SIGNS, 5,000 Man, Meal and the Mission

3 Signs:

Lighthouse type intro, hungry ghosts

We are in a middle of a series here in church on seven signs in the gospel o John, signs/need to be understood in their context and signs which point towards something of greater signifance wh

Changing water into wine at Cana in  - "the first of the signs"

Healing the royal official's son in Capernaum in 

Healing the paralytic at Bethesda in 

Feeding the 5000 in 

Jesus walking on water in 

Healing the man blind from birth in 

The raising of Lazarus in 

Spoken word with music (Dramatic, Poetic Style)

We begin our journey in in the Land of Egypt.

A million slaves serving and slaving in the Empire of Egypt. Slaves who were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... a tribe whom God set as the apple of his eye to be a blessing to the nations.

A covennated people whom God had promised to have unfailing, covenant love. He was there God. and they were his people.

They cried to God, to YHWH the true and living God, and he heard their cry

He remembered the promises that he had made and he was moved with compassion.

Yhwh raised up Moses as a prophet and a deliver. He would speak truth to power and then lead the people away from slvaery to the promised land.

And so one night a lamb was killed,

And unleavened bread was eaten.

This meal, a freedom meal, a pilgrim meal, a covenant meal

was eaten by men, women and children as a sign that They trusted in the salvation and promises of YhWh.

It is here that the exodus... the journey of joy, the footsteps of favour would begin

. The people were now on there way to the promised land.

On there journey Gods presence was with them leading the way and he sustained them by daily bread and meat.

The god who guides, is the god who provides.

Forty years later as Moses was dying and before they entered the promised land the people were told to look for a Prophet like Moses who would one day come.

Many years later on a hillside stood over 5000 people who were tired and hungry.

These men and women, these Jews, still felt that in some sense they were not living the life that God had called them to.

They were physically hungry, but spiritual starving, longing for the great day when God would hear their cries and deliver them from the empire of Rome, and the exile of sin. They longed that God would act in history to save, redeem and deliver them.

They had come to see Jesus,

The teacher who taught of the coming Kingdom,

The healer who loved the unlovable and touched the untouchable,

The one who claimed he was the ‘way the truth and the life’

Some came for healing,

some were cynical

and others were simply following the crowds.

Yet, they were united in their physical and spiritual hunger.

And then this Jesus, the one who would later claim he was the bread of life was moved with compassion at the hunger of the crowds.

Taking 5 barley loaves and two fish, the simplest of foods, from a boy who gave all that he had. Jesus gave thanks and shared the bread.

And then Like Unleavened bread all were fed.

And then Like manner from heaven all were fed.

And the 5,000,

Those who came for healing,

Those who were cynical

Those who were simply following the crowds

Marvelled at the miracle they had seen

They celebrated the sign which pointed to the fact that this man, this Jesus, was a prophet like none who had come before,

That he was a King who brought a Kingdom in which the hungry are fed.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

———

So in the next 15 mins or so I want to draw out three ways in which this passage offers us a sign of something greater.

The Man

miracle points to the man,

This event, like all of the bible, presents us with a sign pointing to Jesus. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear this miracles of loaves and fishes points to the identity of the miracle worker.

In this passage we see that Jesus is the One who was was Promised,

They believed that Jesus was the the new Moses.

15 “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—

.

Moses the wan to who led the people through the wilderness, Moses the man whom God used to lead his people to the promised land, a journey in which they were fed by the manna/bread from heaven.

V14.... ‘surely this the prophet who has come into the world’

They also believed that Jesus was the promised King, the Messiah, Anointed One. A view had developed in the Judaism of Jesus’ day that when the Messiah comes, heaven would be open-end and there would be an abundance or manna, bread from heaven.

Quote from 2 Baruch, 1st Century Jewish Document.

And it will happen that when all that which should come to pass in these parts has been accomplished, the Messiah, the King will begin to be revealed. …And those who are hungry will enjoy themselves and they will, moreover, see marvels every day…. And it will happen at that time that the treasury of manna will come down again from on high, and they will eat of it in those years because these are they who will have arrived at the consummation of time.

Yet they understood something about Jesus, yet they also misunderstood what kind of Kingdom Jesus stood for.

In verse 15 we read that they intended to make Jesus King. But Jesus wouldn’t let them. They had failed to understand the meaning of his Kingdom.

They were looking for a New Exodus in which the Rome was defeated and they would know political freedom and receive political power. Instead Jesus came to bring a New Exodus in which all who humanity are free from the slavery of sin and evil.

They were looking for a King who would slay their enemies, but instead they find a

king full of cruciform love who would rather die for his enemies than kill them,

one full of self-giving love who would rather bless his enemies than curse them.

one who would rather say of those who killed him ‘father, forgive them’ than call down a myriad of angels to rescue him from there hands.

Jesus is a King but a king unlike any king before or after.

In this there is truth for us. In Jesus many of us who have found what we have been looking for (an answer to the ache of our hearts to love and be loved’ and yet for each of us we sometimes need to not let our preconceived ideas about God get in the way.

AT LIGHTHOUSE BIBLE TIME THIS WEEK

For instance, if our concept of God is that of a Whack-A-Mole God (The God of retribution) we need to to allow that to be transformed by what we see in Jesus.

or if we become a follower of Jesus but conceive of God as the unmoved mover who’s stands outside of time without imminent passion in the present (theolgians often say that God is impassible. unable to suffer) , god who stand aloof , an absent landlord, then we need to have this image of God tarsformd by what we find in Jesus the one who stands by the grave side fo a friend and weeps, the one who frequently is portrayed in the gospels as being moved with compassion. If your suffering now know that the King of the whole world, sees and cares. He weeps at the pain and injustice of the world Yes, he is with us in the place of healing but know that he also stands with us, holds us, in the place of pain.

Anglican Bishop A.M Ramsey was right when he said "God is Christlike, and in him is no un-Christlikeness at all." He is right Jesus is the full image of God

The Meal:

Our first signpost here points to Jesus and our second sign points to the church.

The gospel of John is very different to the other 3 gospels in many ways.

In Matthew, Mark and Luke we don’t have an account of the last supper. Instead we have Jesus washing his desciples feet. This may lead some of us to think that John has no interest in the meal which Jesus shared with his desciples, and that there is nothing in his gospel which helps shape what we should think of the church sacrament of sharing bread and wine.

However this is a misunderstanding for in johns gospel we have Jesus speaking in word and deed about the Eucharist.

Couple of clues for this.

(1) It is connected to the Passover... Talumd See how much God loves you, lamb slain

(2) It says that Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed the bread

(3) in the following chapter Jesus speaks about him being the bread of life.

“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (, TNIV)

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”” (, TNIV)

So we see in this miracle a sign pointing to the signifance of Jesus and his death which remember at the communion table. The feeding of the 5,000 isn’t just about Jesus alleviating physical hunger.. it is about Jesus being the answer to our spirutal hunger and brokenness.

In the Judaism of Jesus’ day the temple was the go to place for forgiveness and atoenmtent.

No longer d one need to go the temple in Jerusalem to see the bread of love, it is here on the Hillside embodied and enfleshed in Jesus.

No longer did one need to have a lamb sluagherred in Jerusalem each year to enact the exodus- for there on the hillside of Golgotha the eternal lamb of God was crucified for our sins.

Moreover, after Jesus had died and been raised to life we find dotted around the ancient world in ancient christian communities who participated in a shared meal of bread and wine believing that he comes known to them, just as on the road to Emmaus, in the breaking of the bread. In a deep and mysterious way the Eucharist, the sharing of bread and wine, we encounter in a very real way the presence of Jesus.

The Mission

This third sign, the third thing I would like to draw out of this passage relates to the churches mission. As we read the gospels, the book of Acts and the letters fo the early church we find examples being held up to us of what a missional life looks like, a life in service of the Kingdom.

You see… Moses had a shepherd's staff. He obeyed God and things happened.

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2. David had a shepherd's sling shot. He trusted God and things happened.

3. This lad had a small bag of food. He gave it to Jesus and things happened.

Whats in your hand?

As I look at St G’s I see people giving what they have to Jesus

coffee

art

poems

kitchen

retired folks

and Jesus

Paul, bring his gift of at and creativity to Lighthouse each week,

A few weeks ago some of us gave a gift of hospitality in welcoming international students

Many here give their retirement to Jesus, heres a truth you never retire from the kingdom f God

What’s in your hand disciple? What skill, interest, ability, resource, has God given to you? Whatever it is, God is willing to use it in His plans. Pray that God reveal His plan for you. Whatever God has given you, (talent, ability, knowledge, resources, spiritual gifting, enablement) you have received freely and should be willing to freely use it to reach the lost with the gospel of Christ.