The Bread of Life Pt I: John 6:1-15

Feeding the 5000

A great multitude follows Jesus because they have seen the miracles that He has performed.

Many have come for the Passover and traveled long distances.

Jesus realizes that the people must be hungry after their journey and the time spent listeneing to Him preach.

He asks His disciples if they are able to buy bread to feed the people.

He then procures a boy’s five barley loaves and two small fishes.

Jesus multiplies the loaves and fishes to feed the entire crowd with twelve baskets of food left over.

Jesus perceives that the people want to take Him and make Him their King, so He departs the area.

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is an often used phrase to describe intentional planning done by people, organizations, and the church in order to accomplish a task.

The difference between strategic planning and planning on the fly is that the strategic plan has

a desired goal in mind;

takes all aspects into acount, including

blockages (what could stop the plan from being realized),

what resources are available to reach the goal,

what resources need to be procured to reach the goal,

deadlines for each step of the plan,

who is in charge of each planning stage,

who is responsible for carrying out the different stages of the plan,

procedures to carry out each stage of the plan,

and discernable or measureable achievements that prove the needs of a stage have been met.

implement the plan.

Step 1) Identify a Need

Our passage first centers on people in need. Starvation is a stark and unpleasant reality in our modern world. Ten percent of the world’s babies die before their first birthday, and one of every four children suffers from malnutrition. Yet the problem of spiritual hunger is even more severe. Like the people gathering on the mountainside in Galilee, millions today need the living bread that only Jesus can provide. Mark tells us in his account that Jesus had compassion on them and taught them late into the day—and he also saw their need for food. Jesus realized that the people are physically hungry. They’re not starving just hungry.

Step 2) Gather Available Resources

From a picture of people in need we move to a picture of the disciples in confusion. Philip’s reply is so typical of what we might say. He looked strictly at the human dilemma, considering only his own resources, and pronounced that the situation was hopeless. This whole inquiry was instigated by Jesus’ question: Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? It is typical of John to remind his readers that Jesus already knew what would happen next (v. 6). At first we wonder why Philip was singled out, but then we remember he was a native of Bethsaida, possibly the closest town. If a local convenience store had been open at that hour, Philip would have known about it. Nevertheless, Philip did a quick assessment of what it would cost for each one to have a bite!

Westcott starts with the assumption that a denarius was a day’s wage and “concludes that 200 denarii would buy 4,800 quarts of barley, or 1,600 quarts of wheat” (cited in Morris, p. 343). Modern currency translations grope for some way to express the enormity of Philip’s problem. The Living Bible has Philip say, “It would take a fortune to begin to do it!” To Philip—the task was impossible.

Jesus gathers what food is available on site.

Step 3) Meet the Need

But Andrew had a plan; this fellow-citizen of Bethsaida found a boy carrying a lunch consisting of barley loaves and fish. Like Philip, Andrew had no idea what use that pittance would be. John’s record offers so many interesting observations, not the least of which is that the two fish Andrew found were definitely small. The word opsarion is used only by John, and it emphasizes the insignificance of these tiny sardines.

Jesus distributes the food to the masses.

Yes, Jesus can supply all our needs. And he often works miracles to provide for us physically. But there is always the need for faith and the intent to teach us to trust him for both physical and spiritual needs. As God provides for our physical needs, we should let down our defenses and allow him to put his arms around us and tame our sinful and rebellious spirits.

Move on to the Next big Thing

No one could deny the miracle, especially those who had enjoyed lunch. Many people were drawn back again to questions posed to John the Baptist in 1:21 (They asked him, “What then? Are you aElijah?” And he * said, “I am not.” “Are you bthe Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”), particularly the reference to “that prophet” promised by Moses. But Jesus would have none of their political pressure brought on by full stomachs. He slipped again into the hills for rest and worship. Mark told us that he “dismissed the crowd” (Mark 6:45), and John told us that he withdrew again to a mountain by himself. He would be no political messiah hustled into battle with the Romans to regain Palestine for Israel.

This passage marks one of the high points of Jesus’ popular favor. Since the promise of Deuteronomy 18:18 (“I will raise up a prophet from among their 1countrymen like you, and aI will put My words in his mouth, and bhe shall speak to them all that I command him.”), the Jews had looked for another Moses, for the great Prophet sent from God. And who better to fulfill that prophecy than this Jesus who gave them a new kind of manna? But the crowd’s limited view of the prophet’s message and ministry seemed to exclude his spiritual mission. They had no understanding of suffering for sinners and death for forgiveness.

No. Jesus could not accept the popular movement to make him king. The people were ready to offer him worship, but it was false worship. This was one of the things Satan had promised during the temptation in the wilderness—Jesus’ own people wanting to make him king.

Jesus recognizes the people’s desire to make Him their king, and He leaves before they can make their desire a reality.

Conclusion

Two things surface in this portion of our text. First, we see that Jesus Christ was all-sufficient for any need even when his disciples were in confusion. Second, the purpose of the miracle seems clear: to instruct the disciples, to lay a foundation for the sermon on the bread of life, and to feed hungry people.

NOTE: Most of the text is copied from HNTC John by Kenneth O. Gangel, ed., Max Anders, copyright 2000 Holman, Nashville, TN. It is used to give me an anchor from which to preach the message - not to read verbatim. My own thoughts are peppered throughout.