A little in the hands of Jesus is anough
The basic component of the staple diet in biblical times. Consecrated bread was continually laid out in the Holy Place of the tabernacle and temple. Jesus Christ called himself the bread of life.
Introduction:
The miracles of Jesus:
The meaning of miracle
According to the Bible, a miracle is a divine act. Through miracles, God reveals His power to people on the earth. The Greek word for “miracle”—dunamis, literally meaning “power”—indicates that a miracle is an act of God’s power. Miracles often defy, or overpower, natural law—but not always. God can also use nature to perform a miracle. For example, God used the wind to part the Red Sea (Exod. 14:21).
Miracles Are Easy to Accept
If you accept the first four words in the Bible—“In the beginning God”—believing miracles comes easily. A miracle is an act of God. It is an act contrary to natural law as we understand it, but not contrary to natural law as God understands it. Miracles are actions He performs for the furtherance of His benevolent and redemptive purpose.
God and Miracles
It is quite clear God performed a miracle at Jordan. Many times I have been asked, “Why does not God work such miracles today?” The question is not whether He can, but how He chooses to work. God reveals Himself in terms of people’s spiritual development and ability to receive and comprehend the revelation.
Having located the miracle geographically, the evangelist introduces those who are to be the beneficiaries: and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. There are earlier references to miraculous signs Jesus had performed in Galilee (2:11; 4:46–54), and those performed in Jerusalem that had been witnessed by Galileans (4:45). Because they had witnessed these the crowd followed him.
Unleavened bread
Manna
1. The evangelist begins his description of the setting for this miracle with the rather vague words Some time after this, which refer back apparently to the healing of the lame man in Jerusalem and the confrontation between Jesus and ‘the Jews’ that followed (5:1–47). The geographical note Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias) is puzzling because nothing has been said about Jesus returning from Jerusalem to Galilee. The evangelist provides two names of the Sea: the common NT name, the Sea of Galilee, and the name used later in the first century, the Sea of Tiberias. The latter is related to the major town, in fact, the capital of Herod Antipas’ kingdom, situated on the western shore of the Sea. Reference to ‘the far shore of the Sea of Galilee’ refers to the eastern seaboard and places this miracle either in the Gentile area of the Decapolis on the eastern shore, or in the region of Philip the Tetrarch to the north-east.
Offerings of bread
who are to be the beneficiaries
The bread of the Presence
Seeing the crowd, Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples, possibly in the area known today as the Golan Heights. Perhaps he was seeking some rest or wished to teach his disciples before the crowd arrived—it was Jesus’ custom to sit to teach (8:2; Matt. 5:1ff.; 13:1ff.; 24:3ff.).
The table for the bread of the Presence:
The evangelist begins his account of the miracle, When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ In the Synoptic accounts of the feeding of the five thousand we learn that when the crowd came to him Jesus taught them and healed their sick, and then because it was already late in the day he miraculously provided food for them (Matt. 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17). These details are omitted in the Fourth Gospel, but knowledge of them allows readers to understand why Jesus felt a responsibility to provide food for them. If this episode took place on the north-eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, it would be logical for Jesus to turn to Philip and ask, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ because Philip was a native of Bethsaida, a town located in this part of the country. But Jesus’ question to Philip had a different purpose: He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do, i.e. he was going to multiply loaves and fish to feed the multitude.
Testing can be negative (cf. 8:6), or positive as it is here. Jesus’ purpose was to test Philip’s faith in him and confirm it with the miracle to follow. Not realizing what Jesus intended by his question, Philip answered him, ‘Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’ The NIV’s ‘eight months’ wages’ provides a helpful equivalent to the ‘two hundred denarii’ found in the original (a working man’s wage for one day was one denarius), and highlights how much bread would be needed to feed such a large crowd. This alerts the reader to the extraordinary nature of the miracle soon to be performed
The next vignette in the story concerns Jesus, Andrew and a small boy. As Jesus finished what he had to say to Philip, another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.’ Andrew and his brother, Simon, like Philip, were from the town of Bethsaida (1:40–44). Andrew brought to Jesus a boy who had five little barley loaves (poor people’s bread) and two small fish. It is hard to imagine that Andrew thought this would be of any help in the situation, and so it is likely he only brought the boy to Jesus because the boy himself had taken the initiative and wanted to offer what he had. Andrew voiced his own attitude to the offering: but how far will they go among so many? The whole incident is reminiscent of 2 Kings 4:42–44, which recounts how twenty loaves of barley bread were brought to Elisha, but were regarded by his servant as completely inadequate to feed one hundred men. ‘But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over’ ” ’ (2 Kgs 4:43).
The next vignette in the story concerns Jesus, Andrew and a small boy. As Jesus finished what he had to say to Philip, another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.’ Andrew and his brother, Simon, like Philip, were from the town of Bethsaida (1:40–44). Andrew brought to Jesus a boy who had five little barley loaves (poor people’s bread) and two small fish. It is hard to imagine that Andrew thought this would be of any help in the situation, and so it is likely he only brought the boy to Jesus because the boy himself had taken the initiative and wanted to offer what he had. Andrew voiced his own attitude to the offering: but how far will they go among so many? The whole incident is reminiscent of 2 Kings 4:42–44, which recounts how twenty loaves of barley bread were brought to Elisha, but were regarded by his servant as completely inadequate to feed one hundred men. ‘But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over’ ” ’ (2 Kgs 4:43).
12–13. The evangelist completes his account of the miracle, 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 God provided manna for Israel in the wilderness through Moses, the people were not allowed to gather more than they needed nor to store it for future use. If they did, it went rotten (Exod. 16:16–20). When Jesus fed the five thousand (which is compared with the provision of manna in the wilderness later in the chapter (30–51) the opposite was the case. The disciples were told to collect what remained and keep it, presumably for future use. So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. The twelve baskets may symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel, or perhaps twelve baskets were filled simply because there were twelve disciples doing the gathering.
Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
The evangelist relates the immediate aftermath of the miracle: After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ Moses promised the Israelites, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him’ (Deut. 18:15). Knowing this promise, and having seen Jesus provide food in the wilderness as Moses had done, the people concluded that Jesus was ‘the Prophet who is to come into the world’, the Prophet about whom Moses had spoken.
The evangelist adds, Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. Moses led Israel out of Egyptian captivity, and now this people wanted Jesus (whom they believed was the Prophet like Moses) to free them from Roman occupation. They wanted to ‘make him king by force’.
The episode of the feeding of the five thousand began when Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples (3). It ended when Jesus withdrew to a mountain by himself. He did this to escape the crowd who wanted to force him to be their king. The sort of kingship they had in mind was not what he had in mind. His kingship was ‘not of this world’ (18:36). Besides, later Jesus told the crowd that the only reason they followed him was ‘because you ate the loaves and had your fill’ (26).