Supper for a Few Thousand Friends

Introduction

The past two weeks we have seen that after performing an amazing miracle—healing a lame man at the Pool of Bethsaida—John uses the rest of John chapter 5 recording Jesus’ defense of His authority, and relating the testimony of God the Father.

In our passage today, Jesus and His disciples are back around the sea of Galilee. Although John does not provide us with the how or when they returned to Galilee, verse 1 of chapter 6 makes it clear that they are back in the region.

So if you have your Bibles, and I hope that you do, turn with me to John chapter 6 and we’ll begin our time together at verse 1.

Jesus Feeds the 5,000 Men

John 6:1 NIV

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),

We are given a time maker, Some time after this. . .

Then we are given a location marker. Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (v. 1). This is interesting, because the last location marker we were given was that Jesus was in Jerusalem (Jn. 5:1). Now he is apparently near the Sea of Galilee and in fact is going to cross over to the other side.

John 6:2 NIV

and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick.

A great crowd of people were following Jesus (v. 2a)

Because they saw the signs Jesus performed (v. 2b).

They were especially interested in the fact that Jesus had been healing the sick (v. 2c).

John 6:3 NIV

Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.

Jesus took his disciples up on the side of the mountain and sat down with them (v. 3).

One might assume He was preparing to teach them or have a conversation with them away from the crowd.

John 6:4 NIV

The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

We are now given another time marker—the Jewish Passover Festival was near (v. 4).

John 6:5 NIV

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

Jesus looks around and see a great crowd of people coming towards him (v. 5a).

Then he looks at Philip and asks him, “Where shall we buy enough bread for all these people to eat? (v. 5b).

John 6:6 NIV

He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

John gives us a bit of insight into Jesus and how Jesus functioned. He tells us that Jesus already knew what He was going to do, so the question posed to Philip was a test of Philip (v. 6).

Two Responses to Jesus’ Question

John 6:7 NIV

Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

Philip’s Answer to Jesus:

It would take more than 1/2 a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each person to have a bite! (v. 7).

All Philip sees is the huge crowd and the presents an obstacle that is humanly impossible to overcome!

John 6:8–9 NIV

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

Andrew’s Response:

Andrew wasn’t asked the question but he steps up with “something!” (v. 8).

He has found a small boy that has 5 barley loaves (5 dinner rolls), and 2 small fish (almost sardine sized fish) (v. 9a).

He points this out to Jesus, which may have seemed like a good idea in his head. . . (v. 9b)

But then he quickly realizes that there is no way 5 dinner rolls and two sardines are going to feed such a huge crowd (v. 9c).

Two Scholarly Views

There are two views about the boy’s loaves and fish.

One view says that the boy’s “meal” was more like small hors d’oeuvres (Tenney, Merrill C. “John” in John-Acts Vol. 9 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary p. 72).

The second view equates the food with a “box lunch” that the boy may have intended to sell (Blaiklock, E.M. Today’s Handbook of Bible Characters p. 376).

NOTE 1: Either view the amount of food would have been insufficient to feed so many people.

No matter how the boy intended to use the food, he gave it all to Jesus!

NOTE 2: Also note that both of these disciples cannot really see a viable solution to the situation. They are simply overwhelmed by the size of the crowd and that is ALL that the disciples can see!

REMEMBER Verse 6!

Jesus already knew what He was going to do.

And He asked the disciples the question to test them!

Jesus’ Response

John 6:10 NIV

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there).

He directed the disciples to have the people sit down (v. 10a).

John gives us a couple of details to help fill in the story (v. 10b).

There was plenty of “grass” there for the people to sit down (plenty of room).

The people all sat down (Gk. reclined, sit at a table, lean back, the idea is that they became comfortable).

Finally, John tells us that there was about 5,000 men. In Jesus’ day it was a paternal society—so they would have only counted the men. Scholars estimate that the numbers may have exceeded 10,000 people.

Jesus’ Action

John 6:11 NIV

Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

He took the dinner rolls and gave thanks for them.

Then He gave them out to the people. Most likely, the disciples handed it out.

He gave them as much as they wanted! Notice there was no limits on how much a person could take.

Then Jesus did the same with the fish!

—Jesus gave thanks for the fish.

—Jesus gave the fish out to the people.

—He gave them as much as they wanted.

The Rest of the Story

John 6:12 NIV

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”

When the people had eaten their fill (had enough to eat), Jesus told His disciples to (v. 12):

Gather the left over pieces. The wording demonstrates that these pieces were not bits and pieces that had fallen to the ground, but rather they were pieces that Jesus had broken off that were never used by the people.

They were not to waste ANYTHING!

John 6:13 NIV

So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

When the disciples finished gathering up the left over pieces they ended up with 12 basket full of left overs.

NOTE: These were large baskets. The kind a man could get inside and crouch down.

Why 12 baskets? Some scholars have suggested that it was to supply the disciples with food for the coming days or week.

Others have suggested that it represented the 12 tribes of Israel—and that Jesus would supply the needs of the Jewish people.

The FACT is that Jesus fed a multitude of people with five small dinner rolls and two sardine type fish, and had an abundance left over! And that is AMAZING!

KEY—We serve the God of abundance! Our God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask, or even imagine (Eph. 3:20)!

The Crowd’s Response

John 6:14 NIV

After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

When the people saw the miracle (and were fully fed), they responded “Surely this is the Prophet who is supposed to come into the world. . .”

“The Prophet” is most likely an “end times” figure of popular belief in that day.

The phrase who has come into the world may have been an allusion to Deut. 18:15.

Deuteronomy 18:15 NIV

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

Jesus’ Response

John 6:15 NIV

Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Jesus knew (Gk. to know, to learn, to perceive, to know by reflection, to know by observation, to understand) that the people intended (Gk. about to, going to, destined to) were making plans to come and make Jesus king.

They were going to do this by force (Gk. the word has the idea of snatching, plunder, rob so it has the idea of force and can be translated force).

Knowing this, Jesus withdrew (pulled away) to a mountain (presumably close by).

And He went by himself—no one went with them.

Cliffhanger! The Disciples Response

John 6:16–17 NIV

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.

John has the disciples there on the grassy hillside (cf. v. 10) by themselves (v. 16a). There is no sign of Jesus!

So they went down to the lake (v. 16b).

They got into the boat (v. 17a).

And they headed (in the boat) to Capernaum (v. 17b)

By now it is getting dark, and they have no idea where Jesus went (v. 17c). Throughout the gospel of John, he often uses darkness as a symbol that suggests that their situation is bad (cf. 3:2; 13:30).

NOTE: Matthew and Mark both say that Jesus did two things.

He put the disciples into the boat and sent them off.

He dismissed the crowd of people. Then He went up on the hillside to pray.

John’s version, emphasized the attitude of the people toward the miracles that Jesus has been working. Their attitude was that they “FORCE” Him to be their king!

John’s version, also emphasizes the response of the disciples—they are without Jesus, and that in and of itself causes them to be filled with emotions.

So What?

We can learn so much from this story!

For example:

When we are overwhelmed by a situation, Jesus already knows what He is going to do! That means, no matter what your situation is, Jesus already KNOWS what He is going to do!

Another thing that we learn is that Jesus does the IMPOSSIBLE! So if you are facing something that you see no way to conquer it; you see no way out of it, REMEMBER Jesus can do the impossible!

Yes, we learn something that we don’t like—sometimes what we are going through is a test! But more than a test, it is an opportunity! An opportunity to see Jesus do something amazing in your life!

From the boy that gave his small box lunch to Jesus we learn that Jesus can do amazing things with our meager gifts!

Think about this—Jesus does far more that we can imagine! Remember the 12 baskets of leftovers. That’s abundance!

And finally we learn, that unlike Jesus’ response to the people at that moment, TODAY He wants to be King of your life!

Truly, Jesus is the one that Deuteronomy 18:15

Deuteronomy 18:15 NIV

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

Did you catch the last five words? “You must listen to him.” Today we must listen to Jesus!

If you have noticed a theme in the messages the past couple of weeks, that Jesus wants to be “LORD” or “KING” or “MASTER” of your life you are right. Well, that’s because the book of John presents Jesus as the Son of God. And as such, He is worthy of being the LORD, MASTER, RULER of our lives. You can count on the fact that as we study the book of John we will undoubtedly be coming back to this theme again and again throughout our study.

Thus, I hope that you know that Jesus as our Savior, and if He is, then I hope that He is Master! He is King! And Jesus IS Lord of your life!