THE BUYOUT

The Buyout

John 6:1-15; 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

All four Gospels record the miraculous account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with two fish and five barley loaves. The Gospel of John tells us that the food came from a boy. Period. No name, no explanation. I’m always amazed when the Bible leaves it up to us to fill in the blanks.

What was the boy doing there?

How exactly did the disciples get the two fish and five barley loaves from the boy?

I believe that the way this story has been told doesn’t add up.

For years I accepted the version that there was this boy happily shared his lunch with Jesus. But I always had a little problem with the boy’s lunch size. Think about it, two fish and five loaves. Have you ever seen a kid’s lunch this big?

One preacher described it as two sardines and five crackers. Now that makes more sense, doesn’t it? But did they have crackers way back then? And there is the problem that the Bible says, two fish and five barley loaves not once but four times: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

What if the two fish and barley loaves were not the boy’s lunch?

Here’s the deal.

1. We tend to look at the Bible through the world today and not through the world view of long, long, long ago in a faraway land.

2. We need to step into a Time Machine and travel back 2,020 years.

These poor people were living from hand to mouth. Parents had tough decisions when it came to having children. Having a child meant having another mouth to feed—a good reason for not having a child. On the other hand, a child meant more help around the house, in the garden, and assistance in bringing money into the family piggy bank.

3. Childhood as we know it did not exist in Jesus’ day. There were no playgrounds, iPad videos for kids to watch, no football practices, no dance or violin lessons. There was no free time for kids to run around or sit around hanging out with their friends. There were no laws protecting children from having to work hard from sunup to sundown. In short, children’s lives were hard.

4. Back in Jesus’ day, one of three babies died before their first birthday. Over half of the children died before they turned ten. Wow. That’s sad.

Things are not so bad today.

Bermuda is “Another World”.

The truth is children around the world are living hard-knock lives.

3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. A chocolate bar cost more than $2.50. You might afford one can of Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup. That’s it!

Over 160 million children are engaged in child labor and 79 million of them are performing dangerous work. Many must work on top of going to school.

So Count Your Blessings Young people.

Let’s return to the Bible Story.

5. Why was this boy on his own in the crowd with 2 fish and 5 barley loaves? Do you still believe that it was his lunch?

6. What makes more sense is that this boy was working, selling food—meals on move. I imagine that his daddy was a fisherman, and his mom was a great cook with a garden to tend to. The lad was hustling, working the crowd. By the time Andrew caught up with him, the boy may have already sold a few fish and loaves.

Look closer at the Gospel accounts.

· Nowhere does it call the fish and loaves the boy’s lunch.

· Nowhere does it say that the fish or the loaves were small (lunch size).

· Nowhere does it say that the boy gave away his food. Like in the “offering basket”.

Look closer at the Gospel accounts.

· Here is what the accounts say, Jesus tells his disciples to BUY food for the multitudes.

Jesus is concerned about the whole person.

In 3 John 2, the Apostle John says,

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health,

just as your soul prospers.”

· The disciples talk about the people going away to BUY their own food.

· They tell Jesus how much it would cost—200 days’ pay.

· They say that even that much money would only BUY enough food to give each person a bite. There would still be some hungry people around….

· It is at this point that they have only been able to come up with (BUY) is 2 fish and five loaves, which John’s Gospel tells us came from this one young entrepreneur.

This changes everything. Yes, Little Becomes Much when it is placed in the Master’s Hands. But the Little is not a Kid’s Lunch. The Little is the Kid’s Hustle, the Kid’s Work, The Kid’s MO.

The parents did not send the boy out with a lunch for himself. They sent him out to bring back a return, to put something in the family Piggy Bank.

Imagine the little boy returning home later that day.

This boy returned home with his basket full.

Momma frowned; she was not happy.

Mom: “Why are you smiling? Looks like you didn’t sell any of the fish or the bread. And how did you manage to break up the food into all those pieces?”

Jr: Mom, you won’t believe this. My day was amazing.

(Jr is grinning from ear to ear. He proudly hands her his money pouch full of a good day’s earnings.)

Mom: “Get out of here! What happened?” Jr: I helped Jesus feed 5,000. Mom: Oh, Ooo-kay.

How did your sales go? Did people enjoy the food?

Jr: Yes, over 5,000 enjoyed the food. Mom: “What be are you talking about??” Jr: Jesus Bought Me out. One of his disciples took what I had left and gave it all to

Jesus. Then Jesus fed everybody…Some of them greedy folk got seconds and thirds.

Andrew even filled up my basket to bring home—Jesus did it!!!

Jesus doesn’t multiply the boy’s lunch.

He multiplies the boy’s supply to meet the greater demand.

1. Buyout—Jesus Part. Redeeming:

Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

1 Cor. 1:27-29 NLT

God deliberately chose “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”

Message Translation

THE BUYOUT

In financial terms, an acquisition is when a big company buys out a small company.

Jesus’ acquisition of the boy’s food. But it was more than that He bought out all of the labor that the boy had put in. Jesus’ disciples didn’t have the time to go fish and crush and bake barley into loaves.

God needs your hands, feet, time, talent, and resources to advance His kingdom here on earth.

Jesus bought out the little boy because that boy was backed up by a father who went out fishing all day and night. Jr had a mom who crush barley into flour and kneaded it into the dough to bake into loaves of bread.

The boy’s parents sent them out to sell to people hungry. But it was never enough. Only with Jesus could the boy offer enough to satisfy.

When Amazon bought out Whole Foods, it left all of the people in Whole Foods. Good people are hard to find.

God sees the network operating with these young people. He sees the sacrifices of moms and dads. He sees members of the extended family stepping in to assist. Jesus says I want to buy you out. I want acquisition. I want to eliminate any competition and I want to take distribution to the next level.

Buying Back Better is what He does best. Jesus’ death on the Cross was Heaven’s Buyout of Fallen, sinful humanity…

Jesus Paid it All. All to Him I owe…

The Buyout is the flip side of the Sellout.

Buyout and Sellout are two sides of the same coin.

2. Sellout—Our Part as humans. Sellout involves total surrender and submission. We sell out when we give all that we are, all that we have to God for the glory of God.

Listen! We are engaged in more than packing a lunch for our kids.

We are giving them something to offer the world, to impact the lives of others.

We are teaching our kids that greatness is within them. The world needs what they have to offer in their baskets. If they sell out to Jesus, the world will become their oyster.

There is always a challenge to get what matters in the Master’s hand. ⁃ What mattered most seemed the least ⁃ It mattered most because Jesus needed something to work with. “What do you have?”

Little does become much when we place it in the Master’s Hands.

God is Faithful to Provide all our needs according to His riches in Glory, through Christ Jesus.