jesus is for real.
Some unspecified amount of time after this encounter with the Jews Jesus had left
Jerusalem and crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. We read that
Jesus went up on the mountain where He sat down with His disciples. Giving us
some perspective on timing we are told that it was at the time of Passover
(April). Being up there He looked out to
see a large crowd moving in. By this time His reputation had grown, and our
passage tells us that a large group of people were gathering to see Him. I can
just imagine among the crowd that there were some who were either ill and in
need of healing or knew someone who was. And there were definitely those who were
following Him to see what He would do next.
Matthew gives us a bit more information on this event (as
well as the other gospels), telling us that Jesus had compassion on them
healing their sick. He also tells us that evening had come and them being in a
desolate place meant they had no ability to find food. The disciples urged
Jesus to send them away, but Jesus resisted telling them, “They need not go
away; you give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14:16, ESV) From the various
gospel accounts this must have been a baffling response from Jesus. Looking
back to John’s record we read that Jesus asked Philip where they were going to
buy bread to feed all of these people. Throughout all of our encounters so far
it has been established for us that Jesus uses questions and actions in order
to stimulate a response which He can then direct toward His intended end. In
this case Jesus already knew the answer to feeding the crowd, but He asked His
disciple “to test Him” as our passage reads. He was asking in order to
demonstrate something bigger than His disciples would not have imagined,
something that would clearly cause everyone to marvel at the outcome.
Philip looked at the money that they had and how that even
if they spent every bit of it on bread there would not be enough to give
everyone even a little bit. Simply put, they did not have the financial
resources to solve the problem so this could not be the answer. It is then that
Andrew chimed in that he had found a boy that had five barley loaves and two
fish, but even this would be horribly inadequate for so many people. Looking at
the shared resources Andrew saw that there still was not enough. Having heard
from both of these men, Jesus told everyone to sit down. Our passage records
that there was a large area of green grass where the men sat down of which
there were 5,000 in number. That was a huge crowd realizing that this was just
the count of men (see Matthew 14:21), not reflecting the number women and
children of which we know there were some as the loaves and fish which Andrew
discovered were possessed by one of the boys.
After they were seated Jesus prayed and gave thanks. Then He
distributed the bread and the fish among those who were seated. Our passage
then records that everyone ate a tiny, tiny morsel, scraping to find the
smallest crumb. NO! It tells us that they all ate until they were satisfied and
there were still leftovers. In fact, there were enough leftovers to fill twelve
baskets with the remaining fragments of the loaves, which surely was more than
they started with. Imagine the looks on their faces. Imagine the amazement as
the miracle that Jesus worked was clearly demonstrated in the super abundance
of what was left over with each person knowing that he had had enough. The
murmur in the crowd must have been astounding. Who is the man? Did you see what
He did? Their overwhelming response, we are told, was that they concluded that Jesus
must be “the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
The Jews had long been looking for a prophet who would come
with the word of God and instruct them (Deuteronomy 18:15). They were expecting
that this person would come and remain with them. They were looking for the
promised king who would come to rule them, and they were ready to be delivered
from their political persecution. Expecting that God would send this person in
this particular way, Jesus perceived that they were ready to drag Him off and
proclaim Him king. But Jesus knew this was not the plan of the Father. Yes, He
was sent with the words of the Father. Yes, He would one day rule as King of
kings and Lord of lords. But this was not the time, and He could not allow the
crowd to mess with God’s plan so He withdrew from them, even leaving His
disciples behind. Matthew adds that he sent them away to get in a boat and go
ahead of Him to the other side (Matthew 14:21).
As I was re-reading this passage I was reminded of
communion. I remembered the passages speaking of Jesus sharing the Passover
with His disciples for the last time until they were to do it again in His
Father’s kingdom, and I thought about the words of Paul as he affirmed
communion as something to be shared among all believers on a regular basis. I
was reminded that as Jesus broke the bread and gave it to His disciples He told
them, “Take, eat; this is My body.” (Matthew 26:26) And I thought about the
words of Paul as He had been instructed by the Lord saying, “and when He had
given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body which is for you. Do this
in remembrance of Me.”” (1 Corinthians 11:24, ESV) Reflecting on these I also
thought about the extra fragments that remained after the 5,000 were fed.
When we share in communion today, as Christians have
throughout the centuries, we do so with the knowledge that God the Son became
man to give His body for us so that we might be saved. He shed His blood for
the forgiveness of our sins. We do this knowing that the effectiveness of His
work on the cross was not limited to 12 or even 5,000, but was for all who
would believe without limitation. The hyper-abundance of fragments that were
gathered into the twelve baskets gave me cause to think about how limitless was
Jesus ability to give life to all who believe. When Jesus broke the bread there
was no limit to who it would reach.
Continuing into John chapter 6 we will read how
people continued to stumble over who He claimed to be and how they rejected
what He had come to do because they could not accept who He is. Multiple times
in this chapter we read Jesus’ words claiming Himself to be the Bread of Life.
The first time, in verse 35, was Jesus direct statement that this is who He is.
The second, in verse 41, we find that the Jews grumbled because this is who He
claimed to be. Then in verses 47 and 48 we read, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” (John 6:47–48, ESV)
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