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Feeding 5000
Feeding 5000
John in his Gospel records seven miracles:
Changing Water into Wine (2:1-11)
Jesus makes all things new
We submit our request to him and leave it in his hands
Healing an officials son in Capernaum (4:46-54)
Trusting Jesus as God
Healing the invalid at the pool in Bethesda (5:1-18)
Hope in despair, Jesus is the Word, the Creator
Feeding the 5000 near the sea of Galilee (6:5-14)
Waling on water in the sea of Galilee (6:16-21)
Healing the blink man in Jerusalem (9:1-7)
Raising the Lazarus from the dead in Bethany (11:1-45)
Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Lot’s of things happening in this chapter:
1 - Jesus has compassion on the hungry
Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”
If nothing we get from today’s sermon… we should see that Jesus had compassion on the poor and hungry and feed their bodies before attempting to nourish their souls.
This is the time of the passover and it would not be lost on the Jewish people the significance of this miracle.
Remember what God did for the children in Israel?
and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
If it’s not enough that John is likely writing this this in mind, even the type of Bread the Lord is given to multiply would have had significant meaning to the Jewish people.
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
Anyone heard the story of the feeding of the 100?
Ba-al Shaw-Lee-Shaw
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, “Give to the men, that they may eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” So he repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ” So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
This Chapter is Dripping with messianic types and shadows:
This miracle overwhelmed the crowd!
Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Jesus’s miracle had earthly and spiritual significance, here’s the tragedy in this story
When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
Jesus has to the flee the scene because of the crowds political motivations. Later in the chapter we see them asking Jesus several questions regarding their own religious heritage with Moses and how Jesus fits into that.
“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.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
They wanted to fit Jesus into their political systems for their political agendas.
When they come to seize him by force, they are literally desiring to kidnap Jesus, promote him as a hero, and make him a religious figure IN THERE OWN IMAGE and serve their agenda.
Sometimes, when we begin to pursue Jesus a temptation can arise to make Jesus serve our religious agenda.
Listen, we all need bread to survive, but we live in a culture of excess and we struggle to define what we really need.
Jesus has done this amazing thing and wants to reveal more about himself and his ministry, but it wasn’t enough to just sit and learn from Jesus.
Could you imagine if after feeding the 5000 the crowd ate their full and then asked Jesus for an Ice Cream break?
Living in a consumer driven / hyper political society the world has plenty of different types of bread for us to pursue.
Unfortunately, we as Christians often define our “need” for Bread as a sufficient supply to live a lives of indulgence.
Personal Stories:
Listen, I’m not as young as I once was, and I can say I’ve been around a while and seen a few things.
The American Church is really gross (flagrant, scandalous, and extreme)
In many ways I am flabbergasted...
Here’s the deal Church, Over the last 5 years I have started a Journey not away from Jesus, but I have started to question EVERYTHING that Claims the name of Jesus (Does that make sense?)
If I was pressed into corner today, I’d likely define much of my theology as Historically Christian… but I’m trying to separate the bread from the jelly
It’s uncomfortable to talk about because we have taken the Bread of Life and covered him with Jelly.
I’ve personally seen the inner corporate workings of the church that chooses buildings instead of people.
I was sent a quote recently by Richard Halverson, who was a presbyterian minister and former chaplain to the united states senate:
“In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome where it became an institution, Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture, and, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise.”
When Jesus is “taken by force” in the church. He is exploited and manipulated, forged into a “poster boy” for this campaign or that venture.
In John 6 the crowds desires are political.
I’m still mourning the Christian “leaders” that continue to fail. Ravi Z., James McDonald, Brian Houston, and these are just the more contemporary examples…
Some would be upset with me for mentioning these names.
We’ve taken social platforms, national security interest, and moral crusades, and baptized them in the name of Jesus.
What’s interesting is this… if we even begin to discuss these issues… there’s no real debate regarding the issue at hand, but instead anyone who raises concerns has their fidelity to Jesus question.
I’ve had this happen in my life over the last few years. I’m not here to try and force anyone into a political platform.. I’m not democrat or republican..
I saw a facebook post floating around this week. Social media is dumb… but anyway, the question was “If you could make one thing, anything, disappear.. what would that be?”
You know what the first answer I saw was? Not homelessness, or hunger, or evil.... Democrats, and not too far down the list someone put Republicans.. These are people that I know go to church.
If you want to test this idea of the union of religion and politics among evangelicals, simply contradict a thoroughly endorsed theme, like Prayer in School.
Friends, Jesus is inviting us not to seek bread in this life. The reality is everyone who ate and the miracle of the 5000 was hungry the next day. Jesus’ real message is to see Him as the bread we eat.
Listen to Jesus’ words near the end of the Chapter:
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
It was a difficult thing to understand and accept, even for Jesus’ disciples.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
Pastor Eric Mason was talking about this and was like, Jesus is hard core.. He’s not about your agenda, but his about His.. He looks at his disciples and is like, “You wanna roll too?”
Where do we close this out?
What type of bread are you seeking?