Feeding the Five Thousand

Tonight we are looking at one of the Lord’s most well-known miracles, the feeding of the five thousand. When we started this series, I told you guys that the Gospel of Mark is the shortest Gospel and that there would be times where we would jump around from one Gospel account to another because sometimes there is more information in one Gospel that the other Gospel did not include so what we are going to be doing tonight is jumping around from Mark 6 to John 6 because John records a little more info than Mark does but Mark will also include some info that John doesn’t. Now when you guys are faced with a problem, what does your thought process typically look like? Let’s say that someone asks you to make a cake for a birthday, what might you do to get that done? You might look up a recipe, you probably go to the store or maybe you decide that you are just gonna buy one that’s already made, if money is a little tight you might think of how you will pay for it, and maybe just maybe you will try to think of a way to get out of making the cake. Typically, when we approach a problem, I like to think that we ask 3 questions: Have we identified that there is a problem? How do we fix the problem? Will the solution to the problem work? Or is this a practical solution? Maybe you don’t ask that to yourself but could we mostly all agree that that thought process makes sense? Now, how do these questions relate to what we are about to read in Mark and John 6? We’ll answer all 3 of those questions but then we are going to add a 4th question: What will Jesus do about it? Let’s pray and then we will read Mark 6:30-34

Mark 6:30–34 NASB95

The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves. The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

Now let’s jump over to John 6:4-15

John 6:4–15 NASB95

Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

What is the Problem?

So, based off of what we read, what is the problem that we see in these verses? Believe it or not, there are at least 3 problems that are happening in this passage. I’m sure that the most obvious problem is what are we going to do with all these hungry people. While there are 5,000 men present, it is entirely possible that including women and children that there are close to 15-25,000 people that are hungry. What are the 2 other problems that we need to address? The first problem we see in Mark 6:34. Jesus sees this large crowd and we read that He felt compassion for them. Why does it He feel this? Mark says because “they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.” Jesus pities this crowd because they have no one to guide them. No one to teach them the true things of God. James Edwards said that, “In his compassion, Jesus sees a whole people without direction, without purpose, without a leader.” That term, “sheep without a shepherd” was a common way in the Old Testament to refer to the lack of spiritual leadership among the people of Israel. As Moses is approaching the end of his life, he asks the Lord to raise up a man that would be able to lead the people physically and spiritually after he is gone and this would be Joshua. In Numbers 27:16–17 we read “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” Jesus, the greater Joshua, is the Great Shepherd of God’s sheep. As we have said so many times before, if all Jesus does is address the physical issue and not the spiritual issue, that does not make Him much of a Savior. But this also does not mean that He is oblivious or uncaring towards our physical issues. So we see 2 problems, the people are hungry and without a spiritual leader. What’s the other problem? We see it in the last verse that we read in John 6. The thing that John let’s us in on that Mark doesn’t directly let us in on is that the reason that the people are ultimately there is to make Jesus king. Their greatest concern is ultimately not spiritual deliverance, it’s physical deliverance. They are more content with a physical, temporary kingdom than an eternal kingdom.

How do we Fix it?

Jesus addresses the spiritual problem by teaching the people but the next problem involves feeding the people. As we have seen, He knows exactly what He wants to do but as we see in John 6, He turns to Philip and asks, “where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” Now if you were Philip, you might start to get a little bit worried. You have this enormous crowd, you are afraid of losing the crowd, and now all of a sudden you have the task of feeding this crowd. I’ve been to a lot of conferences and usually when these conferences last a whole day, the church that is hosting the conference will either have lunch prepared or they will tell you to go get lunch on your own and then meet back at whatever time. Imagine the fear in the organizers of the conference if right before lunch, the pastor said to the hundreds gathered, “don’t go anywhere, lunch will be in the fellowship hall” but no lunch was scheduled. What do you do at that point? Is that what is going through Philip’s head at this point? Possibly. So, Philip asks the question of how do we fix this problem? He says even if we had two hundred denarii worth of bread, that is not enough for every one to even have a little! How is Philip thinking this problem through? It’s through a budgeting standpoint and it is through a sufficiency standpoint. He’s saying, if we had the money we might be able to do it, but we don’t. He’s saying even if we do “fix” the problem, are we fixing it in such a way that it actually benefits anyone? The question then turns to if we only put a band-aid over a massive wound, are we really doing much good? Will the band-aid help? Maybe for a second but the problem is still gonna be there. No one can fault Philip for thinking like this. It’s the normal way of thinking when we are confronted with a huge problem. We then learn that Andrew, Peter’s brother, has found a kid that has 5 loaves of bread and two fish. In a way, he has found a solution to the problem but the question then becomes, will this solution work?

Will It Work?

In John 6:9 we read, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” Andrew is saying, “Jesus, here’s what we have, here’s what we are going to give to you, but how are you going to make this work?” Do you think that we ever do that to Jesus? Do you think that we see an issue, we see a solution, but we think that the only way that the problem will be fixed is if it falls into our ability to fix the problem? We think that at the core of it all, Jesus who is aware of the problem can only do slightly more than what we are capable of. We think of sharing our faith, going on missions, living the Christian life by our own abilities and means and naturally we will ask, “Jesus how is this going to work?” I’m hoping that you are able to see by now that if you want to do anything for Jesus, anything that has eternal significance, you can’t do it on your own and you can’t do it with just a human Jesus. This is something that we will talk a whole lot about over the next 2 weeks. If Jesus is just a prophet, just a good example, just a great teacher, the things that He calls us to do cannot be done! In order for Jesus to be any help to us, He must be fully God and fully man. The issue then turns to this, if Jesus is who He says He is, how do we respond to the things that seem impossible to us? Do we buy into the mindset that because it seems impossible to us that it can’t be done? Or do we go about the work trusting Jesus to do what only He can do? One of the sad things about the disciples is that they had already seen Jesus do things that no one else could do. Surely the same person that can cast out a thousand demons with a word could feed thousands with just a word. Why did they doubt? Really, we are no better than they are. If you are a Christian, you have already seen Christ do things in your life that are not possible for you to do on your own. Your salvation does not happen through what you have done or are capable of doing. Salvation is Christ’s work and is accomplished by what He has done. We know that God is the God of the impossible but we still say, “I don’t know God… this might be too much.” What do you do when you get to that point though? As much as we may want to fault the disciples, they at least had the faith to do what Jesus asked. In John 6:10, Jesus tells the disciples to go out and have all of the people sit down. I heard one pastor recently talk about this passage and he said that we can only imagine the amount of work and the amount of questions that the disciples had to deal with. The disciples had to go about the work of organizing how the people were arranged. Mark 6:40 says, “They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.” Their is effort that goes into this and even though the disciples have no idea what is about to happen, that does not stop them from doing the work. Imagine going to thousands of people and saying, “We need you to get into a group of 50 and sit down.” “Why” “Jesus says so.” “What’s He gonna do?” “We don’t know but do it anyway.” Why do the work? Why do anything that Jesus commands when we don’t understand it? Because He told us to and that is enough. Understand, if Jesus has told you to do something, that’s the only reason you need to do it. He that is good and faithful in the past will continue to be good and faithful in the present. All the people sit down and then we get to what Jesus is going to do. What does He do? He does that which is only possible for Him. He does that which does not just meet our expectations; He surpasses them!

What’s Jesus Going to Do?

As Jesus does this miracle, He not only provides for the people, He teaches them 4 very important lessons. Two are immediate and two will come later on. The first lesson was something that we have already talked about and that is that Jesus is able to do substantially more than we ask or think. Human limitations cannot be placed on Jesus. Jesus is more than able to use whatever it is that we bring to Him. This is so important for us because I think that we get so caught up in what we can’t do that we lose sight of what Jesus is able to do with what we have. So what you only have 5 loaves of bread? Bring them! Whatever it is that you have, bring it to Jesus and trust Him with the results. That’s how I approach preaching! I know that God is sovereign and all I can do is preach faithfully and I trust God with the results. It’s all in His hands and in His grace He allows you and I to play a part. The second lesson was a visual reminder for the disciples. All 12 of them that had their doubts came back with 12 baskets of leftovers. Really, they brought in more than they left with. Jesus brings in these 12 baskets to show His 12 followers, “I can do this and so much more. There is no waste with me, only abundance.” Matt Carter said, “Jesus never wastes anything. Nothing of his will ever be lost. He’s showing the disciples his care and illustrating what it means that he will not lose any of those who belong to him. If Jesus cares enough to make sure none of the leftovers are lost, how much more will he make sure none of his people are lost?” What are the two other lessons that would come in the future from this? If you scroll down John 6 a bit, not long after this miraculous feeding, the very same crowd has come with the intention of making Jesus king and they are prepared to do it by force. They are so caught up on their physical hunger being addressed that they miss the greater meaning behind the miracle and Jesus calls them out on this. Jesus says in John 6:26–27 “Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”” Jesus is saying, “Look, you are here because I addressed a temporary problem and you think that is all this life is. You think only of the here and now and I am enough for the hear and now but I am here to address that which is eternal.” The crowd brings up the bread that the Israelites received in the wilderness and they are blinded to the reality that God was the one that provided for them. We read in John 6:32-36

John 6:32–36 NASB95

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.

What Jesus is saying here is that if our eyes are only set on the bread which gives life for a moment, whatever that may even look like, it will never be enough to provide and satisfy for eternity. Bread may help your physical life now but Jesus is the bread of life with fills the great spiritual hunger in your life forever. James Montgomery Boice said, “Are you looking only for your earthly needs to be granted? God will satisfy your earthly needs. He has promised to do it. But if that is the whole of your desire, even your major desire, then you are never going to see a great moving of the Holy Spirit of God in your life. We need to get our minds off ourselves and our needs, and we need to focus instead on the Lord Jesus Christ and his glory.” So, what is the final lesson that we can get from this narrative? It doesn’t happen immediately but I do not think the disciples would have missed this connection. We see in Mark 6:41 that after Jesus received the bread and the fish that, “looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves” and gave them to His disciples. If you were to jump ahead to Mark 14, you would find Jesus and these same disciples celebrating the passover. Do you remember what we read back in John 6:4? We read that the day of passover was near. We see this connection of the passover and remember that for the Israelites the passover was the day that was celebrated when the people were saved from slavery in Egypt. It was a tremendous day of deliverance and salvation. But now in Jesus, a greater exodus is here. A greater deliverance has come not just for physical Israel but for spiritual Israel. It goes beyond even just the passover. We read in Mark 14:22 “While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.”” Do any of those words sound familiar? Do any of those actions look familiar? Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and then gives it to His disciples. Same exact wording as what we see in John 6:41 but now there is something different that wasn’t there the first time. Now Jesus says, “take it, this is my body.” I think that the feeding of the 5,000 takes on a totally new view for the disciples when they take the last supper into account. That feeding of 5,000 shows a picture of the greater feast that is to come for all who have taken the bread and blood of Christ. Jesus is able to provide for the great need of the multitudes precisely because of what happens here at the last supper and what will happen over those next few days. We take communion together to remind ourselves that the great spiritual need and hunger of our lives is addressed in full by the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Have you come to have your greatest spiritual hunger dealt with? Have you come to the table to eat of the Bread of Life? If you have not, now is the time and now is the hour. Let us now prepare our hearts to take the Lord’s Supper together. Jesus says in Mark 14:22-24

Mark 14:22–24 NASB95

While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.