John 6 1-15
Pentecost 10
John 6:1-15
August 17, 2003
“This Is a Test”
(after R. Lessing)
Introduction: Benh. Behn. Behn. “This is a test of the National Emergency Broadcasting System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with federal, state, and local authorities have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the attention signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news, or instructions. This station serves the Mayville area. This concludes the test of the Emergency Broadcast System.
In our Gospel lesson of John 6 a number of tests are given. Jesus tests Phillip. Andrew tests Jesus. The little boy with the five loaves and two fish is tested. Finally the crowd is faced with the ultimate test and the consequences of success and failure mean life or death. In the process, we too are facing the same test. The test is whether the signs of Jesus point us to earthly or heavenly realities?
The word “sign” occurs seventeen times in John. One definition is “a wondrous act that reveals Jesus’ identity.” These signs are like tests that lead in either of two directions. One direction leads to faith and salvation. The other direction leads to unbelief, rejection, and ultimately to eternal death and separation from God. There is an instructive passage at the end of the account of the raising of Lazarus. The chief priests and the Pharisees did not deny that a miracle had taken place; indeed they said, “This man does many signs” (11:47). But the signs did not lead them to faith. Rather, the signs led them to plot the death of both Jesus and Lazarus. They were so far from understanding the right meaning of the signs. On the other hand, some people followed Jesus on account of the signs.
Jesus selects Phillip from out of the disciples and asks Him the question, “Where should we buy bread for all these people to eat?” The text tells us that Jesus asked Philip only as a test because He already had in mind what He was going to do. Philip fails the test. He gives Jesus a practical calculated answer. His response to Jesus is that it would require eight months of wages to buy bread for everyone to get just a bite to eat. In other words, Jesus, never mind that there isn’t any place to buy such amounts of food to feed everybody, there isn’t enough money anyway. Already he had forgotten the miracle in Cana where Jesus had turned water in to wine and supplied more than was needed. Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother and the second to become a disciple of Jesus pipes in and it sounds like He is testing Jesus, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two fishes, but how far will they go among so many?.” Andrew is going in the right direction but then falls into doubt and unbelief because it is obvious that so little will not feed so many. Jesus asked them a question and they failed the test.
The crowd faces the next test. Jesus has the people sit down; he took the loaves and gave thanks for the little that they had; and he gave to the crowds as much as they wanted, not just a bite but a belly full. The crowds recognized it as a miraculous sign. It was a miracle. Jesus didn’t run down to the local Piggly Wiggly and organize a fund drive. He didn’t exercise superior management skills to manipulate there resources. He didn’t merely set another plate at the table and hope that there would be enough. It was truly a miracle and the people new it. Here is the test. When they saw the sign, which direction did they take? WE are told that they wanted to take Jesus and make Him their king by force. Here was a man that could supply their earthly needs so they wanted to make Him their earthly king. It was the wrong answer. Like Andrew, they were so close to the right answer. They had said “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come. Jesus was a prophet, but He was so much more. Remember the definition of a sign is “a wondrous act that reveals Jesus identity.” What the disciples missed, what the crowd missed, is that Jesus is more than a bread maker; he is the source of life itself. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he who eats of this bread shall never die.” Jesus is the bread of life through whom eternal life comes. He is not an earthly king that provides for only temporal needs. He is the king who rules heaven and earth who came into the world to die on the cross, securing what we really need - the forgiveness of our sins, and the salvation of our souls. He is not just the prophet that was top come, He is the Savoir.
As we identify with the crowd in John 6, we often fail the sign test. We fail the tests of faith as they come into our common lives. When we are faced with the many crises we hesitate and wonder how we will make it. How can we be fully satisfied with such limited resources? We fail to give thanks for the little that we have, as Jesus did, and we fail to remember that all our needs will be supplied. Yet God stretches out His loving hand through the little things we take for granted. In sickness, it may not be the hand of the doctor that brings peace and healing, it may be the hand of a loving and supportive spouse. We may be cursed with the loss of livelihood but in the end our eyes are opened to the blessing of family and friendship. Through these our Lord calls us back to faith and to trust in Him. Worse yet, we often fail the ultimate test and forget the reason Jesus came into the world and still comes to us now. Worship is just worship; the Bible is just treated as another book- and the bread that Jesus gives is just bread, not as Jesus says later in the Gospel, “This bread is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world.” So often, we fail the test because we don’t see the true mission of Jesus, and, just like the crowd, we seek to make Jesus out to be an earthly and cross-less king. There are many tests, true or false, multiple-choice, fill in the blank and essay questions, the most important test is whether or not we see the radical nature of King Jesus and His kingdom which comes now to us through His Word and Sacraments.
It’s time for me to give you a test. Remember the book I read to you, Fives Loaves for Levi? It’s a cute story but there is something wrong with it, maybe even a couple of things. Can you tell me what they are? The focus of the story is that our heavenly Father will take care of all our needs, just like He takes care of the birds and the flowers. While this is true, this is not the reason John recorded the story of the feeding of the Five Thousand. God takes care of us through His one and only Son Jesus Christ. It is thorough Him that all blessing flow. Most important, Jesus is not just a great teacher reminding us of God’s love. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. Gods love is expressed for us in that He gave His life for the life of the world. As cute as the story is, it never tells us that Jesus is our Savior from sin and death. It failed the test to.
In His Mercy Jesus provides sign after sign. There are seven of them recorded in the John’s Gospel – changing water into wine, healing the nobleman’s son, healing the man at the pool of Bethesda, feeding the 5, 000, walking on the water, opening the eyes of the blind man, and the raising of Lazarus. There is an eighth sign recorded for us and it is the ultimate sign pointing to the identity of Jesus. Jesus becomes the very Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world through His crucifixion and death on the cross. On the third day, He is raised from the dead in the glory of His Heavenly Father. By God’s grace and through His Holy Spirit working in us we are led to repent for all the times we have not acted in faith and then we turn to our Savior in faith, trusting that He is able to do all that He promised, giving us eternal life.
Conclusion: Years ago Time Magazine reported on a nervous motorist in New Jersey. This man, on being stopped by the police, explained that he had been driving on 224 consecutive learner’s permits over the past twenty years. He had flunked his first drivers test and had been unsure of himself ever since! The good news is that as we fail test after test, Jesus Provides sign after sign! John writes to us, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).
