Story Time pt7

What do you do when you don’t have enough?

That’s the question the disciples have to confront when this story unfolds. Many of us have heard this one and we like to focus on the number or the food, but the real heart of the Feeding of the 5,000 is how Jesus makes what we have to be enough to meet what He has asked us to do.

Turn with me to John 6:1-14.

So let’s start with the setting. John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin and forerunner has just been beheaded, and Jesus is looking for some solace and peace. Instead, He has a large, needy crowd that follows Him, not looking for Him, but looking for the signs and wonders He has been performing.

John 1–11 (1) The Setting (6:1–4)

The crowds that followed Jesus to this area were impressed by the signs he performed on the sick, and they were willing to follow him even into remote areas. The hills in this region would provide an ideal place for Jesus to climb and sit down with his disciples

Other passages recording this miracle have Him teaching them, in spite of His current emotional and physical state, until it is time for the evening meal.

So let’s pause here for a moment. We often talk about how Jesus understands us because He endured what we endure. Who else can identify with this?

You are in a situation where you are at the end of your rope and here comes someone else who needs you and you have very little or nothing left to give.

Jesus has been there.

And because He has been there you can be confident He is enough for you in that moment. But you have to be willing to lean on Him and trust Him and engage with Him to make it through.

So then we get to verse 5..,and I have to laugh. He looks at Philip ad says- You gonna feed these folks? LOL

And Philip immediately turns into an accountant.

John 1–11 (2) The Feeding of Five Thousand (6:5–13)

Philip’s answer proved the point because, rather than focusing on Jesus, Philip’s mental computer began to work like a cash register, and all he could think about was the total cash that would be needed to provide just a little bread for each person. It was fast approaching the better part of a year’s wages (6:7). To be fair to Philip, Jesus’ question was a leading one, and Philip’s mind followed the easy path. But the answer was not what Jesus was seeking. For Philip, however, the answer was hopelessness

Philip forgets who he is dealing with. He starts acting like this is all up to him and he has NO idea how he is going to get this done.

John 1–11 (2) The Feeding of Five Thousand (6:5–13)

In this story the evangelist made sure he interpreted Jesus’ question for the reader. It was not a question for information but a question to probe whether or not Philip understood who Jesus was

Church look at verse 6. Jesus already knew what He was going to do. He just wanted to see who Philip would trust.

When God asks you to do the impossible- in your eyes- we need to immediately snap to that Jesus already knows how He is going to execute- He is just inviting us to come along with His plan.

Philip missed this because He is considering His own strength and abilities- not Jesus.

Andrew on the other hand, takes a different tack. Where Philip has excuses, Andrew has questions- and he takes them to Jesus.

Look at verses 8-9.

Andrew knows he does not have enough, but he brings what he has to Jesus with a question- how will this be enough?

John 1–11 (2) The Feeding of Five Thousand (6:5–13)

Andrew, the helper, tried to solve the problem in another way. He began immediately to search for picnic resources in that barren place, but his search also ended in failure, according to his thinking. All he found was a boy in the crowd who had a lunch with barley loaves (the bread of the poor) and two small, dried fish (emphasis on small, 6:9). Andrew’s answer was also hopelessness

And Jesus goes to work!

Church, when we bring what we have to Jesus He makes it enough. We just have to be willing to go to Him with what we have.

We are not responsible for enough, we are responsible to be faithful with what we have and to trust Him for the increase.

And look what Jesus does- he brings order to chaos and then He gives everyone as much as they want.

John 1–11 (2) The Feeding of Five Thousand (6:5–13)

Mark indicates that they were organized into groups of hundreds and fifties (Mark 6:39–40; cf. “groups of about fifty each” in Luke 9:14). When they sat down on the grass, it was clear that there were about five thousand “men” (hoi andres) present. Matthew (14:21) indicates that the number did not include women and children. If that is the case, the number present at this event could have reached ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand people—an incredibly large gathering.

When Jesus gets involved, He does not focus on the lack He focuses on the need. People are hungry. There will be enough to eat.

Church the same is true for us. We can bring what we have to Jesus, and let Him have it and it will be enough in Him.

And in this case- more than enough. Look at verses 12-13.

John 1–11 (2) The Feeding of Five Thousand (6:5–13)

After it was reported that the crowds had eaten their fill, a significant note was added in this Gospel concerning the collection of the remaining fragments. The Synoptics merely state that twelve baskets of fragments were taken up (cf. Mark 6:43), but John adds that Jesus commanded the disciples to gather the leftover pieces “in order that nothing might be lost” (6:12). The NIV has “wasted” here, but the Greek verb apolluein is theologically a far more significant word in this chapter than is implied by the NIV rendering. The concern in this chapter involves “lost” or “perishing” food (6:12, 27) and people

Y’all Jesus did not make the lack enough. He made it an abundance. More than enough. Church He is more than enough. And He is not stingy with His people.

What He wants is the trust and the glory. We trust Him for the enough and then give Him the glory when He comes through.

(Verse 14)

John 1–11 (3) Confession and Transition (6:14–15)

The story of the feeding ends in v. 14 with the evangelist’s notation that the people recognized the sign[s]. Because of that recognition, they concluded that Jesus was “the Prophet who is to come into the world” (6:14). This statement has all the earmarks of a confession like that of the Samaritan affirmation (4:42) in which there is a faith assertion that Jesus was the expected one (ho erchomenos, “the coming one”) who was to be like the prophet Moses

Where are you not trusting Jesus in the lack?

What are you refusing to bring to Him because you think it is not enough?

Where is He calling you to do the impossible and you are saying no because you think it depends on you?