When Little is Enough

John 6:1-13

Have you ever noticed our fascination with food? Charles Spence was a Baltimore Ravens season-ticket holder, and he thought taking his seven-year-old daughter to a game would be a good bonding experience. But once there, she found the food vendors much more enticing than what was taking place on the field, so he bought her one kind of junk food after another.

As the fourth quarter began, the Ravens were far behind, and much of the crowd had already left. One seat down, though, sat another season-ticket holder. “I’m surprised you’re still here,” Spence said to him during a timeout.

“I can’t bear to leave yet,” the fan replied. “I’ve got to see just how much one little girl can eat.” Have you noticed that some people can really eat a lot?

It is also fascinating to observe the magnitude of the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 for it causes it to be found in all four gospels. In John’s Gospel there are some details that the other three left out. It is an amazing story; so let’s watch it unfold. In our text today, we will identify three movements that will enable us to understand the significance of this miracle.

I. The first movement is PURSUIT vs.1-2….

Have you ever been so tired that you are just not sure you can go on? I think Jesus was at that point.

A woman was in the backyard hanging the laundry when an old, tired-looking dog wandered into the yard. She could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home. But when she walked into the house, the dog followed her, sauntered down the hall and fell asleep in a corner. An hour later, he went to the door, and she let him out. The next day he was back. He resumed his position in the hallway and slept for an hour.

This continued for several weeks. Curious, she pinned a note to his collar:
"Every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap." The next day the dog arrived with a different note pinned to his collar: "He lives in a home with 10 children - he’s trying to catch up on his sleep."

Well, we know from the other texts… Jesus was looking for a break. He wanted to get to a lonely place to get some rest. They were all trying to get away. People had been following them incessantly and though they tried to get away, they had been unsuccessful. Jesus was looking for a break, but He did not get one. The people kept coming.

It is here that the remarkable difference of Jesus shows up. If it had been you or me, we would have sent the people away. But not Jesus. In Mark 6:34 we find, “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus had compassion on a broken people.

John reveals the people’s motivation. Jesus had been doing such great miracles, they kept following because they did not want to miss the tremendous excitement of the “signs.” But Jesus sees their need. They are broken. They need help. They need a Shepherd. Which brings us to…

2. The second movement is PROBLEM vs.3-10…

John gives us a time framework when he mentions Passover. What is interesting to note is that Passover is a time to be in Jerusalem, not Galilee. Nevertheless, Galilee is where they are following Jesus. It is in Galilee that the real Passover Lamb is. And Jesus asks his disciples, and more specifically, Phillip, “Do we have enough for dinner?” You see…

A. It was time to assess the situation. Now, if Jesus had asked us, we probably would have set up a committee to evaluate the situation. We would study the situation, consider all the options, and then probably table it till the next meeting.

I like how Milton Berle describes committees. He says… "A committee is a group of men who keep minutes and waste hours."

Well, it was time to assess anyway. According to Jesus, these people needed to be fed. So they estimated the count. There were about 5000 men. But there were more than that, because, no offense ladies, in that culture they only counted the men. So it was likely to be more than twice that, so the problem was big.

The first option presented comes in Mark’s account 6:36 It is the idea of an unnamed disciple: “Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But to Jesus…

B. Sending the people away seemed unrealistic

The disciples’ solution was to let them fend for themselves. To Jesus, this was not an option. The people might faint from hunger. Plus, it was night and not a time for travel. And where would they go? There were no supermarkets or fast food restaurants around. So Jesus does not allow for this option. But Philip can’t see the solution… v. 7… The disciples thought the problem was…
C. There was not enough money. Philip gets out his calculator, make a few quick calculations and determines that it will take 200 days of wages to accomplish the task, that is, if they can even find enough food.

So, along comes Andrew with another solution… vs. 8-9…
Andrew brings this boy. Can you hear the responses of the other disciples? “Nice going, Andrew.” “Great idea…real smart!” “That’s going to go real far!” “What are you thinking?” Obviously, with what this little boy had there was not enough food for everybody.

So here is a little boy with a small lunch: two little fish and five barley cakes. This was poor man’s food. These fish were probably not big, maybe more like sardine size. The barley bread was not in loaves like we think of it, but more likely flat like tortillas. But the five loaves and two fish would be a perfect number for Jesus. It would be all He needed if the boy was willing.

Some have jokingly said that the greater miracle in this story is not the feeding of the 5000, but that this young boy was willing to give up his food.

But the boy seems willing… v. 10… Jesus commands “Everybody take a seat.” This may have been an interesting command. We know from the other texts, that they were to sit down in groups of 50. It was dinnertime. But this must have been troubling to those nearby. Sit down to eat? Eat what? The disciples must have been thinking, “We are not going to get very far on this boy’s lunch.”
But Jesus does have the solution.

3. The third movement is PROVISION vs.11-13...

Jesus performs a miracle. But note how He does it. There is no razzmatazz.
There is no special pleading. There is no raising hands and dramatically crying out to God. No, Jesus puts His hands in the basket and keeps pulling out more. While they were looking, more and more just kept coming. Right in front of their very eyes, He keeps bringing more out of the basket. The food simply keeps on coming.
So note this…

A. When God meets our needs, He really meets our needs. Because, when God meets our needs, there is satisfaction.

These were more than airline snacks. There was more than enough food. Jesus doesn’t hold back. He supplies and there is satisfaction. And there were 12 baskets full of food left. One for each disciple, if you will… A lesson directed for each of them about who Jesus is.

One Saturday, as is the custom at the Erickson house in Peoria, IL, Ken Erickson’s wife cleaned out leftovers from the refrigerator. She gave the one remaining portion of tortellini to their 6-year-old son, Jeremy. Their 8-year-old son, Matthew, also wanted some, so bickering ensued. After several unsuccessful attempts to mediate the dispute, Ken decided on a theological approach. Hoping to convince Jeremy to share his portion with Matthew, he said, “Jeremy, what would Jesus do in this situation?” Jeremy immediately responded, “Oh, Dad, He would just make more!” And there lies the truth. God loves to supply our needs!

Well, here is the so what we can learn from this event…
1. God tests our faith with challenges to do the impossible.

That was the challenge before Philip and the rest of the disciples. This was just plain impossible. You know, sometimes we are confronted with what seems to be the impossible. As a result, we get the “deer in the middle of the road” look.
We just stare because we believe it can’t be done. Do you know by the way what happens to deer that stay in the middle of the road?

But please note this… God ministers through our weakness. He does not select strong people so that He can use their strengths. He does not select perfect people who always do things right in the eyes of men. He chooses weak and broken people so that He can demonstrate His power through their weakness.

God asks us to take on the impossible so that we will see Him at work.

2. God is not limited by our experience or our resources.

The disciples thought there was nothing that could be done. And this happens to us as well We frequently limit ourselves in the church. We say, “We’ve never done it this way before.” Have you ever heard that? We get stuck on the familiar. But, God delights in doing the unexpected. He does it a different way, so that when the time comes, we know that it was not us.

It has to be God. It has to be His wisdom, power and grace that has seen us through. Another great lesson for us here is…

3. God multiples the little we offer.

We know the little boy did not have much to offer, but what he had was used for something greater. I believe that God loves to do this in our lives.

You know…we need to acknowledge that our needs exceed our abilities.
None of us can ensure our physical health and safety. We can’t control our own bodies. Most of what goes on in our body we don’t even know about, much less control. When it comes down to it, we can’t prevent accidents. Neither can we change the genes we get from our parents. But what we can do is offer what we have. And just as this young boy offered his fish and barley, so can we offer what little we have. Then we need to step back and watch God’s hand at work. Watch Him multiply what we have offered. And…

4. No matter what difficulty we face, what matters is that God is bigger than the difficulty.

Perhaps what you are facing today is putting you to the point of despair. Perhaps you have difficult relationships with family members. Perhaps you are facing a crisis at the workplace. Perhaps you are facing what seems to be a hopeless financial situation. What we all need to remember is that it isn’t the great size of the need that matters. It isn’t the small amount of our resources that matters. What matters is the power of God. Finally, remember this…

5. True abundance is found in Jesus alone.

Jesus has come to give us a full, abundant and eternal life. Admittedly, we sometimes harbor a suspicion that if we give ourselves fully to God, our needs won’t get met the way we want them to be met. But this means that we are depending on ourselves and not God.

For here is where the truth lies… True abundance is knowing and following Jesus. True abundance is Jesus Himself.