The feeding of the 5,000+ is the fourth
of eight signs recorded by John in his book that clearly demonstrated that
Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God (cf. Jn 20:31). Interestingly, it is the
only miracle of the 35 to be mentioned in all four Gospels: (Mt 14:13-23; Mk 6:30-46; Lk 9:10-17; Jn
6:1-15).1
Jesus had a way with questions; didn’t
He? His interrogatives can pierce through the fortified fleshly walls of the most
impregnable heart far better than any silver-tongued lawyer. The intent of His
questions is not for His discovery but to bring self-awareness of our spiritual situation in relation to Him and where we
need to be. He alone can see the
heart’s condition and motives (Jer 17:10). Every time I read of God posing a
question to someone, I think of the very first question He had asked Adam that illustrates
this very thing, “Where are you” (Gn 3:9)? That is a very good question
we need to entertain every single day! It is not to question our salvation but to ask Yahweh if our life and service are pleasing to Him (cf. Psa 139:23-24)?
Since the Creator God is all-knowing and everywhere present, do you think
God was soliciting information? No, when God asked a question in Scripture
it was always for the benefit of the hearer, not His. God knew where and why
Adam and Eve were attempting to hide among the trees of the garden from Him (Gn 3:8); the question was for Adam to
realize what was wrong with this picture (Gn 3:10)?
There are two things to remember whenever God asks questions of us. (1) the present spiritual condition of our faith will be revealed whether there is no faith, little faith, or great faith by our answer or by our silence; He will know (“this He said to test him,” Jn 6:6a), and (2) the answer will be revealed in such a way that God will be glorified (“He Himself knew what He would do,” Jn 6:6b. God is always glorified when His will is done.).
We don’t want to read too much into this question, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But the answer to the question eventually produces a jaw-dropping miracle that once again reveals that Jesus, the son of Joseph, the son of Mary, and [half] brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, is indeed the Messiah and the Son of God (Jn 20:31)!
We don’t want to read too much into this question, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But the answer to the question eventually produces a jaw-dropping miracle that once again reveals that Jesus, the son of Joseph, the son of Mary, and [half] brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, is indeed the Messiah and the Son of God (Jn 20:31)!
Historically, there are 18 recorded miracles prior to the feeding
of the 5k in Bethsaida in northern Galilee, but that doesn’t mean there were
not countless miracles before or after the feeding of the 5k (cf. Jn 21:25).
The one that stands out in my mind relative to this question on feeding the
multitude is the healing of a centurion’s servant in Capernaum (Mt 8:5-13; Lk
7:1-10). You can read the story, but it is the centurion’s statement, “Say the
word,” (Lk 7:7) that is so striking. Listen to Jesus’ words after hearing the
message from the centurion,
“I say to you, I have not found such
great faith, not even in Israel!”
What would have been a “great faith”
answer to Jesus’ question on the feeding of the 5k is this, “Say the word,
Jesus!”
The quicker we understand our inability
to carry out God’s will (in this instance, “that these may eat”), the more
readily we rely on Him to do what we cannot (cf. Jn 15:5, “without Me you can
do nothing”). How often do we forget that the task that God has for us is always greater than our ability to do
it; we flatten the learning curve by not ignoring this truth and avoiding the
arm of the flesh in the process which includes doing nothing.
This question caused His disciples to
step all over the question with the wrong answers. Silence is an answer, and nine
were silent, and one would never get the right answer no matter what (Judas
Iscariot). But two stepped up to the plate to give it a shot, Phillip and
Andrew. Jesus did this to test them (all of His disciples), not to degrade them
(Jn 6:6). An approach is an educational tool that any good rabbi would use to
convey truth to his students in a situation, but this Rabbi was all-knowing.
The disciples were attending a mobile Messianic school of following Jesus,
serving, and learning, and there was much to do and to learn in the field. Unbeknownst to His
disciples, Jesus was on a limited time frame in His earthly ministry (Jn 9:4).
Our inability to do God’s will reveals that it cannot be accomplished by the flesh, but only by faith in sync with the Word. One of the ways that God is
glorified is through the impossible becoming possible (I2P). The impossibility here
was the disciples’ inability to literally feed 5,000+ people (Jn 6:10, ~5,000 men, not
including women or children, Mt 14:21). Why does the impossible always seem to
pop up on the radar when doing God’s will? So that we will rely on Him and not
be tempted to take the credit! It's all of God.
The available supply of money and food
was simply not enough to meet the task. After Phillip surveyed the “that these
may eat,” he concluded and answered Jesus that,
“Two hundred denarii worth of
bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little” (Jn
6:7).
Andrew also attempted to give it a shot to
answer the question of Jesus by the reality of what he saw rather than the
reality of the impossible becoming possible through Christ, “There is a lad
here who has five barley loaves and two small fish.” Keep in mind, the
disciples already knew God’s will in the matter, “Where shall we buy bread,
that these may eat?” Andrew was heading in the right direction, and it would
have been a great faith statement, but that is not all that Andrew said. We have
to read the rest of his words, “but what are they among so many” (Jn 6:9)? Did
Jesus sigh?
Would it not have been on the same par
as the centurion’s words if Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, would have said,
“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish; just say
the word, Jesus, and it will be sufficient!” I am afraid if I was there, there
wouldn’t be any great faith statements coming forth from my mouth either; how
about you?
Actually, Phillip and Andrew were both
right on the natural level! There was not enough money, and there was an
insufficient supply of food presently available to feed so many people. It is
logistically an impossible hurdle to even begin to think in these terms, “that
these may eat!” the consensus was that it was getting late, and it was time to dispense the crowd to the villages to seek
lodging and food.
So what is wrong with that assessment? There
is not enough money, fact one; there is not enough food, fact two. This is not
a trick question. What about all of those miracles performed up to date? Can’t
faith extrapolate any great faith statements from the 18+ miracles witnessed already by the twelve disciples? Apparently, not that day. Horizontal
thinking will always put out the fires of something miraculous happening in the will of God! How often has God had to give our faith a nudge!
From the story we learn there was more
than enough to feed the 5k+; in fact, there turned out to be a surplus (Mt
14:20), but like Phillip or Andrew, we would have concurred if we were one of
the twelve that there was simply not enough money or food to feed so many
people. The silence from the other ten disciples obviously meant that they
didn’t have an answer either other than to send the multitude away to fetch
their own personal needs.
Money wasn’t the answer; it never was
and never is. For we are told that Jesus “knew what He would do” (Jn 6:6b). How
often do we miss a miracle because our thoughts are directed to the thought of
money in solving challenges rather than our impossible-to-possible-working God?
Money was not going to solve this challenge.
Could not Jesus have created an “endless”
supply of money like He did with the bread? Sure, He could have dispatched His disciples to the marketplace with a load of money, but in
reality, that wasn’t really practical. I seriously doubt if the nearby marketplaces would have been stocked to fulfill a rush order of this magnitude, and the hour was late. Sometimes our thinking and answers to a situation are not in alignment with God’s will as was the case with the feeding of the 5k. On this day, the disciples were short on money, short on bread, and short on answers. The situation was ripe for God to be glorified.
What was needed was something completely out of the box of conventional thinking, a supernatural answer from Jesus.
“He Himself knew what He would do” (Jn 6:6b). It certainly wasn’t going to come
from the disciples; Jesus wanted the disciples to assess their faith. Unfortunately,
most of these people were following Jesus for a free lunch (cf. Jn 6:26, note:
seeking not because of the sign but for the food), but He was using this
miracle as a “sign” to validate who He claimed to be (cf. Jn 6:68-69).
The evolution of the disciples’ faith
from little faith to great faith, except for Judas Iscariot, is revealed in how their lives ended. Ten of the twelve were martyred, Judas Iscariot
committed suicide for his betrayal (go figure), and John was the only one who
experienced a natural death though he suffered from persecution for the faith under
Emperor Domitian by being banished to the isle of Patmos. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends,” (Jn 15:13). They put their life on the line for Jesus, even unto death (Jn 15:14).
One other thing, all the disciples were
in agreement for Jesus to “send them [the multitude] away” to the surrounding
countryside and villages to buy bread (Mk 6:36), right? Along with the disciples
being clueless in answering Jesus’ question correctly, there was also
evidence of insensitivity to the physical needs of others – “Send them away”
(Mk 6:36). The disciples were probably all thinking, “They received the
spiritual sustenance; now let them get their own bread because we don’t have
the money or enough food or the time; it’s evening.” Time can also be an
acronym for “Time Is My
Excuse.” Doesn’t this sound like
something we would say today, “I haven’t the time!!”
Jesus maintained the same compassion for
the crowd before and after they were physically hungry and satisfied, “He
[Jesus] moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick” (Mt 14:14).
Jesus knew they were following Him for the free meals when they found Him in
Capernaum on the other side of the Sea in northern Galilee from Bethsaida (Jn
6:25, 26, 27). Many of those following Jesus could receive free food all
day long from Jesus, not to mention those in need of healing, but they were
unwilling to receive the truth because it made demands on them (Jn 6:53, 60; cf. 1 Cor 2:14), and they quit
following Jesus (Jn 6:66, “walked with Him no more,” mark of the beast numbers,
eh…?).
Then Jesus asked the twelve another question;
it is a question that only you or I can answer individually, “Do you also want
to go away” (Jn 6:67)? Is the truth of Jesus so hard that it offends us; it
does the world! When Jesus made the claim to be “the way, the truth, and the
life” (Jn 14:6), do those claims offend us? It does the world! Are the Muslims
offended by Jesus? You know they are; they are the enemies of the cross.
Jesus knows your answer to the question,
“Do you also want to go away [like the world]?” We are either going “to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God,” or walk away from Him like
Judas Iscariot (Jn 6:70, 71). Those that walked away that day and stayed away are
in the same place where J.I. is…. Those who are offended by Jesus today will be
where Judas Iscariot is one day. Without a doubt, Jesus has a way with
questions; don’t you think? “Where are you?” <><
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