The Supplying of BREAD John 6:1–15

The miracle of supplying food recorded in this passage is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels. Furthermore it is the only miracle which is recorded in John’s gospel which is also recorded in the synoptic gospels. John records eight miracles in his gospel, and seven of them are unique to his gospel.

1. The Circumstances for the Miracle (John 6:1–4)

The first few verses of John 6 give an introductory background to the miracle involving the multiplying of food.

The place in the circumstances.

“Jesus went over the sea of Galilee … a great multitude followed him … Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples” (John 6:1–3). The location of the miracle was in the area northeast of the northern part of the Sea of Galilee. The region was a good place for large crowds to gather to hear Christ teach and to see Him work miracles, for the geography of the place made it sort of an outdoor amphitheater.

The people in the circumstances.

“A great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased” (John 6:2). Christ had done some healing work before coming to this region, and many people followed Him for that reason. But as the sequence of the sixth chapter of John will reveal, once Christ left the miracles and put the emphasis on teaching, the crowd lost their interest. That is still true. The sensational (miracles) and physical appetites (food miracle) appeal more than spiritual instruction. So to get a crowd, some churches put the emphasis on the spectacular (promotional specials) and the food (suppers, etc.) to get people in the church while they de-emphasize or dumb down the message.

The period in the circumstances.

“The passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh” (John 6:4). “This note of time may be recorded as implying the dominant sentiment in the minds of the people. The great deliverance from Egyptian bondage was burned into the national conscience and the fanatic desire for a second Moses to lead them out of Roman servitude was at such seasons fanned into a flame” (Reynolds). This attitude explains the concern of Christ expressed in John 6:15.

2. The Cause for the Miracle (John 6:5)

“When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” (John 6:5). The cause for the miracle was at least twofold.

The privation in the cause.

“When Jesus … saw a great company come unto him.” The crowd came to Christ in a place where food was not accessible. If you did not bring your lunch, there was no place nearby to purchase a meal. Other accounts tell us the crowd was so attentive to the ministry of Christ (He was doing some healing which would attract the crowd’s attention) that they stayed until it was getting dark—thus they needed to be fed, and in charity Christ would feed them.

The purpose in the cause.

The purpose or motivation for this miracle was charity, not promotion. It was to meet a practical need. It was not a gimmick to increase the crowd. Some have said Christ fed people to increase the crowd, but that was not the case. He already had a big crowd, but when He went to teaching after the miracle, it thinned out. Carnal gimmicks to increase the church crowd cannot be justified by this miracle.

3. The Challenge for the Miracle (John 6:5–7)

Before working the miracle, Christ challenged His disciples about feeding the people. Other gospel accounts give more details of this challenge. John only reports the challenge given Philip.

The proving in the challenge.

“He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?… this he said to prove him” (John 6:5, 6). Christ would prove Philip’s faith by putting him in a very difficult situation. How would he react? What would be his solution? As we will see later, Philip did not respond well to the challenge. He did not show much faith.

The perception in the challenge.

“This he said to prove him; for he himself knew what he would do” (John 6:6). Christ was not perplexed by the situation. He did not ask Philip about the food in order to gain knowledge for Himself. Christ asked the question to test Philip.

The protesting in the challenge.

“Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little” (John 6:7). The “two hundred pennyworth” was the amount the disciples had in their treasury. It would not buy enough bread that all the people could have just a little bit. The word translated “pennyworth”is the Greek word “denarius” which was the usual amount a common laborer received for a day’s work. Philip was being practical, but he did not show any faith in Christ to meet the need.

4. The Contribution for the Miracle (John 6:8, 9, 11)

The only food the disciples could find among the multitude was a lunch a lad had with him. Someone (probably his mother) was wise enough to fix the lad a lunch for his following Jesus.

The speaking of the contribution.

“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him. There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes; but what are they among so many?”(John 6:8, 9). Andrew reports to Christ about the food they have found among the multitude. Andrew intended that it corroborate Philip’s conclusion—there was no way they could feed the multitude. Of course, they left out the power of Christ in all of this which shows their lack of faith.

The source of the contribution.

“Lad”(John 6:9). While all four gospels speak about the five loaves and two fish, only John tells us from whence they came. They came from a small boy (the word translated “lad” is from a diminutive word in the Greek meaning a small child). The source of the contribution was an obscure person. But that did not keep him out of God’s service. You do not need fame to be used of God. You need to simply be submissive to His will.

The smallness of the contribution.

“Five barley loaves, and two small fishes; but what are they among so many?” (John 6:9). The smallness of the supplies caused the disciples to be pessimistic about feeding the people.

First, the protest about the smallness.

“What are they among so many.” Smallness is despised by humanity. This shows up at church which is why churches will advertise themselves as the fastest growing Sunday School, or the church with the highest steeple, or largest choir, or most buses etc.

Second,the praise through the smallness.

The smallness of the supplies helped to show the greatness of the power of Christ. Had He had a large supply of food, His power to multiply food would not have been seen as much.

The surrender of the contribution.

“Jesus took the loaves … and likewise of the fishes” (John 6:11). The lad surrendered what he had to Christ. This was not a surrender of surplus but of his whole lunch. You will not experience much blessing from God if you cannot surrender much to Him. You may think your gift small, but God looks at what is left in evaluating your giving. The lad had nothing left. He gave it all. But he was duly rewarded. He did not go home hungry!

5. The Command in the Miracle (John 6:10, 11)

The command before the miracle was to prepare the people for the results of the miracle.

The posture in the command.

“Make the men sit down” (John 6:10). This command was to do a very simple, ordinary thing. But setting down was a prerequisite to being fed, for the disciples gave food to those who “were set down” (John 6:11).

The place in the command.

“Now there was much grass in the place” (John 6:10). The grass would make the sitting more comfortable. It reminds one of “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures” (Psalm 23:2). God is gracious.

• The purpose of the command.

“In number about five thousand” (John 6:10). Sitting down made it much better for the distribution of food. If the five thousand was standing up milling around, it would have made it very difficult to give out the food.

6. The Creating in the Miracle (John 6:11)

Here we look at the action of Christ in creating the food.

The blessing in the creating.

“When he had given thanks” (John 6:11). The first thing about the action of Christ regarding the creating of the food was His giving thanks.

First, what He did.

He thanked God for the food.

Second, why He did it.

To honor God. Thanksgiving honors the Lord.

Third,where He did it.

Publically, in front of all the people. When you are out to eat, do not cower and dishonor God by failure to pray.

Fourth, when He did it.

Comparing the other gospel accounts of this miracle, we learn that Christ gave thanks before He had multiplied the food. Christ gave thanks when all He had was five loaves and two fish. If we thanked God for what we have rather than complaining about what we do not have, we would experience more blessings from God.

The breaking in the creating.

Other gospel accounts inform us that Christ broke the bread and fishes and when He did they multiplied. Breaking is a painful experience. However, God has often to break something before it becomes useful to Him (cp. Mark 2:4; Mark 14:3; Judges 7:20). Many times the breaking involves breaking our stubborn will.

The bestowing after the creating.

After multiplying the food, Christ needed to distribute the food. This aspect of the miracle involved service for Christ.

First, the recruitment for the service.

“He distributed to the disciples” (John 6:11). The disciples were recruited into service. The disciples experienced a great privilege and blessing in being involved in the service of Christ here. God does not need us to do His work. Christ could have fed the multitude Himself, but He chose to enlist the disciples so they might experience the blessing of service.

Second, the requirement in the service.

“He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them” (John 6:11). Before the disciples could give food to the multitude, they had to first receive it from Christ. If preachers are to give the church congregations food, the preacher must first get it from the Word of God.

Third, the responsibility in the service.

The disciples had a responsibility to give out the food Christ gave them, and they must give to the people to whom Christ sent them. This is exactly what Christian service involves. We must do what and go where God says.

7. The Cleanup After the Miracle (John 6:12, 13)

Like many meals, after this meal was finished, it was cleanup time. What needed to be cleaned up in this situation was food that was left over from the miracle.

The people doing the cleanup.

“He said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost” (John 6:12). All the Gospels report the cleanup but only John reports who did the cleanup. Cleanup is not glamorous duty. Handing out the food would be much more glamorous, but cleanup was humbling. Many tasks in the Lord’s service are in the cleanup category. They are not glamorous tasks but God sees who does these tasks and will reward accordingly. Be faithful whatever your task. It is not the task that makes the service, it is Who you are serving that is important. It determines the honor of the task.

The purpose of the cleanup.

“Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost” (John 6:12). The purpose was to avoid waste. “There is no wastefulness in God’s munificence” (Robertson). Too often we waste our leisure time, our pocket change, and our leftovers. Many who complain that they do not have enough would have enough if they quit wasting.

The pieces in the cleanup.

“The fragments … which remained over and above unto them that had eaten” (John 6:13). “Which remained” means “excess” (Zodhiates), “superabound” (Strong). The food gathered up was not food partially eaten by the multitude but was excess pieces of food from Christ’s miracle. This was not garbage but good food.

The plenitude of the cleanup.

“They gathered them together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments” (John 6:13). The “twelve baskets” indicate that the cup of blessing ran over. The excess food teaches the sufficiency of Christ in meeting our needs. “Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask to think” (Ephesians 3:20).

8. The Comments After the Miracle (John 6:14, 15)

The comments made by those who saw this food miracle were significant inasmuch as they affected the actions of Christ after the miracle.

The glorification in the comments.

“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” (John 6:14). The miracle put Jesus in the category of greatness to those men who saw the miracle. They honored Christ (by viewing Him as the promised Messiah which we will see more about in our next point) because of the miracle. The critics of Christ were a contrast to this reaction, however, for whenever Christ did a miracle in which they were observers, they only found fault with Christ.

The identification in the comments.

“This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world” (John 6:14). The reference here is to the prophecy found in Deuteronomy 18 which Moses made about the Messiah. “The Lordthy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 18:15). This deduction by the men who saw the food miracle was correct, but they did not want the salvation ministry Christ had for them as we will see next.

The aspirations in the comments.

“When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone” (John 6:15). Being omniscient, Christ knew what the comments meant. The people wanted Christ to be their king. However, this desire for Him to be their king was to rid them of the rule of Rome not to rid them of the rule of sin in their own hearts. They wanted a secular king not a spiritual king. So Christ left them.[1]