Our text this week is the beginning of a very important section of John’s gospel. There are some very important and famous texts that we will see in this particular chapter, and those coming soon after it. Our specific text for today, the first 15 verses of chapter 6, are the account of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. This particular sign or miracle is the only one performed by Jesus that is recorded in all four of the gospel accounts. Now, we’ve all heard this story numerous times and could give the quick overview in a matter of seconds, but I want us to dig a little deeper than just a surface reading today. I want us to truly see what a miraculous event this was, and I think that a good place to start on such a journey is to understand all of the conditions as they were at this point.
So, Jesus and his disciples come to the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, which is called a multitude of other names, but most notably the Sea of Tiberius. They are thought to be in the town of Bethsaida or just outside of it; a distance of somewhere between 70 to 90 miles from Jerusalem, where the events of our last several Sunday’s occurred. And we know from the text that a large crowd is following Jesus to this place. They are following him we’re told, “because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.” Now, we’ve only seen a couple of accounts of Jesus healing thus far in John’s gospel, but it is very likely that there have been others healings that simply have not been recorded for us.
Jesus and his disciples go up a mountain there along the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee and they sit down and survey the crowd. They can see that there are many people gathering and waiting to hear Jesus say something or see him perform some type of sign. It’s at this point where Jesus chooses to put his disciples to the test. First, he turns to Philip and asks him where they are going to get food to feed all of these people. Now, before we look at Philip’s response, we need to pay attention to the words of John when he says that Jesus “himself knew what he would do.” Jesus knew well in advance what he was going to do, but he wanted to see the faith of his disciples before taking action himself. Philip, seeing the magnitude of the crowd says, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” Now, a denarii is the equivalent of one day’s pay for an average worker. So, Philip is saying that even 8 months’ worth of an average man’s salary wouldn’t be enough for everyone there to get even just a little bit of food, much less enough to satisfy their hunger. So that tells you a little bit right there as to the size of this crowd. Then, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, chimes in. He says, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.” Now, had Andrew stopped there it would have been a true sign of faith. Had these been his only words, then he would have sounded as if he believed completely that Jesus could supply such a vast amount of people with such little resources, but his statement continues on. He says, “but what are they for so many?” He too doesn’t see how the contents of the boy’s basket can help the situation.
Now, I want all of you to understand exactly what amount of food we’re talking about here. We’re not talking about 5 big loaves of French bread and 2 great big redfish in this boy’s basket. We’re told that he has 5 barley loaves, and a barley loaf was the bread of the poor. It was the lowest quality bread that was available at the time, and they weren’t really loaves as much as they were small cakes. They were probably similar to the size of a Twinkie or some other little snack cake; hardly enough to feed this crowd that continued to gather at the foot of this mountain. And the fish, as we said earlier, weren’t anything to speak of either. They were primarily just used to give the flavorless barley cakes some taste. These 2 fish were probably each about the size of a sardine. So, what we read on the surface might allow us to think of a basket that is somewhat overflowing with food for one person, is indeed containing 5 dry Twinkies and couple of sardines. This amount of food would have been barely enough to feed just this one boy, much less anyone else who is hungry and in need of food.
Jesus instructs his disciples to have the crowd sit down, and as they are doing so they see that there are around 5,000 men. Notice that it doesn’t say 5,000 people, but 5,000 men. This number didn’t include the women and children that were present; a common way of conducting a count or census at this time. When we add the women and children to the number of men, we get a much larger crowd. Throughout the years, biblical scholar have tried to determine the total attendance at this gathering, and the numbers that they have somehow come up with range between 10,000 and 15,000 people in all. To give you some perspective on that amount, this would be somewhere around the number of folks that the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge could hold with its capacity of around 13,000 people. So, as this crowd is gathered at the foot of this mountain, Jesus is looking down knowing exactly what is about to transpire. He sees the loaves and fish that he has, and he knows that he is about to feed this multitude with such a minuscule amount of food.
“And Jesus 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.” Now this would be a miracle in-and-of itself, and it is, but there’s even more. You see, God, through Jesus Christ, supplied for the needs of these people, but He supplied them with even more than they needed. “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 five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.” Not only had God provided them with what they needed to survive, but gave them more than they could possibly use. All of the 10,000 to 15,000 people in attendance had eaten until they were stuffed and yet there was more left over. There was more food in the twelve baskets of leftovers than there was in the initial basket given by the young boy. I don’t know what your history of food preparation is, but I can tell you a little about mine. You see, I’ve cooked for what I consider to be a substantial crowd before. I’ve cooked for upwards of 200 to 250 people before. I’ve cooked everything from burgers and hotdogs to chicken to pork tenderloin to boiling crawfish, and I’ve even smoked a few pork shoulders for making some pulled pork sandwiches. And if these experiences have taught me one thing, it’s that people can eat when someone else is providing the food. What may look like a large amount of food to you won’t go as far as you think when feeding other people, and here is our Savior, providing for the needs of everyone in attendance this day with a few scraps of food.
Now, I want to quickly talk for second about what didn’t happen here. You see, we read this passage and we see the all-sufficiency of Christ and we see the providence of God and we understand that this sign was done in order to let God’s people know that Christ was the Messiah and also to teach us that God will and does provide for our every need. However, there are those who don’t exactly see it this way. Some folks who read the Bible try and put it in terms that they can understand. They say that there must have been those in the crowd who packed lunches to share with other folks around them or that there must have been food stored away by the disciples because there’s no way that Jesus could take this small amount of food, feed 10,000 to 15,000 people, and then have even more left over after everything is said and done. They say that there must be something else to the story that we don’t have for us in our text because it doesn’t make sense to them, it isn’t rational. I mentioned last Sunday that God is speaking to all of us, but many of us don’t hear Him because we aren’t quiet long enough to do so. I also said that it doesn’t take us understanding something for it to be true. We, as fallen and broken creatures, have to get out of the way. We have to remove ourselves from the equation so that we don’t get in the way of God. God doesn’t need us to believe in Him, but we are the ones who need to believe and submit to God the Father Almighty.
After seeing this series of events takes place and seeing that there is so much food left over, the people are amazed. In fact, we’re told that they proclaim Jesus as “the Prophet who is to come into the world!” This isn’t a mistake on their behalf; after all Jesus’ three offices that he fills are that of Prophet, Priest, and King, but it’s what comes next that causes a problem. Much in the sense that had Andrew stopped his statement he would have been correct, so the people would have been right in leaving it at that. However, we’re told that “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.” They wanted to crown him right there on the spot. The problem is the type of crown and kingship that they had in mind. You see they were thinking of an earthy king and kingdom, and not the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom that Jesus taught about wasn’t an earthly one, but one that was inaugurated by his coming; the kingdom of God.
It’s quite simple: God is more than enough. God is greater than anything that we could imagine or ask for. The kingdom of heaven is beyond compare. Just as those in attendance experienced that day, God will supply for our every need. No matter what we perceive to be the situation, there is no limiting the power of God. Christ has come and his work is completed for us this day. Let us all rest in the promises and provisions of God the Father Almighty; thanking Him for all that He has done on our behalf. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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