Jesus Fed Five Thousand with Five Loaves and Two Fish (John 6:1-15)

Jesus Fed Five Thousand with Five Loaves and Two Fish

 

John 6:1-15

 

Today we are going to think about the miracle that Jesus fed five thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish. As this miracle is found in all of the four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John), it is believed to have quite a significant meaning. What are found in all of the four Gospels are Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection. In addition, the story that a woman pours her perfume on Jesus’ head or feet is recorded in the four Gospels. For this woman, the Gospel of John mentions her name as “Mary,” the sister of Martha, but the other three books call her just “a woman” (Matthew 26:7; Mark 14:3; Luke 7:37), and therefore, there are different opinions on whether these women are one same person. Among the miracles performed by Jesus, only this one is recorded in the four Gospels. We may see the meaning of this miracles in different ways. But in the later part of John 6, Jesus introduces himself “the true bread from heaven” (32) and “the bread of life” (35, 48), and says that this bread is his flesh, which he would give for the life of the world (6:51). These words of Jesus Christ are believed to be the clues to the meaning of this miracle of five loaves and two fish.

 

Alvin Toffler is an American writer and futurist. He wrote the best-selling book ‘The Third Wave,’ in which he mentions three waves. The first wave is the Agricultural Society, the second the Industrial Society, and the third the Information Society. This book was published in 1980, and he foresaw the coming of the third wave, the age of the Information Society, following the Agricultural Society in the old days and the Industrial Society since the Industrial Revolution. He predicted the wide spread of personal computers, the Internet, mobile communication, and so on, and the prosperity of the related businesses. Now after over 40 years since the first publication of this book, we can see that the world is in the middle of the third wave that he predicted. In a narrow sense, “a wave” mentioned by futurists refers to a technological trend leading and dominating a certain period of time, but in a broad sense, it is like “a river.” Some people ride the flow, and take advantage of it, getting bread from it and enjoying a secure life. Going further, those who preoccupy and lead the flow may gain power to rule the days. On the contrary, individuals, businesses and states remaining in a declining wave will lose in competition and get left behind. So, “smart” people make efforts to see the future, predict and prepare for new waves, and even initiate a new trend.

 

When we read today’s story that Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, we can see that Jesus stirred a very powerful “wave” in the quiet land of Galilee. When Jesus and his disciples crossed to the Sea of Galilee, “a great crowd of people” followed Jesus (v. 2). In Verse 5 as well, Jesus looked up and saw “a great crowd” coming toward him. The number of people who were following Jesus was about five thousands. In terms of time, it was near the Jewish Passover Feast, and in terms of place, it was a desolate mountain area where nobody lived. For the Jewish people, the Passover was the oldest and greatest feast. Luke 2:41 says, “Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.” John 11:55 also says, “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.” As shown by these verses, it was a long Jewish tradition that people went up to Jerusalem when it was near the Passover. Instead of going up to Jerusalem, however, these five thousand people in Galilee were chasing after Jesus, sailing the sea, running the field, and climbing the mountain. Jesus healed many sick people (v. 2), and in addition to this, Jesus, satisfying their hunger in such a remote place, seemed to be able to solve their food problem. They thought that, as long as they were following Jesus, they would be free at least from hunger and sickness. They called Jesus “the Prophet who is to come,” and tried to make Jesus “king” among them. In people’s eyes, Jesus was “a new wave” that was opening a new era. They wanted to live by the river and get many things from the river.

 

Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down with his disciples. And, seeing a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus asked Philip, one of his disciples, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” The point of Jesus’ question was “Where?” He was saying, “We are going to get bread and feed these people. Where shall we buy the bread?” However, Philip’s answer to this question, and a following word of Andrew don’t sound to get the point of Jesus’ question. Philip answered, “Eight months’ wages (200 denarii) would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite. Philip surveyed the number of people climbing up the hill, and calculated quickly in his mind. Then, he concluded that he needed a huge amount of money in order to buy bread just a bite for each person. Following Philip, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, came and said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” It looks that the disciples didn’t have any food in themselves apart from the young boy’s lunch box. What was available was quite small. The NIV Bible emphasizes its smallness, calling it “small barley loaves” and “small fish.” Even its owner was also “a little boy.” Andrew felt pathetic on what he brought before Jesus, saying “How far will they go among so many?” The sayings of Philip and Andrew describe the basic problem that we all are suffering in our lives. We have “a big need” of eight months’ wages, but what we have is too small to meet the need. Therefore, we are always fearful, sad, and complaining. Our heart is heavy and dark. We feel pressed, and become selfish. Not to mention five thousand, we don’t have a room to take care of one neighbor. To us as such, “five loaves and two fish” looks nothing. We feel ashamed of it and hide it under a bushel. As that much, we look forward “a powerful new wave” that may fill our big need.

 

Surprisingly, however, Jesus did not ignore the five small barley loves and two small fish that Andrew brought to him. Jesus received it. Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down. Then, he took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed it to those seated there. He did the same for the fish. All the people had enough, and when the leftover pieces were collected, they filled twelve baskets. Jesus’ way was quite different from that of his disciples. Philip started with eight months’ wages, which he didn’t have. Then, he fell into despair. He concluded that it was impossible to get bread and feed such a large crowd of people. But Jesus started with “five loaves and two fish” laid in front of him. Jesus received it, gave thanks for it, and blessed it. Jesus was pleased with “small thing” just as it was, and respected and valued it highly. Then with the small thing, Jesus carried out his plan, which was out of his love and goodness. “Five loaves and two fish” represents how Jesus feeds the world. It is the way that Jesus becomes “a new wave” in this world. It is the way that Jesus becomes the bread of life for people and the source of happiness for them.

 

Isaiah 8:6-8a says, ““Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck.” Different from other big cities built by a large river, Jerusalem, built on top of a mountain, didn’t have such a river. Instead, there was the Gihon Spring outside the wall of Jerusalem, and the water rising from the spring flew through a number of channels into the Pool of Siloam inside the wall. “The gently flowing waters of Shiloah” are these waterways from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam. According to Wikipedia, Gihon is an intermittent spring. That is, it doesn’t gush out water steadily, but sometimes produce water and sometimes not. So we may see why Prophet Isaiah says “gently flowing waters.” These “gently flowing waters” symbolize God’s grace upon His people. It was “clean and pure water of life.” But in the eyes of the people of Israel, this water was too small and poor. They envied the huge rivers in Damascus, Assyria, and Egypt. The big rivers blessed their residents with vast fertile lands. Countless large and small boats were bustling up and down the streams, and the shopping malls standing along the rivers were crowded with well-dressed men and women. Seeing these new waves of the world, the people in Jerusalem felt pity on themselves. Instead of giving thanks to God’s grace, they hated and rejected it and complained about its poorness. They followed the Gentiles’ new trends, and tried to be like one of them. God was displeased with them, and brought against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates. God made the wave of Assyria overflow the channels of Jerusalem and sweep over Judah. God made them know that it was not a wave bringing satisfaction and happiness but death and destruction. God helped them seek “the gently flowing waters of Shiloah” again. God led them to realize that this seemingly poor flow of God’s grace was actually “the spring of life” to them.

 

“A wave” traced by the intellectuals in the world is a gigantic trend of the world, on which people rely and ride in order to get bread, security, and power. As this river is violent and changeable, many people are swept by the flow even to death. And such waves keep appearing and disappearing over time, and even the greatest wave is not remembered long once it has waned. There is only one eternal stream, which is flowing out of God, and only that stream of water gives us life, peace, and satisfaction. Psalm 46:4 sings, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.” Like the Gihon Spring outside the gate of Jerusalem, this river makes glad God’s people with its gently flowing clean and fresh water. In the wilderness with nothing to eat and drink, five thousand poor souls were wandering. In Mark 6:34, Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without shepherd. Jesus wanted to give them something to eat. Then, he received five loaves and two fish, and fed the large number of people fully with that small amount of food. This is surely a miracle. Still, this is an eternal spiritual principle of how God blesses and satisfies each of us with his grace. It is out of God’s compassion upon us and His heart desire to make us glad and happy in him. It is out of God’s humility that respects us and receives our poor devotion. It is out of God’s wonderful power that carries out His glorious plans so gracefully even when working together with our poor hands.

 

People tried to make Jesus king among them. But Jesus didn’t like this, and withdrew from them into a mountain. Actually, people’s attempt to make Jesus king was not just this time. When Jesus was entering Jerusalem in order to go through the suffering of cross, people thought that it was the time for Jesus to defeat his enemies and rise to the throne over Israel. Very disappointingly, however, Jesus, instead of becoming king, died on the cross like a sinner. People were waiting for a new wave that would change the world. But the huge wave stirred by Jesus, which had excited people in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, stopped abruptly on the cross outside the gate of Jerusalem. People thought everything was over. But it was not. There Jesus became a gently flowing water installed there forever. Jesus himself became “five loaves and two fish.” It is not like the Great River in Assyria. It is not like Alvin Toffler’s Third Wave. It looks nothing. But actually it is everything for our life and satisfaction. It never changes, and it never stops flowing, although sometimes it flows so gentle that it doesn’t look flowing. The Third Wave has changed the world, but it is not able to save a soul and satisfy its hunger. People say that the Fourth Wave will be biotechnology. With this, people may dream of “the miracle of five loaves and two fish without God” and “the miracle of healing without God.” But we see today that human technologies are more destructive than constructive, and these big waves are quite disturbing and alarming. In Jesus, we don’t have to be a futurist to read the trends of the world. In Jesus, we don’t have to be alert in order to ride and survive the violent waves of this world. Only Jesus is the river flowing from the beginning to the end, and only Jesus is the source of bread, the source of security, and the source of power that lasts forever. As long as we are with Jesus, we are in the court of God’s house full of food and drink even if it is a remote wilderness and even if we have only five small barley loaves and two small fish. Now instead of worrying about what we don’t have, instead of riding and floating on the world waves, let’s turn our eyes to Jesus, to the grace God showed upon us, and to what God is going to do among us in Jesus. Then, we will find the ever-flowing stream deeply under the chaotic human world, and we will see how our Lord Jesus turns five small loaves and two small fish into our eternal life and satisfaction.