How do we benefit today by knowing that Jesus fed five thousand plus people with five loaves of bread and two little fish over two thousand years ago? If this miracle was not recorded in the four gospels it would be forgotten today. God had His reasons for this event to be recorded in great detail in all four gospels for our benefit today. Why? What is it that God wants us to know about what Jesus did in the disciples and in the people’s lives by what He did in performing this miracle?
Being in a growing intimate relationship with Jesus, the result will be that we will have a continuous desire to know Him even more intimately. Another outcome will be the better we know Him and know God’s word, the more we will trust Him, especially when we experience those difficult situations in our lives. In these situations, sometimes Jesus graciously will add or multiply to what we know we do not have, by providing us what we need. Other times, Jesus will help us to see that what we do have is sufficient and to understand what is lacking is for us to be content with what He has given us. In those challenging moments of our lives, we learn to trust and depend in Him to help us to manage or administer what is His.
As we studied last week, Jesus asked Philip “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”, John 6:5. His answer was one of impossibility. Even Andrew’s input to Jesus’ question did not offer a solution as we see in, John 6:7-9. “7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
It is important to note that for Phillip and Andrew feeding so many people was a problem, but for Jesus it was an opportunity to teach His Apostles and minister to the needs of the “great crowd” (John 6:12) which was much more than just feeding them.
Matthew 14:14, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
Mark 6:34, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”
Luke 9:11, “but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.”
The commentator Warren Wiersbe gives us an interesting viewpoint in his commentary of John 6:1-14, “Jesus Feeds the Multitude. The problem, of course, was how to meet the needs of such a vast crowd of people. Four solutions were proposed.
First the disciples suggested that Jesus send the people away (Mark 6:35-36). Get rid of the problem (see Matthew 15:23). But Jesus knew that the hungry people would faint on the way if somebody did not feed them. It was evening (Matthew 14:15), and that was no time for travel.
The second solution came from Philip in, response to our Lord’s “test question” (John 6:5): raise enough money to buy food for the people. Philip “counted the cost” and decided they would need the equivalent of 200 days’ wages! And even that would not provide bread enough to satisfy the hunger of all the men, women, and children (Matthew 14:21). Too often, we drink that money is the answer to every need. Of course, Jesus was simply testing the strength of Philip’s faith.
The third solution came from Andrew, but he was not quite sure how the problem would be solved. He found a little boy who had a small lunch: two little fish and five barley cakes. Once again, Andrew is busy bringing somebody to Jesus (see John 1:40-42; 12:20-22). We do not know how Andrew met this lad, but we are glad he did! Though Andrew does not have a prominent place in the Gospels, he was apparently a “people person” who helped solve problems.
The fourth solution came from our Lord, and it was the true solution. He took the little boy’s lunch, blessed it broke it, handed it out to His disciples, and they fed the whole crowd! The miracle took place in the hands of the Savior, not in the hands of the disciples. He multiplied the food; they only had the joyful privilege of passing it out. Not only were the people fed and satisfied, but the disciples salvaged twelve baskets of fragments for future use. The Lord wasted nothing.
The practical lesson is clear: whenever there is a need, give all that you have to Jesus and let Him do the rest. Begin with what you have, but be sure you give it all to Him. That little lad is to be commended for sharing his lunch with Christ, and his mother is to be commended for giving him something to give to Jesus.”
So why did Jesus ask the question to Andrew? Simply and importantly, He wanted to teach them a lesson in faith.
It is easy to say we have faith, but when confronted with a difficult and seemly impossible situation, what is it we see? What thoughts goes through our minds? What words comes out of our mouths? What do we do or not do?
What the commentator Warren Wiersbe says about this point that really speaks into my life as the Pastor of Hope Chapel especially the last sentence. “Jesus looked at the situation, not as a problem, but as an opportunity to trust the Father and glorify His name. An effective leader is someone who sees potential in problems and is willing to act by faith. Acting on the basis of human wisdom, His disciples saw the problem but not the potential. How many times God’s people have complained, “If we only had enough money, we could do something!” Two hundred pence (denarii) would be the equivalent of a year’s wages for the average laborer! The first step is not to measure our resources, but to determine God’s will and trust Him to meet the need.”
Matthew in his account of this miracle he tells us that, “The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.”, Matthew 14:21. What a scenario of chaos, especially with possibly hundreds or even thousands of little hungry kids running all around. Before Jesus could do anything, He had to bring order to this chaotic situation. Therefore, as stated in all four gospels, “Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.”, John 6:10. Obviously, by doing this it would make the distribution and the receiving of what was going to be given out much easier. Not only this, it brought some order to the situation which would help most everyone in the multitude’s attention to be focused what Jesus was going to do next. How does this apply to us? In order for us to begin to receive the blessing of what Jesus wants to do and teach us in our lives, He must first have our attention in spite of how big, urgent and or impossible the situation that we are confronting might seem to us. Our minds and emotions must be focused on Jesus to be in a position to learn, receive and be blessed by what Jesus wants to do.
The next thing Jesus did was, “Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.” Matthew 14:19. All four gospels record this little and easy to miss detail, Jesus taking the bread and fish and giving thanks. None of the four writers tells us that Jesus thanked the little boy for giving up his food, He might have, but it is not stated. What is stated is that Matthew, Mark and Luke importantly point out that Jesus “looking up to heaven, he gave thanks”.
This teaches me something I quite often forget to do, recognizing all that God has provided and giving thanks to Him, even for the little I have which in my mind and understanding might not be enough to meet the need at hand. When we are so worried, or involved and occupied with how we are going try to solve the situation, many times we forget to thank God for what we have already received from Him even though we think it is not enough.
There is nothing better to learn about something and how to do it, than doing it yourself. That is how we all learned how to drive a car, we first learned “the rules of the road” and then we had to gain the experience of driving a car by doing it. We learned by experience. The New Testament calls this experiential knowledge. Something we know because we learned about it through our personal experience.
Jesus wanted the disciples to learn, to trust Him and to increase their faith in Him. In order for this to happen, they had to be an active part of the miracle. Do the math, first dividing “five small barley loaves and two small fish”, John 6:9, among at least the twelve apostles who were going to be handing them out, they would have to break them into smaller pieces among themselves to be able to give to the five thousand plus. The Bible does not tell us if the miracle of the bread and fish multiplying began when each disciple received his portion to hand out or the miracle began when they were distributing it among the multitude. However, what John tells us, who was one of the persons handing out the bread and fish, that everyone took “as much as they wanted”, John 6:11. The other three gospels tell us that, “they all ate and were satisfied”, Matthew 14:20. How much does it take you to eat and be “filled to complete satisfaction”, as said in the literal Greek translation? Certainly, much more than a small portion of bread and a very small portion of fish.
This teaches us that Jesus knows how much we need, He is not going to give us what He knows is not sufficient to meet our need.
Finally, the disciples were also involved with the final part of the miracle that everyone witnessed. “12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” John 6:12-13. The gathering of the abundance of fish and bread was also going to serve as another important lesion (Matthew 16:5-12) that Jesus was going to teach these men “of little faith”, (Matthew 16:8) in the future.
Pastor John
Luke 6:38 NLT
Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over,
and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
