The
Gospel reading from John 6:1-21 is full of rich
imagery. Although the story of the
feeding of the 5,000 appears in all four Gospels, John’s version has a slightly
different meaning. In fact, John includes only seven of Jesus’ miracles in his
Gospel, and in each miracle the believer is brought closer to God. Each miracle
invites us to reflect on what the miracle says about Jesus.
John
most likely included this version of the feeding of the 5,000 to provide
additional information that was not recorded in the other three Gospels. For
the early Christians, this story got to the heart of something they knew was
important about Jesus, about who he was, what he was up to, and what he found
to be important. John’s recording of this miracle showed the creative power of
Christ and set the stage for Jesus’ talk about the “bread of life” in the
remaining verses of Chapter 6. The purpose of John’s Gospel is to show that
Jesus is the mind of God in human form, so the signs in John’s version of the feeding
of the 5,000 are designed to show God at work in the lives of his people.
The
feeding of the 5,000 represents both the manna that came from heaven while the
Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years and faith in Jesus. It is
also a sign of the Last Supper. It represents the covenant that Christ’s
sacrifice on the cross is God’s provision for the world’s salvation.
The
barley loaves represented Elisha’s feeding of the 100 people with a small
supply of barley loaves as mentioned in 2 Kings 4:42-44. Barley bread was a
bread of poor quality that was eaten by poor people. Barley loaves were less
nutritious, less tasty and harder to digest than bread made with wheat. The
small lunch represents the great things God can do with whatever we bring to
him, no matter how big or how small. The 12 baskets of leftovers represent both
God’s abundance (which means that there is enough for everyone) and the 12
tribes of Israel. The crowd’s desire to make Jesus an earthly king represents
our desire to fit God into our expectations of him instead of fitting ourselves
into God’s expectations of us. Jesus walking on the water in the midst of the
storm represents God in our midst and God coming to us when we are in trouble.
The
Bible uses the word “signs” to speak of miracles because God has a special
place for miracles. Jesus used his miracles to point people to God, and it was
God’s power that made Jesus’ miracles possible. In other words, Jesus opened
the people’s eyes to see and their hearts to believe, but the people in the
crowd only saw Jesus as a provider for their earthly needs. They did not see
the signs as indications that God would provide for their heavenly needs and
their spiritual needs. Jesus wanted the people to live in him and partake of
his spiritual food, but the people wanted Jesus to stay with them so they could
continue to enjoy the physical food that he offered.
In
order to make room for the spiritual food Jesus offers, we must starve our
human weaknesses such as judging, indifference and isolation and feed on
kindness, compassion, community and generosity. In other words, we must feed on
the characteristics of Jesus in order to become more like him. The crowd did
not understand what was happening. They got their stomachs full, but their
spirits were still hungry. They did not realize that if they accepted the
spiritual food Jesus offered, they would never be spiritually hungry again.
The
disciples learned firsthand that God is greater than the needs of 5,000 people,
and this gave them confidence that they could trust him for their daily needs.
Likewise at times the Lord will set a seemingly impossible task before us to
test us and see whether we react in fear or faith. That is because He is
training us to have faith in Him, and trusting Him means looking beyond what we
can see and do to what He is able to accomplish, especially when he works
through us. We can trust God in the storms of life. Faith is the key to the
storehouse of God’s ample supply. When we believe God, we will have rest and
peace in our lives. In spite of opposition, Jesus will enable his people to
achieve the goals he has set for them-including salvation.
John
Wesley, the great Methodist preacher of the 18th century, once said,
“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but
God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake
the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth”. Can you imagine
what would happen if every believer took that advice to heart? No, we are not
perfect, but God uses imperfect people to do his perfect work in our world. In
fact, he seems to go out of his way to find imperfect people to work through.
Just look at Moses, David, and Samson, to name just a few.
Moses
was a stutterer who murdered an Egyptian, but God used him to free the
Israelites from slavery. David was an ordinary shepherd boy who was used by God
to lead the Israelites to greatness and prosperity, in spite of committing
adultery and murder. Samson was used to destroy the Philistines in spite of
giving in to temptation by having his hair cut. If God can use people like them
to do great things, just imagine what he can do through us if we let him. God
makes the impossible in our lives possible when we act on His word and trust
Him for what only He can do. As the old hymn says, “It is no secret what God
can do. What He’s done for others, he’ll do for you”.
1. Stanley, C.F., The
Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, NASB (Nashville, TN: Thomas
Nelson Inc., 2009)
3. Lucado, M., The
Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 2010)
4. MacArthur, J., MacArthur
Study Bible, NASB (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006; 2008)
5. Frederikson, R.L. & Ogilvie, L.J., The Preacher’s Commentary Series: Volume 27:
John (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.; 1985)
6. Matthew Henry Concise Commentary. Part of Lessonmaker
8 Bible Software package.
7. Wycliffe Bible Commentary. Part of Lessonmaker 8 Bible
Software package.
8. ESV Study Bible. Part of Lessonmaker 8 Bible Software
package.
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