John 6:1-15 • Inviting 5,000 to Dinner
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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
I'm going to ask that you stand and we read about that Christ and His care for the nations as we read in our Bibles from John chapter 6.
John chapter 6.
What we're doing this Sunday is completing a series in the book of John on meeting Jesus.
But what has happened so far as this? We have seen Jesus meet all kinds of people, family, friends, people of faith, enemies,
and even people as He reaches to them cannot reach back at all.
But so far it's been one by one this expression of the great reach of Jesus.
Now in John chapter 6, the reach gets not only far, it gets really wide as we see Jesus feeding 5,000 to tell us who He really is.
John 6 verses 1 through 15.
After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias, and a large crowd was following Him because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain and there He sat down with His disciples.
Now the Passover, the Feast of the Jews, was at hand.
Lifting up His eyes then and seeing a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we going to buy bread so that these people may eat?"
He said this to test Him for He Himself knew what He would do.
Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."
One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother said to Him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?"
Jesus said, "Have the people sit down."
Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down about five thousand in number.
Jesus then took the loaves and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated, so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
And when they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world, perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king."
Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.
Let's pray together.
Father, we remember from Your Word that this same Jesus who broke the bread to extend it to so many declared of Himself, "I am the bread of life."
When there are things in this world that cannot provide for us, when wind blows away what is dear to us, when lives are lost, when possessions are gone, when our hearts fail, that what Your Word promises us is something this world cannot offer and cannot take away, an eternal relationship with Jesus Himself. The one who fills us with peace, the one who promises us eternity, the one who says He will make all things work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Would You help us see more of Him in this passage?
To help us learn more of the purposes that at times seem so elusive so that when we are wanting we have the bread that still makes us full, full of the eternity that is security no matter what happens in this world. Grant us more of Him this day, we pray, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Please have a seat.
So how many were at your Thanksgiving table? If you had five or more, would you raise your hand? Five or more?
Ten or more?
Okay, hands down.
Twenty or more? Oh, still got them coming. Twenty-five or more?
Thirty or more?
Still doing it. Okay. Five thousand or more?
Some still raised their hands. In the family of God we all did, after all.
You know, big meals mean big celebrations.
And of course there is a big meal going on here in John chapter 6. But not only here. Something you may be interested to know is there are miracles, as you know, throughout the New Testament, but no biblical book gives all the miracles.
Instead, the biblical writers take from the various accounts of Jesus' life and they use those accounts that will fulfill the purpose for their particular book as they are writing with particular emphases. There is only one miracle that makes all four gospels of the Bible. Only one.
It's this one.
Only the feeding of the five thousand. Only this big meal that all the gospel writers are celebrating. So you have to say if every single one of them would include this big celebration, what are they celebrating?
That no one can exclude it.
I suppose the way to think about it is not just to think about the big meal itself. I mean, we're just coming off a Thanksgiving weekend, so we recognize what a big meal is about. But the reason really though, what this passage is about, don't think about all the food for the moment, okay? Not the sweet potatoes with the marshmallows.
Not the turkey. Not even the lime jello, you know.
Now you're thinking about it, aren't you?
Not even all the people around the table, okay, who laugh and tell stories, you know, the one that tops the other, that tops the other to talk about things sentimental or funny.
I want you to get the sense of this passage by thinking of maybe the person that doesn't participate.
Sits around the table but by emotion or action is somewhat beyond the conversation.
That when they speak, they speak too much and then look down as though they have betrayed something.
Some hurt or pain or disappointment or loss that is so deep that to participate in the celebration is seeming to betray their own pain, who smiles but when they smile, it is a mask.
Because something has happened, some loss or abuse or devastation or hurt is there. That what happens is they have lost the ability to trust that the meal itself, as much as it is celebrating the great provision of God, doesn't seem to penetrate to what actually is the loss within them that makes them wonder if they can trust the meal, can trust the people, can trust the Savior who says that He's supposed to take care of them.
What you're looking at in the 5,000 is 5,000 people plus more who have lost trust.
They are under the oppression of the Romans.
That's only the last of the armies of the aliens who have come in to overwhelm them and oppress them and take their taxes and put them in slavery over and over again. And yet through it all, there has been this promise, the Messiah will come, there is one who will deliver you, there is one who will set you free.
Can they believe it?
Can they trust that it is real?
And this account more than any other in the miracles of the New Testament is meant to say you can trust the promises are real.
After all, what is Jesus doing when He presents all of this food to so many? He is first of all just declaring His nature. It happens so subtly at the beginning we don't really understand all that is happening. In verse 5 we read these words, "Lifting up His eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?" We know from other biblical passages this is Philip's home region. He should know the place. And so Jesus says to Philip, "Where's the Kroger?
Where's the Aldi's? Where can we get some bread? Where can we get some meals for these people?" And of course Philip answers in verse 7, "Two hundred denarii." Now that's 200 days wages, I don't know. $20,000 would not buy enough bread for each of these to get even a little. Now you don't understand Philip's consternation until you actually do the math a little bit more. You know from this passage that it says, "There were 5,000 present." But do you remember the gender that is identified? There were 5,000 men.
And the actual Greek word means able-bodied men, like men who could join an army, overcome an oppressor. 5,000 able-bodied men, but they're not the only ones there.
Their families, their kids, grandparents.
Those who do the estimates say there weren't just 5,000 here. There may have been 20,000 here.
And Philip is quite right when he says, "Listen, a dollar per person is not even to get them a little." And it's not just that there's little money. I mean, you recognize what else is the problem. Verse 8, "One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brothers, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" Well, that's a good question. Five loaves and two fish for 20,000?
How is that going to provide?
Well, of course, Jesus is not just showing great wisdom and saying he knows what he is going to do. He is showing great power when he begins now to provide for those who are present. Do you remember what happened? Verse 10, "Jesus said, Have the people sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about 5,000. And then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated, so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
And then when they had eaten their fill, there was more left over."
Now I just had to do it on a napkin, right?
20,000 people, five loaves, two fishes.
And he's providing so much that they don't want anymore, that they are actually filled. I mean, this is the post-Thanksgiving meal feeling.
They are full. What would that have meant? I mean, in today's term, if you are providing bread for 20,000, I mean, just assuming a loaf of bread, you know, would make about 10 sandwiches. Okay, so that's 2,000 loaves.
If you didn't even give a quarter pounder, okay, a fish, to all the way, just a fifth of a pound, so that they're, you know, they've got to be full, right? So at the end, there's a lot of, wait, a fifth of a pound for 20,000 people.
That's 4,000 pounds of fish.
That's two tons.
If you say, you just take a little while, take a half an hour, okay, to organize the people into groups of 50 that they sat in, and then you begin to distribute, that means you have to be producing a loaf of bread a second and two pounds of fish a second.
This is the fastest McDonald's you know on steroids.
I mean, I actually can't even visualize how this is happening, that he is breaking the bread and fishes, and it is mounting up so fast that in whatever time it takes to feed the people, to get them down and seeded, you have two tons of fish and 2,000 loaves of bread. This is an incredible display of power. And we read early, of course, that Jesus knew he was going to do it. Even though he asked Philip, you know, where's the Kroger? He says, I'm doing this to test Philip, not because I don't know what I'm going to do. There is extraordinary wisdom and extraordinary power on display, and yet as great as the wisdom and power, it is not reason to trust Jesus.
Listen, when I was in grad school, the first car I ever owned came my way, and it was a Plymouth Cricket.
Now if you haven't heard about a Plymouth Cricket, the reason is Chrysler imported it only one year from England, and there was a reason that they imported it for only one year.
During the time that I owned the Plymouth Cricket, somehow I got the feeling that, you know, people who own cars have breakdowns about every 300 miles.
I mean, I just assumed that was the norm because I owned a Plymouth Cricket, and that's what happened. And by the way, the parts are in England.
This is a problem. Now, at least I learned a little about car repair by owning a Plymouth Cricket, but I didn't know nearly as much as my father, I must tell you. And so about Thanksgiving time one year, I was taking the trip from St. Louis to Memphis, and on the trip, my Cricket did what it could be relied upon to do.
It broke down on the way to Memphis.
Now listen, my father, I well knew, had the knowledge to know how to fix my car. He also had the tools and the power to fix it.
But he's in Memphis, and I'm 100 miles away.
I don't just need him to have knowledge and power, I need him to have the heart to come.
And what we're seeing in the feeding of the 5,000 is not just Jesus' great wisdom, and not just his great power, but his great heart.
He looked at the crowd, and he saw that they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And he said, "How can we help them?"
What is being revealed here is the wonder of a Savior who would come, who has tremendous wisdom and tremendous power, but also the great heart to help.
But you know something? Even that's not enough.
You may remember that before Jesus began to distribute the bread, verse 11, we read this key thing, "Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks," he distributed them. There has to be an authority that's asked for. He's recognizing there's an authority beyond himself, and the people recognize there's an authority beyond Jesus. They recognize the Romans are in authority. They recognize Jesus is recognizing a higher authority. So even if Jesus has wisdom, even if he has power, even if he has a heart to help, does he have the authority to help us? And the things that are obscure to our kind of modern eyes are what the Jews began to recognize was the declaration of his authority, as well as of his nature to help. The authority is in display as you read verse 14.
After Jesus has distributed, we read this, "When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." Now, it's unfamiliar language to you. This is the prophet.
But the Jews had a very specific reference in mind.
In Deuteronomy 18, Moses, as he was preparing to leave, the exclusive authority of Israel said to the people, "There is one who comes after me, who will be like me, but greater than I.
There is a greater Moses to come." Now, why would that come to the people's minds? I'm just going to call on some of you to think back to your Bible knowledge a little bit and recognize why people would be thinking about Moses at this time. Way early in this passage, something that just got up to the light very quickly is verse 4. What time of year is it that Jesus is offering all this food to the people? Remember what it says at the beginning of verse 4? It was the time of what?
Passover. What happened at the very first Passover? Moses delivered the people from slavery. Now it is the time of Passover. And as the people get into the desert, they begin to get hungry. They're in a desolate place. And what does Moses pray for and what does God provide from heaven?
Manna, bread from heaven is provided for the people. And when Moses addresses the people, he goes up in, upon a what?
Goes up upon a mountain to address the people. Where does Jesus go? He's up on a mountain. Now the one that you may not have thought about is this. After he is provided for them from the mountain, something happens next. If you just let your Bible go down a little bit more in John chapter 6, what happens after the feeding of the 5,000? Jesus does what? He walks?
He walks on the water.
He crosses water as though it is dry ground.
And do you remember what happens when one of the apostles starts to fade into the water? What does Jesus do?
He lifts him up as though he can too walk on dry ground. There is manna in the wilderness. There is addressing the people from the altar. It is the time of Passover and it's followed by a water miracle in which people pass over as though on dry ground. Would you think of Moses?
If you were a Jew, you would be thinking of Moses, but you would say this.
He did it himself and right before our eyes, this is the greater Moses. This must be the prophet.
And even then, you're not done with what a Jew would be thinking.
Earlier in this passage, you may remember that one of the disciples said, verse 9, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves.
In 2 Kings and verse 4, there is another multiplication of loaves.
A young man comes to Elisha." Now just to kind of get all that biblical history straight in your minds, okay? Elisha followed Elijah.
Elijah as he was ending his rule was told, "There will be one who comes after you who is greater than you." That was Elisha.
And during the time of Elisha, there was a group of people who began to be in want. And there was a young man who came to Elisha and he had with him, guess what, barley loaves.
And Elisha began to break the loaves and multiplied them and gave them to a hundred people.
A couple of key things. That word for young man in Greek in the Bible of Jesus' time, that word only appears here in John 6 in that verse. It's the only place that word appears and it's the same word that was used to the man who helped Elisha.
And the loaves were barley then and the loaves are barley now.
What the people are saying is, "This is Elisha. This is the greater Elijah."
Why is that important? I don't know. I had Jordan read early. Did you catch the passage when Jordan was playing earlier? He read from that last book of the Bible from Malachi when we were told that before the Messiah comes, who is going to precede Him? There will come one named Elijah and after him will come one who is greater. Jesus has already told us that Elijah has come. Remember John the Baptist? He was Elijah and when John came, he said, "There is one who comes after me who's what? Who's shoelaces I'm not worthy to undo." And now who's here?
One who acts like Elisha. He is greater than Elijah, just like we were told he would come. We have the greater Moses and we have the greater Elijah. It will actually happen visually in Matthew 17. In Matthew 17 at the transfiguration, Jesus goes up on a mountain again and when he gobs up on the mountain, two people appear in the cloud with him. Do you remember who they are?
Moses and Elijah just say, "All the law and the prophets come to give testimony. He's the one we've been about. He is the fulfillment of the ages. He is the one we prophesied about. Here he is. He's come. He's here. It's him."
And now it's not just Elijah and Elisha who are presenting it. It's all represented in Christ himself. This is why the gospel writers cannot avoid the account. They recognize that everything that's going on here is saying, "This is the one. He is the fulfillment of the ages. He's the one we've been waiting for. He's the one who can help us. And he's here now." I think of it in terms of a news report that was a year ago when a group of first graders in a grade school class were celebrating their Christmas and in through the door walked Santa Claus.
But when he pulled down his beard, one of the children saw it was his dad from Afghanistan who'd come home. And what are the... "You're here!" And that's what the people are doing here. They're saying, "He's here. The one we wanted to come. He's here now to fix everything."
And if you feel that, you may know why the tune is about to change.
Because while he has declared his nature and while he has declared that he is the one with authority, he's also about to declare his purpose.
After all, if you were these people, if you've been oppressed by the Romans, if you've been harassed and helpless and you wonder where your deliverer is, when he finally comes and you recognize, "This is him," you're going to say, "Why don't you be our king?" And they were about to take him by force and make him their king. And instead, he retires to a solitary place. Why?
Jesus, why don't you just fix it all? I mean, just right now, why don't you just fix it all?
We're left in this passage not only to understand what is being presented as not only Christ's nature and Christ's authority, but ultimately his purpose.
I mean, obviously there's an earthly purpose.
He's feeding hungry people.
He comes to feed hungry people. That's part of the purpose. But listen, they will get hungry again, and he will not be there.
He has a greater message to teach.
And so at night, he crosses the lake. Do you remember walking on the water? And the people to meet him, they go around the corner and they meet him on the other side the next morning, and they say, "Give us more bread."
And he says, "Did you just come for the bread and not for me?
Then you don't really recognize my purpose yet because it's not just for your earthly want.
It is for your eternal need."
I wrote down some of the interaction that is about to come just to kind of help us feel through what these people must be thinking and saying and what it would mean when Jesus responded.
They are saying to Jesus, "Moses delivered us from the Egyptians, and you're the greater Moses. So deliver us from the Romans."
But he says, "I came to deliver you from you and from your sin."
They say, "Give us bread to fill up our lot, our bellies."
And he says, "I am bread to fill up your hearts."
They say, "Be our king."
He says, "My kingdom is not of this world."
They say, "Fix all our problems."
He says, "I came to fix you.
You after all are the problem between God and this world."
And when he says that, they walk away from him and he walks to a cross for them.
When you see the interactions that are to come, you think to yourself, "He provided so much for them. He came to the world for them." And they walk away from him. Not a bunch of bums. He gives them this big banquet, and they just turn on him.
You know, it happens every year about this time.
All the newscasts will carry the story on Thanksgiving night of how wonderful people like you go to the rescue missions doing such great work in this city and provide the banquets
for so-called bums.
But what we discovered this year, didn't we, is there's not a lot of distance between so-called bums and our own need when the world can change so quickly and we discover how great is our need of someone to help.
I recognize that when I recognize what Jesus did.
He provided food even though he had the wisdom to know they would walk away. Do you recognize that? If he knows what's going to happen, he knows they're going to walk away.
He has the power to take himself out of the situation and still he humbles himself and dies on a cross for them.
And though their hearts reject him, his heart breaks for them and he offers himself upon that cross.
Whose sin put him there?
Mine.
If I read the Bible the way God wants me to, I recognize I'm just a bum at the banquet too.
My sin put him there, but he provided himself as bread for my heart and soul eternally.
But you know what the greater message is?
There were 12 baskets left over.
Now let me tell you what I think that may mean and then let me tell you what I know it means.
How many tribes of Israel?
Twelve tribes of Israel.
Now they have all been fed and there are 12 baskets provision left over.
I think one of the symbolic messages is that God is saying there's room for more.
There's food for more. And by the way, we all know here at Thanksgiving time, the leftovers are sometimes better than the original meal itself, right? Maybe sandwiches, mayonnaise, horseradish, and sweet pickles.
What is Jesus saying through the leftovers?
There's a place for more. And in the abundance he is saying to us, how great is his provision? I couldn't help but think of it as I was listening to the reports as I came back and one of the amazing reports was listening to how the Lord had used Karen Fry as your representative to help so many who were hurt by the tornadoes. Do you know that? Setting up the "free Walmart" over in Washington, how she arranged for the clothes and the food and the dry goods and so much. I mean, Karen Fry, what a wonderful blessing to so many people representing this church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a great work she did.
And one of the accounts she told me was, you know, when first all the supplies came and all they could do was just kind of heap them up on the floor and there wasn't so helpful to people. And so the word went out, we're going to have to get some shelves to stack these things. And Karen called a particular business person in town and said, you know, actually she knew already, she needed 150 linear feet of shelves. And she called the business person, "Can you help with any shelves?" I said, "Well, I can, but I've only got 160 linear feet."
There was an abundance. And by the way, I have a hundred linear feet of more shelves to use in a different place in a different way. And it's really the abundance that somehow as God's saying to you and to me, I can do exceedingly abundantly above all that you would ask or even think that while God may be saying there's room for more, He's ultimately saying, "You have to know how great is my heart, my grace that isn't just providing for earth's immediate need. I can work all things together for good to those who love me that are called according to my purpose. And your ultimate need is not an earthly need, it is an eternal need. And so I will sometimes even allow my people to experience what weans them from the things of this world so that they will cling to their security and what God eternally has for them, where there is no more crying or want or hurt or tears, where God provides for people who cannot provide for themselves eternally because that's how great His grace is. This great feast celebrates a greater grace that all of us need when the things of this world have come undone or are finally done that we might know that grace that He provides eternally, He shows us that nature, that goodness, that heart, that grace, that eternity that we might cling to Him no matter what happens. He's saying, "Look, there's still abundance available." And He throws His heart open wide so that even in the hard times we would know we could run to Him.
First church I pastored.
Had to take a lot of trips from southern Illinois up to St. Louis, see people in the hospital participate in things. And there was a place where the two country roads came to a tee known as the Freeburg Cut-Off. And I always like kind of getting to that spot because there was this curious irony. There was an old restaurant there, long abandoned, windows boarded up, paint peeling off.
But the sign was still out front.
The sign said, "Seeding still available." And I just like the irony of that.
Bill McIntyre, you know where I'm talking about.
Years later after I had been at the seminary some years and was going back to that church to take care of some business or a funeral or something, I'm not sure. I went past the same place. And at the place where the roads form across, there was a new restaurant.
Lots of food provided, lots there available.
And the old sign still out front, "Seeding still available."
What happens when you see the feeding of the 5,000 or the 20,000 with leftovers still available?
You learn there's a place for bums at the banquet.
And for more, if you've lost trust, if you've lost hope that he could love you, that he could still work all things together for good.
This account says, "You come and sit at this table and know the one who loves you eternally
and will take care of what he needs to for your sake forever." Don't fear there's not enough grace there.
There's still seeding available.
And sometimes the leftovers are the very best part of the meal.
Father, would you so work in our hearts that we could rejoice, that we could be part of the great banquet of feasting upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ?
Whether our loss is a property or a family or of dear ones or even self-respect, there's still a place for us at your table.
Teach us that, that when it seems like our trust just gets blown away, that we know the one we can cling to, the anchor for our souls, so that no matter how great the storm, how dark the night, how difficult the circumstance, we could turn to the one whose wisdom and power
and heart are great enough to claim us and help us and hold us for eternity.
We come to him now, pull back the chair, we want a seat because your word tells that there's still seeding available.
We come to sit with you, even as the storm rages about us, we come to sit with you and know that you welcome us at your banquet.
We thank you for this in Jesus' name, amen.