John 6:1-15

Feeding 5,000

Have you ever been forced to make a decision? Maybe your parents are forcing you to make a decision after Halloween. You can have this piece of candy or that piece of candy, but you can’t have both. Or you can only have 2 pieces of candy so you have to make a decision on which candy to eat. You have been forced into making a decision.

In chapter 5, Jesus did a miracle to force the hand of the religious leaders to make a decision on who he is. Jesus broke the religious leaders expectations of the Sabbath by healing a man on the Sabbath because He is God.

In chapter 6, Jesus does a miracle to force the hand of the normal people, and the disciples to make a decision on who he is.

John is using this miracle as proof that Jesus is God and showing the false belief of the people. Is not this John’s whole point of his gospel? So that you may know that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that by believing in Him, you may have eternal life.

See the miracle of Jesus

Jesus had been healing people, and that was the reason and that was the reason why people were following him. Not because of the teachings or because he was God but because they were entertained. And so Jesus does this miracle, feeding 5,000 men, perhaps up to 20,000 people with women and children, from only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Why does John record this miracle instead of all the ones about Jesus healing people?

If you heal someone, you are fixing what was broken.

If you raise the dead, you are making life happen that already happened.

When Jesus fed the 5,000, was he fixing what was broken? He was creating something out of nothing. This wasn’t just splitting up 5 loaves of bread and 2 whales between all these peoples. This was a little boys lunch. He was creating something new. He was made lunch out of nothing. It wasn’t magic bread. Who else created something out of nothing? God the Father during Creation.

Application

Jesus offers you a new heart.

Jesus can do more than just fix what’s broken. It’s like a toy that broke and your dad fixed and made it work again. Your dad didn’t change what that toy does or how it works. Jesus can do that. He can take a broken arm, and make it work again instantly, which is amazing. But he can do more than that. He took bread and fish and turned it into a feast for 20,000. If he can do that, he can take your heart and turn it into something new.

Jesus meets your needs abundantly.

Jesus doesn’t only barely meet your needs. He does so abundantly. Have you ever wondered why they collected 12 baskets full of leftovers after everyone had as much as they wanted? Let me make the connection that we will be talking about in weeks to come. The salvation that Jesus offers is more abundant than we are able to imagine. He takes us from enemies to sons and daughters, from death to life. He doesn’t just forgive your sins. He pays for them. He doesn’t save you to live forever in a sinful world. He saves you to live with him in heaven without sin forever!

See the response of the crowds

Look at the peoples response. They said “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” and they wanted to make Him king. Is that good or bad?

On the face it looks good, but I would suggest, it is not.

Jesus is telling everyone that He is God by the miracles that he did. Who else can make something out of nothing? Who else can speak something into existence? Only God. Jesus did the same things. Jesus is God.

They say that Jesus is the Prophet. This comes from Deuteronomy 18:15–16 ““The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’”

The point is that Jesus is this prophet because he brings God to the people just like Moses brought God to the people. The big difference is that Moses was only a man and Jesus is also God. Do you remember what else God did through Moses? Manna from heaven.

The people love their tummies being filled and so they also want to make him king. But look at what the text says. They are trying to force him to be king. An earthly king. Not their Savior King but an earthly king.

Application

Do not make Jesus something he is not. Worship Him for who he is.

These people who were fed by Jesus, did not want what Jesus was offering. They would rather have a meal over the one who made the meal.

Romans 1:24–25 “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”

Listen to what Jesus says about Himself in the bible and worship him, trust him for that. Jesus says he is God, the Jews wanted to make him an earthly king. They were making him less than he is . What are you turning Jesus into? A storybook character? A good story at breakfast or before bed? Don’t make him less than he is. Don’t try to force him in to what you want him to be. Don’t make Jesus something he is not. Worship Him for who he is.