John 6:1-15

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered him, "It would take almost a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"

8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9 "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"

10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.



Dig Deeper

When I was a high school basketball coach, I was also the president of the athletic conference of which we were a part. This was usually a hectic but fairly enjoyable job. One year, though, it became a major headache. We had had a problem with one team for years. They simply would not live up to the expectations of a team in our conference. Their fans were very poorly behaved and caused constant security problems, everything from rowdy behavior, to major fights, to one of them pulling a gun on me in the parking lot because I had escorted him out of the gym. It didn't stop there, however. We constantly had to warn the cheerleaders for performing lewd routines, which caused their faculty advisor to scream at me for being prudish. On top of that, we had to sanction the coach several times for unsportsmanlike behavior and for intentionally using ineligible players. As the new season began, the entire school was on probation. They were warned about what was going to happen if they didn't fall in line with the expectations, but that didn't seem to deter them much, even after a meeting with the principle of their school who claimed that the problem was our expectations rather than their behavior. Two games into the season, their fans caused a major disturbance after the game and it was discovered that the star player on their team was actually a twenty-two year-old security guard who had been given fake paperwork and a fake report card by the school. With that, we removed the school from our conference. We had a waiting list of schools that were independent at the time but that wanted to join our conference. Because of the unusual action of having to remove a team from the conference, we took the equally unusual step of asking the top school on that list to join our conference. They completely took the place of the old school on the schedules and in every other way. For that season they became, in essence, the wayward school and fulfilled the obligations that were supposed to belong to the other team.

In a similar, but far more profound way, Israel had been given a role to play. They were God's covenant people but they failed to meet the expectations of that covenant over and over again. God warned them all along what would happen if they continued to fail in meeting their obligations. One thing was for sure; they had consistently and willingly failed. God did, in some sense, what we did with that failed basketball team. He didn't just boot Israel out, but He sent a replacement. He sent a true Israel that would fulfill the role and obligations that had been intended for Israel all along. What they had failed to do, Jesus would do. He would be the true Israel. This, in fact, is one of the major themes of the Gospel of John that is woven throughout the entire book. Jesus did not just come to be the Messiah to Israel, he came to be the true Israel. John will show us this reality in many ways as he depicts Jesus fulfilling roles, types, expectations, and surpassing figures and elements of Israel. Each of those instances add up to the clear conclusion that Jesus is the fulfillment of the people of God.

The list of ways that John demonstrates that Jesus is the new Israel is impressive. Israel was called God's son (Ex. 4:22-23), but John has made it clear that His true and unique Son is Jesus (1:49; 3:16; 5:25; 11:27; 19:7; 20:31). Israel was designed to be the light of the world (Isa. 42:6; 49:6; 51:4), but had systematically failed in that endeavor, so Jesus is described repeatedly as the true light (1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36, 46). Jesus said it as clearly as one could, when he took one of Israel's primary names and images from the Old Testament, God's vine (Ps. 80:8-9; Hos. 10:1; Isa. 5:1; Jer. 2:21; Ezek. 15:6)) and boldly declared himself to be the "true vine" (15:1-7). But it wasn't just the names of Israel that John wants us to see now apply to Jesus. Elisha fed the masses miraculously (2 Ki. 4:42-44) and the Israelites were fed by God in the wiilderness (Num. 11) but Jesus far surpassed that as the true manna (ch. 6). Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea (Ex. 14) but Jesus walked on water (6:17-24). Wisdom was the source of proverbial wisdom (1 Ki. 3:9-12) but John applies many of the features of wisdom from the book of Proverbs to the Word that has become flesh (1:1-18). Moses lifted up the bronze serpent but that merely pointed to what Jesus would do (3:14-15). Jesus was the new and complete Jacob's ladder (1:51); He was God's Temple, the place of God's presence (2:19-21); he was the new Passover (1:29, 36; 2:23; 4:45; 6:4; 11:55; 12:1; 13:1; 18:28, 39; 19:14; 6:60-71; 13:1-11; 18:38-40; 19:31). He was the Prophet that Moses had predicted and everyone was expecting one day (6:14). He was the one on whom God's Spirit would remain, and of course, it was no small coincidence that Jesus chose twelve apostles (John 6:70) to replace the twelve tribes of Israel.

More than anything else, John wants us to see in this passage, the image of God feeding His people. This is precisely what God had done with Israel in Numbers 11 and now this is what Jesus is doing in this passage. Just as god provided for manna in the wilderness and Elisha fed a hundred men miraculously (2 Ki. 4:42-44), Jesus will provide for the masses that are following him. He is again doing things that only God could do, demonstrating that he and those who follow him are the true Israel.

The problem as we begin this scene, however, is that most of the crowds following Jesus seem more like the old Israel than the new Israel. They are following Jesus because of the signs that he performed and following Jesus' incredible feeding miracle here, they are about to jam Jesus into their own God-shaped boxes as they will try to make him become the sort of king that they imagined the Prophet would be. They are, in reality, following Jesus because of the signs rather than faith.

John doesn't waste details, though, and so we need to ask why he stresses here that this is Passover time. This is now the second of three Passovers that we, his readers will spend with Jesus. Here we have the crowds that seem to be a good representative of all of Israel coming to Jesus who will feed them in a manner quite reminiscent of Numbers 11 when God provided for the Israelites with manna. But John also wants us to see this as a new Passover. This is far more than God providing food for His people, though. The Passover was the ultimate event in Israel's history when God freed Israel from slavery and bondage. That is where this is all going. Jesus will not just provide bread for the people, he is the bread (which he will make clear later in the chapter) that will provide freedom from the true bondage of slavery to sin and separation from God.

The disciples like so many others in John's Gospel don't quite grasp the heavenly proportions of what Jesus is doing yet. They're still thinking firmly in earthly terms as Philip can't possibly imagine how he could answer Jesus' query about how to feed all these people. Philip has apparently already forgotten that Jesus has bread that they don't know about. He has bread that comes from heaven and that, like the living water, will never run out. His bread is to do God's will. To demonstrate that, he will feed a crowd of five thousand men (which might mean there were about twenty thousand, including the women and children). Heaven has opened up through Jacob's ladder once again. This is what it looks like when the Word becomes flesh. So, Jesus takes up five small barley loaves and two small fish and turns them into a feast for as many as twenty thousand people (This is now the fourth sign that John has given us. Are you still counting?). This should serve as a great reminder for us that when we offer up the smallest of our resources and bring them to Jesus, there's no telling what he will do with them, but it's almost always incredible, if we truly give them over to him.

When they are all done eating, Jesus orders his disciples to gather the pieces that were left over which was customary Jewish practice to ensure that no food would be wasted. As they gather up the food, it is enough to fill twelve baskets. John has been so cognizant of showing us imagery that Jesus was the new Israel and gathering followers into him that would make up this new Israel, that we can't help but think that he intends us to see more of the imagery in the fact that there were twelve baskets, a number that was highly symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Truly this is the new Israel, the Father's unique representative who is feeding the children of Israel in the wilderness once again. The new creation was breaking into their own world, if they would only look and see it. The same could be said of us. Have you seen the new creation? Have you entered into it? Do you actively point to it and call those around you to it?



Dvotional Thought

Imagine for a moment what the young man in this account must have been feeling when he was first brought to Jesus. He had virtually nothing to offer in comparison to the problem facing them, yet he gave it to Jesus nonetheless. The boy did nothing more than give what he had to Jesus. Are you willing to do the same? What small resources or gifts or talents do you have that you have withheld because you didn't think that it would do any good? Try turning it over to Jesus and see what he can do with it.