Jesus Gives Food to the Many (6:1–14)

JESUS LOSES HIS FOLLOWERS

John's gospel is selective (John 20:30–31), so he doesn't write down everything that happened in Jesus' life that helps us understand Jesus' purposes. There are a lot of things happening between the healing of the paralyzed man (John 5) and the feeding of the five thousand. Some of these things are talked about in Luke 6:1–9:10 and Mark 3:1–6:30. During this time, our Lord preached "the Sermon on the Mount" (Matt. 5–7) and told the parables of the kingdom (Matt. 13).

The miracle of feeding five thousand people is so momentous that all four gospels document it. A large group of people had been following Jesus for days, listening to Him teach and seeing Him perform miracles. Jesus had tried to "get away" to rest, but the people kept bothering Him (Mark 6:31–34). He cared about the people, so He helped them in three different ways.

[1] After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
[2] And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased.
[3] And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
[4] And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
[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?
[6] And this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do.
[7] Philip answered Him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
[8] One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto Him,
[9] There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
[10] And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
[11] And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
[12] When they were filled, He said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
[13] Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
[14] 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.

Jesus Gives Food to the Many (6:1–14)

The readily identifiable problem was how to meet the needs of so many people. Four options were suggested.

The disciples first told Jesus to send the people away (Mark 6:35–36). Get rid of the problem (see Matt. 15:23). However, Jesus understood that if the hungry individuals were not provided with sustenance, they would likely faint during their journey. It was evening (Matt. 14:15), which wasn't a good time to travel.

Philip came up with the second solution in response to our Lord's "test question" (John 6:5): raise enough money to buy food for the people. Philip "counted the cost" and figured that they would need the same amount of money as two hundred days' work. And even that wouldn't be enough bread to feed all the men, women, and children (Matt. 14:21). We think too often that money can fix everything. Jesus was just testing Philip's faith, of course.

Andrew came up with the third solution, but he wasn't sure how it would work. He found a little boy who had a small lunch of two fish and five barley cakes. Andrew is once again busy bringing someone to Jesus (see John 1:40–42; 12:20–22). We don't know how Andrew met this boy, but we're glad he did! Andrew isn't a big deal in the Gospels, but he was apparently a "people person" who helped people with their problems.

The fourth answer came from our Lord, and it was the right one. He took the little boy's lunch, blessed it, broke it into pieces, and distributed it to His disciples, who then fed the entire crowd. The Savior, not the disciples, did the miracle. He made more food, and they were only happy to give it out. The people were not only fed and happy, but the disciples also saved twelve baskets of leftovers for later use. The Lord didn't waste anything.

The lesson is clear: when you need something, give it all to Jesus and let Him take care of the rest. Start with what you have, but make sure you give it all to Him. The boy should be praised for sharing his lunch with Christ, and the boy's mother should be praised for giving him something to give to Jesus. Jesus valued that little snack just as much as the expensive ointment that was poured out (John 12:1ff).

But did Jesus really do a miracle? Maybe the boy's kindness made the other people feel ashamed so they took out their secret lunches and shared them with everyone. That's not true! Jesus knew what was in the hearts of men (John 2:24; 6:61, 64, 70), and He said that the people were hungry. He must have known that there was food hidden! Also, the people said this was a miracle and even wanted to make Him King (John 6:14–16)! If such an event had only been caused by mass psychology, the crowd wouldn't have acted that way. John would not have chosen this event as one of the "signs" if it were not a genuine miracle.

It is important that John mentioned twice that Jesus gave thanks (John 6:11, 23). Matthew, Mark, and Luke all say that Jesus looked up to heaven when He said thank you. He did that to remind the hungry people that God is the source of all good and necessary gifts. Instead of complaining about what we don't have, we should thank God for what we do have. He will make it last longer.