Day Eight: Jesus Feeds 5,000
This fourth sign of Christ has become a familiar story to many who are familiar with the Bible. Jesus feeds a crowd of at least 5,000 people with only five loaves and two fish.
On the one hand, this is an amazing story of Christ, the God-man’s authority over nature, who physically multiplied the food to feed the crowd. While that miracle is worth reflecting upon, there is more to this story than meets the eye.
The text informs us that it was the time of the Passover. Passover was a ceremony that Jesus (along with every other faithful Jewish man or woman in Israel) would have celebrated annually, commemorating and retelling the story of their miraculous escape from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses, as told in the Book of Exodus.
This new section of the Gospel of John begins by informing us that the Passover is at hand, and Jesus has gone out to a dry arid desert region. The text begs us to consider how Jesus is connected with the Passover. Interestingly, the first two scenes of chapter six involve a miraculous provision of food and a taming of the seas, two vital components of the original Passover story (the Red Sea and the manna in the desert) that were rehearsed and recited every year during the Passover celebration.
Jesus asked a rather honest and practical question to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Philip responded as most of us would have in that situation, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
You can almost hear the exasperation in Philip’s voice. A denarius was the equivalent of a day’s wage. Philip scratched his head in bewilderment that Jesus would suggest they attempt to feed the crowd. Philip saw a need far greater than his own ability to meet, and his first impulse was hopelessness.
Andrew took a slightly different approach and searched for food. This approach also brought him to hopelessness, as all he discovered was a few fish and a few loaves. But in the midst of this seemingly hopeless and overwhelming task assigned by Christ, there was a way forward that none of the disciples considered. They were busy looking at the problem with their practical minds and considering only what their eyes could see, forgetting that Jesus was in the habit of doing far more than anyone could imagine.
We must never forget that the problems we face every day are not only to be tackled with practical solutions. We must apply our faith and trust that God often has ways of providing well beyond our wildest imaginations. God will often call us to pursue some good that is far beyond our means, to care for some person that will stretch us, to give in some way that feels impossible.
It is in these moments that our faith is often most stretched, and the abiding joy that is ours in Christ is most often experienced.
On the one hand, this is an amazing story of Christ, the God-man’s authority over nature, who physically multiplied the food to feed the crowd. While that miracle is worth reflecting upon, there is more to this story than meets the eye.
The text informs us that it was the time of the Passover. Passover was a ceremony that Jesus (along with every other faithful Jewish man or woman in Israel) would have celebrated annually, commemorating and retelling the story of their miraculous escape from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses, as told in the Book of Exodus.
This new section of the Gospel of John begins by informing us that the Passover is at hand, and Jesus has gone out to a dry arid desert region. The text begs us to consider how Jesus is connected with the Passover. Interestingly, the first two scenes of chapter six involve a miraculous provision of food and a taming of the seas, two vital components of the original Passover story (the Red Sea and the manna in the desert) that were rehearsed and recited every year during the Passover celebration.
Jesus asked a rather honest and practical question to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Philip responded as most of us would have in that situation, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
You can almost hear the exasperation in Philip’s voice. A denarius was the equivalent of a day’s wage. Philip scratched his head in bewilderment that Jesus would suggest they attempt to feed the crowd. Philip saw a need far greater than his own ability to meet, and his first impulse was hopelessness.
Andrew took a slightly different approach and searched for food. This approach also brought him to hopelessness, as all he discovered was a few fish and a few loaves. But in the midst of this seemingly hopeless and overwhelming task assigned by Christ, there was a way forward that none of the disciples considered. They were busy looking at the problem with their practical minds and considering only what their eyes could see, forgetting that Jesus was in the habit of doing far more than anyone could imagine.
We must never forget that the problems we face every day are not only to be tackled with practical solutions. We must apply our faith and trust that God often has ways of providing well beyond our wildest imaginations. God will often call us to pursue some good that is far beyond our means, to care for some person that will stretch us, to give in some way that feels impossible.
It is in these moments that our faith is often most stretched, and the abiding joy that is ours in Christ is most often experienced.
Posted in Lent
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