Having finished messages at the end of the Gospel of John for the recent Easter season, we now return to where we left off at John 6 on the miraculous feeding of the five thousand men, not counting women and children. This is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels, other than the death and resurrection narratives of Jesus.
John does not usually repeat stories told by Matthew, Mark or Luke. But telling this story of the feeding of the enormous crowd with just five small loaves of barley bread and two fish set the scene for the sermon Jesus gives the next day when he explains that he is the bread of life.
Reference to the Passover is also important to connect the miracle back to Moses, who miraculously fed the Israelites in the wilderness. This also connects with the springtime when there would be plenty of grass for the people to sit on as noted by John as an eyewitness.
Jesus tests the Philip’s faith by asking how they will feed all the people who are also out in a wilderness far from food resources.
But Jesus already had a plan and knew what he was going to do, and how the disciples would also assist in feeding the enormous crowd.
“He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do” (6:6). Jesus had the people sit down on the grass, gave thanks to the Father, and had the disciples distribute the food so that they all had as much as they wanted and even had lots of leftovers. (6:10-13)
So, although we have inadequacies, Jesus can use what we bring to him and meet the needs and more. His resources are without limit.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexual language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be proactive. Use the "Report" link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.