Feeding the Five Thousand | Sermon 02/26/2023

There we go. Will you turn with me and your Bibles to the Gospel according to John 6.

Finally on chapter 6. This is a big chapter.

This is 71 verses. Chapter 6. We're going to be in verses 1 -15 today of John 6.

1 -15. The title of this sermon today is simply, Feeding the 5 ,000.

Feeding the 5 ,000. So starting in verse 1 of the

Gospel according to John, chapter 6. Hear now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true

God. After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the

Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias. A large crowd followed him because they saw the signs which he was performing on those who were sick.

Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the

Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. Therefore Jesus, lifting up his eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these may eat?

This he was saying to test him, for he himself knew what he was intending to do.

Philip answered, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?

Jesus said, have the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down in number about 5 ,000.

Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, he distributed to those who were seated.

Likewise, also of the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were filled, he said to his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.

So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten.

Therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had performed, they said, this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.

So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone.

Thus ending the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray once more. Father, would you please speak through me today by your

Spirit? Would you show us what your Son and you and the

Spirit want us to know and learn and take away from this section of Scripture?

Lord, would you please illumine the Scriptures for us by your Spirit? Lord, as always,

I pray that this is not simply information for us, data, but that this is transformative in nature.

How can it not be? Because it's your living word, it does something when it is proclaimed.

So God, please help me to speak in such a way that is helpful to the body. Let it be clear and let it always be true.

I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So the temptation of Jesus is a well -known account in the life of the

Savior that took place after his baptism and before the start of his public ministry.

Matthew chapter four details this, which is called, again, the temptation of Jesus.

It says in Matthew four, then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

And after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he then became hungry. Jesus had to endure all things we have, including hunger.

The tempter came to him and said, if you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

The first temptation of Jesus by Satan had to do with bread.

See, a hungry man is willing to do a lot of things for some bread. Even when soldiers are fighting a campaign of war and they're going across the lands and they pass by villages, now where they've been sent, there's supposed to be these carts that continue to replenish and bring them a supply of food.

But sometimes where they come from, the food doesn't come quickly enough. And so these men, these soldiers can get starved.

And so they see a village and they pillage it. They take the grain. They take these people's bread.

It doesn't matter to them. Men will do a lot if they're hungry. But Jesus has food that Satan doesn't know of.

That comes from John chapter four. It was to do the will of his Father in heaven. That's his food, he said.

Jesus shuts down the enemy with scripture, but we will see in John chapter six, how

Jesus will make a far superior heavenly bread and physical bread, spiritual and physical bread.

We'll get to that eventually. The devil then took Jesus to Jerusalem and our

Lord stood on the pinnacle of the temple. And Satan said, if you are the son of God, then throw yourself down.

Test your divine abilities. The Father will commission angels to catch you as you fall.

And Jesus quotes scripture again, Deuteronomy 6, 16. And likens the testing of Jesus of himself to the testing of Yahweh, the

Lord, the one and only God. And finally, the devil then takes him to a very high mountain and showed

Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, all the nations of the world and their glory.

And said to Jesus, all these things, as far as the eye can see, all these kingdoms,

I will give to you if you bow down and worship me. And for the third time, our

Lord quotes scripture, disarms the enemy, fights in the wilderness and wins.

So the bread producing temptation, why don't you just make this bread, is an attack on Christ's physical nature.

You're hungry, make this bread. The casting himself off the temple, the pinnacle of the temple, is an attack against Christ's divine nature.

Well, if you're divine, why don't you get some angels to bear you up as you fall down.

And the temptation to worship Satan, the last one, is an attack on Christ's own birthright, the crown rights and his inheritance.

And ultimately, an attack on all the things he will receive at the success of his mission.

He says, bypass all that, and I'll give you this now. Now, the reason

I bring this up with the feeding of the 5 ,000 is that Jesus will relate to the crowds of people on the physical level with their weariness and hunger.

He will command and subdue creation in multiplying bread and fish by his divine power.

And he will avoid Satan's offer once again by departing from the crowds before they make him an earthly king.

The temptation isn't over. He may be out of the wilderness, he may have started his public ministry, but the temptation is still being thrust upon him by Satan and the world at this point in John 6.

Jesus' whole life will be tested on the razor's edge, and he will do what has long been thought impossible.

And what's incredible is just as much as Jesus will be offered a kingdom by the people, they will also be satisfied with simple bread, not the bread of life, who we will see at the end of this chapter.

They will eat and hunger again. The people choose divine signs over the divine one who performs them, and they want an earthly king to destroy an earthly enemy when the people ought to be more concerned about that thrice enemy of sin, death, and the devil.

Those things need to be conquered, but they want physical bread, an earthly king, and immediate relief from Roman occupation.

That's as far as their eyes can see. Let's see how this unfolds in our text. Go to verses one through three.

They're already up. Verse one, after these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias.

Now, we don't know how much time has passed since John chapter five, when the judge,

Jesus Christ, laid down his witness. Do you remember the four witnesses? And he laid down all his charges, and he defended his divinity, his right to judgment, his right to resurrect, his ability to raise people to life.

All that occurred. We don't know how long since then that happened in Jerusalem, but later on,

Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. So remember, Jerusalem is in the south, kind of on a low mountain, and Jesus went back north, and he went east over the north point of the

Sea of Galilee, and he's on the other side of the Sea of Galilee in the north, okay? Herod Antipas had named the

Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias, in honor of the emperor in AD 20.

Herod was more of a leader for Rome than a leader for the Jewish people. One thing to remember,

John has not been so much concerned with the complete history and detailing every single thing that Jesus did.

As we know, later, John will say that if anyone tried to record that all that Jesus did in his earthly ministry, not all the books in the world could contain all the words that it would take to detail what

Jesus did. So from that comment, we know that John had a purpose.

I've talked about this from the beginning. John has had a purpose in every single account that he has chosen to be in his gospel, okay?

Unlike the synoptics, that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they may have contained more complete history, more of the deeds that he did, okay?

Sequence has been important to John. Sequence, sequence of events have been important to him.

I'm not saying that this is out of order. I'm just saying that he has not necessarily been so concerned about a strict recounting of every single thing that Jesus did, okay?

That's key, because basically I couldn't even go into it. There's so much regarding this passage, because people will say this is out of order compared to Matthew, Mark, and Luke and all that stuff.

We just don't have time for that right now, but we know that this is harmonious with the rest of the gospel accounts.

By the way, aside from the resurrection, the feeding of the 5 ,000 is the only miracle that is shared in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, besides the resurrection.

The feeding of the 5 ,000 is in every single gospel, and that's the only one that is in every single one besides the resurrection.

Pretty interesting. Verse two, a large crowd followed him because they saw the signs which he was performing on those who were sick.

So a large crowd followed him. Now, this isn't like spiritually following him after Jesus calls his disciples and they follow him.

They follow him as Lord, as rabbi. This isn't what's happening here. The people weren't looking to obey him or turn to him at this point.

John tells us why they followed, and it's keeping up with the shallow belief at the wedding in Cana, Cana of Galilee, the healing of the royal official's son that also occurred in Cana of Galilee, and the welcome, the shallow welcome that the

Galileans gave him in a self -serving faith in signs kind of way.

This is much like with the rest of all Jesus's interactions with those in Galilee so far.

But it's all those things that he performed, the wine, the healing, all the work that he's been doing.

It's all those things that have now created a following, a large crowd coming after him.

These Galileans have seen the signs which he has performed on those who were sick, and it was a miracle to behold.

Anyone would follow him to see more spectacular feats of healing accomplished.

We would follow, if we saw these spectacular things, we'd go out in the middle of the wilderness to see more.

We'd go past the Sea of Galilee to see more, no doubt. He's done things they've never seen before.

You see, we can often read the Bible, because it's come to us after the fact, we can read the

Bible in such a way, sure, it's full of miracles, but that doesn't mean that every single day for every

Israelite through this whole history of the Bible, that they saw a miracle every day.

Yeah, there's definitely miracles that God did that are not even listed in the Bible, that he did.

But we can read it and think that these sort of miracles were happening in a common fashion for these people, but they weren't.

It had been hundreds of years since a prophet had come around.

These people probably had not seen things like this in all their lives. Maybe they had their own maladies that they wanted healing for.

Maybe you simply catch a glimpse of divine work, but will they follow him because he's the

Messiah and not just because of the wonders he performs? That's the question.

We'll see. Verse three, then Jesus went up on a mountain.

In Utah, you would say mountain, mountain. You ever heard people say that? I'm getting used to Utah language.

I said, yeah, I took bangerter, and this guy said, bangerter, bangerter.

It's just this one big rolling off the tongue anyways. Sorry, mountain. Mountain, aros, mountain, that can actually, that can mean mountain, that can mean hill, that can mean hill country or high ground.

You see, the east side of the Sea of Galilee, which, by the way, is more the size of a lake.

In fact, I believe it's in Mark where it's even called Lake Gennesaret, and it's known as a lake today, also by the name

Sea of Galilee, but again, it's not a huge sea, and so we know on the east side of the

Sea of Galilee is Golan Heights. It's what it's known today, Golan Heights, and there was a large plateau, okay, just on that east side, and it would've been enough where you could hike up a little bit, and you could stand on top of that plateau.

That's possibly where Jesus is. Go to verses four through seven. First, in verse four, it says, now the

Passover, the Feast of Jews, the Passover, the Feast of the Jews was near. So the

Passover is mentioned on numerous occasions in this gospel.

Specifically, we know at least three times that there was a gospel, I'm sorry, three times that there was a

Passover that took place, and that would make sense, right? Jesus' earthly ministry, three years from what we know, three

Passovers. Some argue there was possibly four Passovers in his earthly ministry, but we know of at least three in John for sure.

At the first Passover, that was in John chapter two, remember, Jesus went down to Jerusalem.

He designated himself as the temple of God, that the temple would be destroyed and raised up, again, in three days, pointing to his sacrifice just as the

Passover lamb. This Passover that we're talking about now, the second one, this

Passover in Jerusalem, I'm sorry, he's in Galilee right now, he's not quite yet in Jerusalem yet.

This Passover that's mentioned now will demonstrate how he is the bread for eternal life.

And the third mention of the Passover will be at the time of his death, okay? Everything points to the fact that he is the divine deliverer, giving us an exodus from the slavery of our sin.

In the Passover celebration, you ate bread and the meat of a sacrificed lamb.

Later, Jesus will say that you must eat his flesh and drink his blood in this chapter.

That can often be strange for people. I remember doing some street preaching and reading through John chapter six, and I read that, and even

I was caught off guard as a younger believer. Whoa, what does this mean? But it's like a sacrificed lamb.

This mention of Passover is to be the theme for the rest of the 71 verses in chapter six.

It's possible the mountain Jesus was on was to emphasize that he is the better Moses, that it's in contrast to Sinai.

Jesus is on a mountain, and he's proclaiming the truth. There are most definitely gonna be many other allusions to the exodus and Moses within John chapter six.

We'll see that shortly. Verse five, therefore Jesus, lifting up his eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these may eat?

Jesus is sitting down on a hill with his disciples. He sees a large crowd coming to him, and it literally says a crowd of many, many, many people, multitudes of people, and Jesus lifted up his eyes from resting with the disciples, and that's what he does.

He lifts up his eyes to those in need. He lifts up his eyes to those whom society deems unworthy.

You know, it makes me think of sometimes they teach men who are in high positions in the government or world leaders or even bosses, they teach you if you wanna hold power over your people, don't even look at them.

When they come to your office, keep your back against them. Make them feel inferior.

They'll keep their time short with you. They teach these things. Don't even pay attention to them.

But Jesus will. Jesus will lift up his eyes. He will look to you. He will look to them.

He will look upon us. Now, before Jesus asks his question, if you wanna look it up, actually, if you wanna keep

Mark 6 open, that's the feeding of the 5 ,000 in Mark, it might help, keep a finger in John 6 and then another one in Mark 6.

But Mark 6, verses 33 through 34, adds some context to our section in John 6 here.

Mark 6, 33 through 34 says, "'The people saw them going,' that is the disciples and Jesus, "'the people saw them going and many recognized them "'and ran there together on foot from all the cities "'and got there ahead of them.

"'When Jesus went to shore, he saw a large crowd "'and he felt compassion for them "'because they were like sheep without a shepherd "'and he began to teach them many things.'"

That's right before the feeding of the 5 ,000 in Mark 6. So Jesus was just trying to rest with his disciples, moving out to an unpopulated area for a break after tons of ministry, but he had compassion on the people and it was getting late.

But Jesus doesn't think simply about himself, does he? Leaders often need to do that.

They eat last, they rest last. That's what leaders do. Jesus asks

Philip, "'Where are we to buy bread so that these may eat?' Jesus likely directed his question to Philip because if you remember from John 1,

Philip was born in the town of Bethsaida, which was near this region on the east side of Galilee.

It was a city nearby. He would have been the most familiarized with the area. But John makes it clear, right?

John makes it clear that Jesus didn't even need to ask this. Verse six, "'This,' he was saying to test him, for he himself knew what he was intending to do.'"

Jesus was not stumped. Jesus wasn't, it wasn't as if he was unsure where to get bread.

He knows all things. They were too far from anywhere to get bread easily and it was getting late.

Who would have this amount of bread necessary to feed these people anyways? Like a good teacher,

Jesus tests his students. John tells us that. Jesus already knew what he was going to do.

"'Did Philip and the disciples have the faith in Jesus "'that would see a limited amount of food "'as no obstacle for Jesus to feed a crowd, "'or would they see it as an obstacle?'

How are we gonna do this? Would we have the faith? And this once again goes in line with the

Exodus. Exodus 16, verse four, "'Then the Lord said to Moses, "'Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, "'and the people shall go out "'and gather a day's portion every day, "'that

I may test them.'" This is when the manna rained down in the wilderness. Where is Jesus?

He's in the wilderness with these people. "'Test them whether or not they will walk "'in my instruction.'

Jesus was testing Philip. The Philip who said in chapter one, "'We have found the one whom

Moses in the law "'and the prophets wrote about, Jesus of Nazareth.'" This is the

Philip who said that. Verse seven shows us what happened though.

"'Philip answered him, "'200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, "'for everyone to receive a little.'

And so the apostle failed the test. We would have failed the test. Philip is looking only at the limited scope that he's operated in his whole life, the natural realm, the natural world.

If he's going to walk by faith, then he has to understand that Jesus is infinitely bigger than this large crowd, than these multitudes.

He's greater, he's bigger, he's more magnificent. 200 denarii worth of bread wouldn't even be enough.

Remember, one denarius was considered a fair wage for a day's worth of manual labor.

So if you were a manual laborer, you'd get one denarius for that day's work. So what he's saying is, not even if someone worked for 200 days, which would be roughly, with the

Sabbath in mind, roughly eight months of wages, and they would still not even have enough to buy enough bread to feed these approaching villagers.

Philip sees a mountain of a task, not the one who created the mountains. And Philip is funny too.

He's like, you can't have even a little with that.

Brother wanted more than a mouthful. We gotta get more bread than that. Go to verses eight through nine.

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?

Even Simon Peter's brother is bewildered by this question. However, the apostle

Andrew, under the sovereign providence of God, aligning with the arrangements

Jesus has already known and determined in his mind, sees a young boy with five barley loaves and two fish out in the crowds.

It's like a needle in a haystack. Out of all the places Andrew could have looked, he finds the one young man with barley loaves and two fish.

By the way, barley loaves were considered a bread of the lower classes.

It was cheaper than wheat. These were probably pickled or salted fish, probably pretty tiny fish.

There's no luxury here, right? Now the main conflict of the miracle is presented.

You have the hunger of a large crowd, no food to offer them, and even two kind of mild rebukes from his apostles.

He says, where is this? Not possible. What about this? This kid has something, but it won't be enough.

So you have this conflict of the miracle has been stated. Now the solution is going to arise.

Verse 10, Jesus said, have the people sit down. So he doesn't start challenging the apostles and their views, their limited scope of what he can do.

He just takes charge. Jesus says, have the people sit down. He makes an imperative statement.

He makes a command, have the people sit down. There's much grass in that place,

John says, so the men sat down and number about 5 ,000. The solution to the conflict begins with a command from Jesus.

Isn't that typically how we fix things in our lives? We have these conflicts in our lives. We're like, how are we going to bring resolution to these conflicts in our lives?

I think that's just one simple, I'm not going to make a huge application here, but isn't that one simple thing where it's like, if there's a conflict and you want resolution, obey

Jesus's commands. It'll probably work itself out. Go to his word, go to him in prayer, obey

Jesus, and the conflict will cease. Resolution will come.

So Jesus will take charge and lead now. He won't rebuke Philip and Andrew. He will let his work do the talking.

Jesus also doesn't want a massive crowd in disarray or confusion. He commands, have everyone sit down.

And even Jesus is good at delegating. Delegating is a good thing in Jesus's eyes.

He has the disciples go throughout the crowd. You could imagine the rabbi would have you sit down now, all sit down, heed the words of the prophet.

He's called you to sit down now. Please sit and await his word. They would go throughout the crowd and say.

Also, sitting down like that could even indicate to them that a good meal was coming.

They would sit down like that. I wonder if the disciples were embarrassed. They're like, there's no food anywhere.

And Jesus is like, tell them to sit down because we're about to have a big meal. And they're like, oh man. Hey, can you guys sit down?

Something's coming. They might be a little embarrassed by that. Definitely confused by Jesus's calm and commanding demeanor.

They need to go back home. They came all this way north of the Sea of Galilee.

They went east, we're on the east side. The villages are back west. They've got to start heading back.

They're going to get hungry. They're going to be faint along the way. No, have them sit down. But it's getting late.

Have them sit. Trust me. Mark six, once again, verse 39 and 40 now adds to this.

Mark six, 39 and 40. And Jesus commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass.

They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. That's how we organize them.

Hundreds and fifties. The green grass was confirmation that this was indeed

March or early April before the Passover. So there we go. We have some geographical context there.

Like where I'm from in Arizona, we have green grass for about a month after our winter thing, whatever you want to call it.

And then it turns tan and brown. So I totally understand what he is saying here.

Green grass, Passover comes, resurrection day comes, everything turns brown and tan.

But now the number of men who sat down were about 5 ,000.

Exclusive of women and children. If you notice, it said crowds of people came.

Now it says men. Men. Doesn't even mention the women and children.

It obviously has some hint at the fact that there's some sort of headship and unit of counting by way of household through men.

But this means, because we already saw a lad, we already saw a boy, so there was obviously children there.

This could mean that we're talking of upwards of 10 ,000 to 20 ,000 people.

10 ,000 to 20 ,000 people followed Jesus out beyond the

Sea of Galilee. 5 ,000 men and wives, children, elderly.

A lot of people were out there. It is unbelievable that this many people were following Jesus out beyond the sea just to view

His signs. This is a huge number of people. John states this because it makes the miracle all the more miraculous.

The small amount of food is contrasted to the immense amount of people.

It's meant to look impossible. That's what it is. Verse 11,

Jesus then took the loaves and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated.

Likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. Jesus grabbed the five barley loaves and eucharistasos, eucharistasos.

This is where the word eucharist comes from. It's unfortunate Roman Catholicism has tainted that word, but in the

Greek, this is where you get the word eucharist. This is the same action

He did in the Lord's Supper before His death. Eu, okay, means good.

Charis means grace, okay? It's like an idiom, a saying.

God's grace is good. This is offering thanks to God for His goodness towards us.

You see, when Jesus gives thanks, He's not actually giving a blessing over the food.

He's blessing God. His direction is towards God, blessing

God's name, thanking God, and in that action, it blesses the food, okay?

You bless your food by blessing God. Think about that next time you pray before a meal.

Offer thanks to God, and that's when He blesses your meal.

Bless the Lord. Now, what exactly did

Jesus say when He had given thanks? We don't know. According to Carson, the most common form of Jewish thanksgiving would be if Jesus said, blessed are you,

O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth to us to eat.

He gave bread to the multitudes of families sitting in groups of hundreds and fifties. Now, Jesus delegated to His disciples earlier, but it's important for Him to be the one to distribute the bread now.

Do you see that? Verse 11, Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks,

He distributed to those who were seated. So He delegated before, but Jesus gives out the bread now, okay, because provision comes from God alone.

He could have used the disciples, but He wanted to show something here. It seems as if the miracle took place in His distribution, which makes the food baskets bottomless in that sense.

You get what I'm saying? It doesn't detail what Jesus said or did to make the bread keep multiplying, but it's possible in His giving of thanks, something powerful took place.

And every time He distributed more bread, it never went down. That's possible what happened.

We don't know exactly, but a meal was given that surpassed the value of half of a year's worth of wages.

More than a half of a year's worth of wages. In fact, it was so plentiful, they could eat until full.

They also got as much fish as they wanted. If someone had a larger family, they got more.

If a man was bulking up and needed his gains and wanted more, he got more. He got his protein.

There is a sort of lavishness to what was considered before terribly meager.

It's completely changed. You see that theme once before and continues to go throughout the gospel, this messianic abundance that's being promised.

Have you ever been to a relative's house for dinner or maybe a friendly person invited your family over for dinner, and it's kind of one of those meals where your kids eyeball you, and all in one moment of an eyeball look, you look back at them and they're like, okay, good, we are gonna get in and out after this.

It's gonna be all right. Not because the food's bad, but because there's not enough.

And they're like, no, dad, please. And you don't even have to say anything, they know. You guys have all done this.

Laugh more, because you've done this. You've gotten food after you've gone out, right? After you've gone to someone's house.

The kids' tense bodies and faces relax. They're like, okay, good, we're all right, yeah. You see, a good host, a good host like Jesus gives good food, and he makes sure that there's plenty of it.

When you have people over, make extra food. Make it your goal to be able to let your guests leave with some extra food.

That's what you ought to do. Make it, by the way, make it comfortable enough at the dinner table that your guests feel that it is okay to grab a second portion, right?

Make them feel comfortable. Offer it up. You should have more. We've made so much, enjoy more.

Offer it. Be a good host, have hospitality. This is Christian hospitality. Jesus is showing it.

Go to verses 12 and 13. When they were filled, he said to his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.

When the people were filled, which also means in the Greek they were sated, they were satisfied, he told the disciples to gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.

Remember that phrase, nothing will be lost, okay? Letting no food go to waste was actually an important Jewish custom.

So kids, husbands, it's leftovers night. We better not hear it, right?

Don't be wasteful. My wife's gonna remember that I said this, okay? Actually, I think we're having leftovers tonight, right?

It's gonna be good, though. So the abundance of the fragments is literally what it says in the

Greek there. There were so many mouths to feed and now there is so much bread and fish left over.

When you and I think of what Jesus can do, we've ought to think even bigger and better.

Makes you blush forever thinking that Jesus could not be victorious in what he's promised to do.

That hopefully one day he's victorious. Hopefully one day he acts on his promises and they'll be completed.

But we've gotta think bigger and better with Jesus. There's no stopping what he's promised to do.

This truly is a miracle of the Messiah. This is the abundance of the kingdom that the

Messiah has ushered in. It's a promise of abundance. In fact,

I would argue that there's far less famines now on earth than there were back then. It's continuing to change.

We have so much abundance. At the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31, it says,

I will satiate their souls with my abundance and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the

Lord. But do you know besides the Exodus, what story this is very similar to in the

Old Testament? Let me share with you. Very similar to this feeding of the 5 ,000.

I'll just say it real quick. You don't have to go there. In 2 Kings 4, verses 42 through 44, it's so very similar.

There was a famine in Gilgal and the sons of the prophets were starving to death, okay?

There was a famine in Gilgal. The sons of the prophets were starving to death.

And Elisha comes up and he's concerned about the men that are starving. It says this, now a man came from Beal Shalishnah and brought the man of God, that is

Elisha, the bread of the first fruits, 20 loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack.

And he said, Elisha says, give the barley loaves to the people that they may eat.

And the attendant said, what? Will I set this before a hundred men?

Will I set 20 loaves of bread before a hundred men? But Elisha said, give them to the people that they may eat for thus says the

Lord. They shall, then he finishes this, they shall eat and have some left over.

That's what Elisha says. They shall eat and even have some left over. So he set it before them and they ate and had some left over according to the word of the

Lord. So you got these barley loaves in second Kings, barley loaves now.

In fact, the word lad in John chapter six compared to that word attendant in second

Kings in what's called the Greek Septuagint, which is the Old Testament in Greek, that is the exact same word.

A young boy, a young boy in both instances brought the bread, supplied the bread that would be multiplied.

There wasn't enough for 100 men, but God multiply it and they ate to fullness, even with some left over.

It was according to the word of the Lord. I think that's key. Cause we saw in John chapter one,

Jesus is the logos. He is what? The word and it was by the word of the

Lord here in second Kings. Now it'll be by the word of the Lord, the logos, Jesus Christ.

Now it'll be by Jesus that there will be more than enough bread and even some left over.

In fact, this time it'll be 100 to 200 times more feeding, more mouths to feed in this miracle than in Elisha's day.

What is the point? What has John sought to do this whole time?

We saw in chapter five, Jesus is better than Moses. We saw in chapter four,

Jesus is better than Jacob who provided the well. Jesus is better than John the Baptist.

He is the better everything. And once again, Jesus is the prophet.

I mean, Elijah and Elisha were considered some of the most powerful prophets in the Old Testament.

And John is like, by the way, he's more powerful. He's God, he can do it.

They don't compare to him. And Jesus says, none will be lost. None will be lost.

Think about it. We're gonna see this in this chapter, chapter six, verse 39 will say that all whom the

Father has given Jesus, he will lose none of them so that nothing will be lost.

Verse 12. This is a foreshadow. This is a foreshadow that the bread of life has come and he will lose none of the

Father has given him. It's amazing. Verse 13 there. So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

There was food everywhere. There was food everywhere and the disciples had to gather it all up.

This word for basket would mean like a large basket either meant for produce or grain.

This is no small children's basket or something like that. And the number 12 can mean several things.

12 baskets demonstrate that Jesus is a great host and there was so much food that there was 12 baskets left.

It means that he provides bountifully. The 12 full baskets act even in a way as a rebuttal against the rebukes of Philip and Andrew.

Oh, so you thought there wasn't gonna be enough? My disciples look at the 12 baskets.

They thought there would never be enough but now there's a surplus. It's possible that the 12 baskets are even a symbol of the 12 apostles that at the end of the chapter, we're gonna see that all the crowds, all these thousands of people, we're talking possibly 20 ,000 or more people are eventually at the end of this chapter, they're going to leave and depart from Jesus and they won't believe him.

And all who are left, 12 apostles. That's possibly what it means.

One might also think how God will supply the needs, especially salvificly for all the 12 tribes of Israel, that the church is the true

Israel. And by also 12, you might even think of the

Jewish calendar, the lunar Jewish calendar, 12 months in there as well, that God's provision for his people is ever present.

One can get carried away with symbolism, with numbers, of course, but I think this is definitely likely relating to the 12 disciples left over, but also that he will lose none whom he desires to save.

He won't lose any of them. So let's go to our final verses, church. Verses 14 and 15.

Verse 14 says, "'Therefore when the people saw the sign "'which he had performed, "'they said, this is the prophet "'who is to come into the world.'

"'Same thing the Samaritan woman said,' "'she recognized the prophet coming into the world.'

"'When the people saw the signs that Christ performed, "'they started saying, "'this is truly the prophet who has come into the world.'"

That is the Deuteronomy 18, look it up later, Deuteronomy 18, prophet, the prophet who is to come.

The prophet of all prophets. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your own countrymen, and you shall listen to him.

That's the promise of Christ. No doubt this miraculous distribution of bread given in the wilderness here made people think of God's miraculous provision of manna to the

Israelites 1 ,500 years prior. I'm sure some of them thought that.

Deuteronomy 8, verse three. "'God humbled you and let you be hungry "'and fed you with manna which you did not know, "'nor did your fathers know "'that he might make you understand "'that man does not live by bread alone, "'but man lives by every word that proceeds "'out of the mouth of God.'"

Again, Jesus is the word. He is the logos. Man can't live by bread alone.

They have to live by the word of God. Who is the word of God? Jesus Christ.

You live by Jesus. They live by him.

He's foreshadowing that here. Later we will see Jesus say that the people weren't seeking him, necessarily him, but more of the bread of the loaves that they ate.

He'll say that in a couple of verses. They were seeking bread. The people took the sign and interpreted it their own way, the way they wanted it, and not how

Jesus meant it. The sign was about Jesus, not a sign for their own desires.

We agree that the prophet has come into the world. We would agree with them in this moment. Yes, you're right. All the people said, this is the prophet who's coming to the world, agreed, but our responses wouldn't be the same as them if we know what we know and Jesus saved us.

Theirs was shallow for personal desire. And that leads into verse 15.

So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone.

And Jesus knew their intentions with those comments. They were about to come and take him by force.

This is a seizing or snatching away something or someone.

They were going to forcefully make Jesus king. But Jesus didn't come for a throne made by human hands.

He came for an eternal throne that will span heaven and earth.

This would be a bootleg reign and kingdom if he took what they offered.

This would not be the real thing. For accomplishing what he came for with the cross, he'll get more than any human could ever offer him.

What led them to such intense conclusions? They're just eating bread and fish and they're like, we gotta make you king.

It's like, what is going on? Right? I think part of it goes back to that statement about the

Passover. Passover was near. See, the Passover was a time in which everyone was very zealous for the nation of Israel, very zealous.

We're talking, if you've ever been one of those families who loves the Independence Day, 4th of July, you even have a block party and you're just, and maybe you're like America all day that day.

We're talking much more than that. It was in this

Passover excitement and hopes for the future of Israel that the people were desiring to make

Jesus king. The other part of it is what

Mark shows us. See, I'm gonna recount to you real quick what happened in Mark right before the feeding of the 5 ,000 in Mark.

Mark shows us the little gap where at the beginning we said after some time this happened,

I'm gonna tell you what occurred in between John 5 and this section,

John 6, okay? Jesus had sent the disciples as far as we know on some sort of trainee mission to go out two by two throughout

Galilee. They were preaching repentance and casting out demons and healing people.

But the thing is King Herod heard of this. King Herod heard of what the disciples and Jesus were doing.

He heard of these miracles happening. And Jesus and his disciples were gaining favor with the people.

However, if you look in Mark, Herod speculated that John the

Baptist had risen from the dead and miraculous powers were coming from this resurrected

John. And it's possible at this point, not only did

Jesus want the disciples to quote, go to a secluded place for a while and rest with him, but it was also likely besides going out to rest past the

Sea of Galilee, that Jesus knew it was not his time yet.

We've seen that in the gospel according to John. It was not his hour yet.

And so what did Jesus do? He left the jurisdiction of Herod for a while since the

King was disturbed by his ministry. So they went to get rest and they went to get away because Herod was concerned that John the

Baptist had risen from the dead, but it wasn't Jesus' hour yet. So he left for a time.

But just when the disciples and Jesus think they're going to get rest on this plateau on the east side of the

Sea of Galilee and be alone with their Lord, they couldn't escape the people. The people keep coming, right?

The people traveled east. They went over the north end of the lake and they found Jesus. He lifted up his eyes and he saw the crowd and he felt compassion for them.

And that's what brings us to this point now. All that to say, the background makes sense as to why they wanted a king.

I think Herod was mentioned on purpose in Mark right before the feeding of the 5 ,000. Then this verse 15 goes along with it, okay?

I think it's connected. King Herod was a puppet for Rome. He didn't have the guts to rise up against the empire.

He knew he wouldn't have enough power to do it anyways. Jesus knew siege warfare would not ultimately defeat evil.

What defeats evil ultimately is sacrifice. A true king rides out before his calvary and shows his people he's willing to do whatever it takes even to be the first one to die for freedom.

Jesus will not do that though with a bow and an arrow, but he'll do it with his body and a cross. Remember my introduction with Matthew 4, the temptation of Jesus?

It should make sense now. The enemy, Satan, that old devil and serpent had not given up yet.

Despite losing in Matthew 4 in the temptation of Jesus, he departed there, but he had not given up yet.

Satan will entice the people into making Jesus a king to bypass the cross.

That's what's happening here. That's the temptation. But no, he won't take the kingship they offer him.

He'll take the kingship that his father offers him. They are mere humans.

They have no right to give him a throne. The father who sits on the throne has the only right to give it to his son.

The mention of the 5 ,000 men also indicates that Jesus could have had a decent size, fairly decent size army to begin with without much effort.

If Jesus was tempted and he acted out on this, which he can't, because he's impeccable and perfect and sinless, but if he did, he would have had a decent size army and he could have probably gained more soldiers without very little effort.

He would have snowballed from there, no doubt. If he became king right here, it would have blown up.

It would have expanded. He could have multiplied men like he multiplied fish and bread. It was no problem to him.

So like how he is able to do so often, I have mentioned this before about Jesus, he is able to withdraw.

He's able to get away from their clutches. He's able to sneak away.

I think this is often supernatural. He withdrew further up the mountain by himself.

There are thousands of eyes on Jesus, but he was able to leave without being followed.

And Jesus's withdrawing of himself was also a visible rebuke of the people's twisted desires for the

Messiah. They wanted a warrior king and he turns away.

He just took care of them. He just fed them. And he goes further up the mountain out of their sights.

It's not what I came for. I didn't come here to become your earthly king right now and defeat your enemies for you because he came to defeat, as I said, the thrice enemy, sin, death, and the devil.

And it's gonna take something way more powerful than making siege warfare to defeat evil.

It's gonna take a cross. It's gonna take his death. That's how he defeats evil.

That's how he conquers. His departure from them is indicative of both the people's wrong understanding of who he is and what he came to do, as well as his fidelity to his father and his mission, which is where his divine hospitality will ultimately be seen.

He's just given them bread and cared for them, but the biggest thing he can do to care for them is to complete his mission, to give them a different kind of bread, to become the bread of life.

We'll see that in the coming weeks and the rest of John chapter six. So let's wrap this up, church.

You heard the theology. You heard the context surrounding the feeding of the 5 ,000.

But what about us? I think you've already gleaned a lot, as I've gleaned a lot from this text.

But what can we do and take away in application from this miracle?

Let me list a couple things for you, okay? First, I think we see that Jesus cares for others, even those he knows who will reject him.

Jesus lifts up his eyes to see the least of these, and we ought to follow his example.

Have you become so internally focused these days that you've forgotten to help others?

Then just do it. Just repent today, change today, and do it. It doesn't have to be big.

You don't have to make 500 hot dogs and go downtown to homeless people, although you can, and I'll help you do it.

But you can start today. Help others, care for others. It doesn't need to be big.

Second, Jesus delegates to his disciples to accomplish tasks. Give the people around you a chance.

We think we do it best. I know it, I know how to do it. They're just going to take twice as long and possibly mess something up, right?

That's what we think. But you gotta let them try.

Because you learned. You got there because you learned and messed up and got better at whatever you're doing.

Trust your wife with that thing, husbands. That thing, you know, that you keep doing.

She's like, I'll help you with. Trust her. Let her be your helpmate.

Mothers, let your children learn, at the appropriate age, of course. Let them learn from you.

You're gonna prepare them for the future, and you'll eventually gain legitimate help in the household.

That is really nice. That's really good. So teach your children. You were there too.

Men, let the new guy in your work get better at the job, throw some stuff his way, okay?

See, I myself, as a pastor, have to remember this all the time, especially as a church planter. I have to do, you know, the accounting, the ordering, preaching and preparing this and, you know, administrative stuff and counseling and all glorious things that are on this cornucopia, this platter that I offer to God, and then you guys get to benefit from it.

I give it to the Lord. But I'm no good if I continue to try to do it myself and not raise up a man to replace me one day and men to help us get there and do ministry along the way.

We've got to delegate. We've got to do this together. The reality is, no one can do it as good as you because you won't let anyone do it as good as you because you won't let them do it at all.

Third, practice hospitality. Jesus showed He's an excellent host.

He cares for those in His stead. He made sure all had an abundance, all were fed.

They got to sit down and rest. That was originally why

He and His disciples went out there to rest themselves, but like a good host, He sees them coming. He stands up.

And listen, a good host doesn't pack a lot in either. It's not this tight schedule. Let the guests rest, right?

Where are we most comfortable? In our own homes? As much as possible, let your guests feel that in your home.

Let your home truly feel like their home. Let them feel like they can rest. Fourth, Jesus isn't wasteful.

He's a good steward of resources. Some of us are so wasteful. We waste food, we waste money, we waste time, and we take advantage of God's good and perfect gifts.

I'll tell you what though. I'm going to say this. I said this and some of you out there who are like really good at not being wasteful are going to be slightly emboldened.

And I'm going to tell you, you need to throw out that cheese, that cheese in the back of the refrigerator, okay? So there's some things that you should be willing to throw out.

See, mold can grow tentacles into your cheese. You can cut off the surface mold.

That stuff is still there, okay? Sometimes you got to throw stuff out. I just want to make sure.

I'm going to protect some of you, okay? Don't be wasteful. Some of you need to hear that, all right?

Lastly and seriously, Christ is also steadfast to His objective and nothing and no one will keep

Him from it. No temptation will keep Jesus from what He came to do.

If He has to turn away from these people, go further up the mountain to accomplish what

He's come to do, then He will. And He doesn't care about the human praise. He said that in the last chapter.

If I come like you, wanting praise from men, then I've already lost.

Jesus is steadfast to His mission. You see, you'll be tempted in this life.

You'll be tempted to compromise, capitulate, and sell yourself to something lesser.

Bow down to false gods. Don't ever do it. Depart from the things that you need to depart from when you're offered this instead of Jesus.

They want to give you part of the world in exchange for your allegiance for Christ. Don't take it.

Keep your eyes fixed on the finish line. His hour was not yet.

He had to turn away, but He was going to go to that cross. He was going to finish it. Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, stands at the end of the finish line, ready to embrace you.

Don't deviate from the course. Our Lord never did. He became our prophet, priest, and king.

We are saved because Jesus never wavered, not once.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, please bless the message that went out today.

For the glory of your namesake. Lord, there's so much more to this feeding of the 5 ,000 than we could have ever thought.

There's so much that you could have taken advantage of. There was so much you were tempted with,

Lord. It says you were tempted in all ways and yet without sin. Help us to follow your example.

When the world tries to offer us a dangling carrot that is of the flesh, let us turn to you,

God. Lord, help us to be more and more like your son.

Help us to be people of hospitality. Help us to be people of true care for others.

And we know Jesus lifted up his eyes to those people coming and cared for them, not because disciples were around him, but because it was real.

Let it be real for us. Let us care for people truly because you have wrought that in us.

Lord, we praise you. We praise you that Christ went to the end.

We praise you, Lord Jesus, that you never buckled under the pressure or took the bait.

You are now a king forever, ascended at the right hand of the

Father on high. You have all nations and all authority because you never wavered.

Help us to do the same in this life, to enter into the new life with grace.