Sermon Tone Analysis

If you have your copy of God’s word please open up to John chapter 6.

I have Titled this message this morning “Hungry for a King” Ill give you just a moment to get there then we will pray…

The Feeding of 5000 is one of the most significant events in Jesus ministry.

Many outside of the church or Christianity have heard of this miracle.

This is the forth sign in the book John, the others were the healing of the lame man, the healing of the nobleman’s son, and the water turned into wine.

This sign is in fact the only Miracle that is included in all four of the Gospels.

If you want to compare the stories later on they are found in Matt 14:13-21, Mark 6:35-44, Luke 9:10-17.

Now dont confuse the feeding of the 4000 because this is a different miracle at a different time.

This sign leads to some powerful conversations throughout the rest of the chapter and book, so we can’t miss the foundations of this sign as we move forward.

John 6:1-15 says this…

If you are taking notes the main point I have today is this.

Jesus feeding the 5000 shows that He is Prophet and King.

There had been much time between chapter 5 and chapter 6.

It was probably 6 months later in the life and ministry of Jesus when they get to this point.

They were at the Sea of Galilee which is also known as the sea of Tiberias.

Tiberias was a new city founded just a few years before in 26 AD, and was named after a Ceasar.

If you look at the other gospel time lines you would know Jesus had been doing a lot of ministry, showing people incredible signs, and doing amazing miracles before the people.

And Jesus was getting quite the following as we see in our text.

The people followed him because he was doing things no man could do.

He was a box office hit as we would say.

The crowd was massive over 5000 men which if you included women and children it could be 15000 plus.

Be like going to the Thunder Game when it is packed and all the people following Jesus to see what he was going to do.

Maybe in hopes to get way from the crowd, Jesus went up on the mountain with his disciples.

But when he went up to the mountain he lifted his eyes and see a large crowd the crowd that I just said was over 15000 people.

This was not just an ordinary day that Jesus was doing ministry either it was during the passover.

This is the 2nd passover John has mentioned so far in this gospel.

The passover was an important time of year, and ill revistit that later on in the sermon.

Jesus is about to show them a sign, and he is going to use there current circumstances to do that very thing.

In Marks account of this event, the disciples said these people needed food.

Listen to marks’ words.Mark 6:35-36 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late.

36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

The disciples knew the current circumstances, knew they didn’t have the capability of feeding all these people.

The disciples had the mindset send them away so they can eat, because we dont have the means to take care of them.

Jesus himself asked Philip one of his twelve disciples, “ Where are we to buy bread, so the that these people may eat?” Philip would be the logical person to ask because he was from nearby Bethsaid a town that was nearby.

Maybe he would know of a place where they could get food.

For the reader they may have known Philip personally and be able to connect this man.

But John alludes to the idea that Jesus was testing Philip’s faith here, and maybe Philip after seeing what God could do would ask him to do some miracle, but Philip said to Jesus something else.

Two Hundred hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each to have a little.

Now 1 denarii would be what the common worker or soldier would make in one day ( think of it as a minimum wage for a days work) ,so working 6 days a week it would be 8 months of wages just to possibly get everyone just a little food but still might not have been enough to cover it.

A large amount of money indeed.

Andrew another one of the disciples maybe trying to be helpful said to Jesus...There is boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?

Just for us to understand the amount of food that is lets put into perspective just how little food this is.

Barley loaves were not these giant loves of bread that could feed alot of people.

It wasn’t like those loaves you see at walmart you can buy.

It was a small piece of bread.

Like a biscuit size.

It was common among the poor to eat this bread.

And the Fish the boy had was not a Giant Tuna it was more like the size of a sardine very small indeed.

These fish were usally just there to add a little flavor.

Lukes gospel in the 11th chapter alludes to the idea that 3 of these loaves would be needed for just one person to have some food, so if there was 15000 people this would mean there would need to 45000 loaves just to have enough for the people.

So pretty much Andrew is saying the small food I see here is nothing.

It can’t even feed ourselves.

As I mentioned from Marks gospel these people are hungry.

They need food.

They need something to eat..

Rather than panicking Jesus said, Have the people sit down.

1st point I want you to make note of is this..

Jesus uses physical circumstances for heavenly signs.

The people are sitting down, in the grass waiting for something to happen.

What would Jesus do next they may have wondered.

I think about how this crowd grew over time did Jesus show them sign after sign and the people couldn’t help but see what he would do next, and overtime the crowd got bigger and bigger..

But what was about to happen would be incredible and as I said in the intro would be the 4th sign in the gospel of John.

These 15000 plus people were about to see something not seen by the Jews in over 1000 years see heavenly bread.

Turning these 5 loaves and 2 fish into enough food for everyone.

And what he did first was give thanks.

Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks for them.

Jesus used a form of Jewish thanksgiving.

according to scholars the prayer was something like this.. Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread from the earth.’

Jesus ‘blesses’ God, i.e. he thanks God; he does not ‘bless’ the food.

He thanks God for what is about to happen.

Today we would think about giving thanks or during the Lord’s supper or a meal.

Jesus is thanking the Father for what is about to take place.

Notice it says he distributed the food to those who were sitting, this was thousands upon thousands of people who were eating this meal that came from 5 barley loaves and 2 fish.

A true miracle before there very own eyes.

Not only did Jesus provide them with something to eat, but he made sure all of them had there fill.

That if they needed they could come back for more.

It was all you could eat.

Jeremiah 31:14 says..

The people where truly satisfied.

Because there food came from God.

Not a belly was hungry.

But notice Jesus after everyone was done.

He told disciples to get all the left overs.

This was a Jewish custom to take the leftovers.

This feeding of the five thousand sounded to be more like a thanksgiving feast then just eating cheap bread and low quality fish.

Goes to show you the power of the Lord.

He truly makes something out of nothing.

Showing his power as the prophet and the King.

But the details of these leftovers are clear.

They must gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.

The miracle that started with nothing ended up with abundance.

Each and every disciple had a basket to fill.

Twelve baskets are filled with leftovers: ‘after all have been satisfied there is more left over than there was at the beginning!’

One man said, That there were twelve baskets is almost certainly significant: the Lord has enough to supply the needs of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jesus truly supplies every need the people could ever have.

After this feeding something truly incredible happens.

The people finally admit that Jesus is the prophet, and want to make him king!

2nd thing I want you to make note of is this.

Jesus is the true prophet and king.

Jesus is known as prophet, priest, and king.