Sorry, this didn’t get up yesterday. I posted it, but forgot to enter it into the right spot. Here it is. Thanks for reading along.
Jesus reveals Himself as the Bread of Life. The passage begins with a need to feed the 5000.
Jesus asked, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. John 6:5,6 Curious to me that Jesus would ask a question to test them. How often does he test us, test our faith? Jesus was providing a “set up” for his disciples to look to him and believe.
After taking the boys lunch and multiplying the loaves and fishes to feed the 5000, the disciples took up 12 basketfuls – a full basket for each disciple. That has always intrigued me. What do we learn here? That as we humbly learn to put what is ours into God’s hand that He might use it for others, we often end up with greater fullness ourselves.
Eventually, Jesus ends up on the other side of the lake and the crowd comes looking for him. Jesus said they have come looking for him because they ate the loaves and had their fill (v. 26).
v. 27 (Jesus said) “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” Jesus wanted the crowd to know that even though he provided them with a physical meal, that he had something much greater to give. They should spend their lives seeking after that which will satisfy them eternally. He said he could give them such food.
v. 28, 29 “Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he (God) has sent (Jesus).” The truest work we can ever do is a work of faith. It must all begin and stem from a true, active faith in the person of Jesus Christ. We can not approach God on any other grounds. Faith in Christ, through Christ gives us access to all of God. And we must continue to live and serve and obey God in faith, through faith, and by faith. This is our great work as believers. True faith is never passive. It actively believes, serves and trusts God.
(v. 30,31) The crowd begins to ask Jesus for a sign. They begin to connect his small miracle of feeding the 5000 with Moses’ provision of manna for a whole nation for 40 years. They are basically asking Jesus to do something greater than Moses, something more than the miraculous feeding. In their mind, Moses’ meal didn’t even start with 5 loaves, and it went on for a long period of time. He had one up on Jesus in their mind.
Jesus corrects the crowd (v. 32, 33). It wasn’t Moses who gave bread from heaven, but the Father who gives true bread from heaven. And this true bread is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. When the crowd asked Jesus for this bread, Jesus responded:
v. 35 “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” In the end, Jesus wanted the people to know that it wasn’t about manna, and it wasn’t about loaves and fishes. He was and is the bread of life. Bread implied provision, substenance, satisfaction, filling of hunger, nutrition. Jesus is the true bread who has come down for heaven. He fills us, satisfies us. He is God’s provision for our sin, for our lives. We must feed upon Jesus to have true life, or else we shall perish and die. This story is such a picture of how focused humans can become upon their bellies, and their temporal wants and desires. In the end, we neglect the greater needs settling for the crumbs of this world, and neglecting the feast Christ offers to us. Let Him be your daily bread. He is sufficient today to meet all of your needs. Your work is to believe – and to receive all that He is!
When Jesus asked “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” Scripture tells us “he already had in mind what he was going to do.”
In one of his sermons, the pastor from our previous church shared that it was customary for men of that time to carry a small basket for extra food at their waists. While Sunday School lessons always show big baskets full of leftover fish and bread, it is more likely that the “baskets” of leftovers were enough to fill the baskets carried by the 12 disciples. Thus, Jesus fed the crowd and provided an extra portion for his disciples. In this I see a lessons, not only concerning Jesus’ power and provision, but a unique teaching moment for his disciples and for us.
What a gentle and generous teacher Jesus is! His lessons always invite us to experience him and realize his authority, power, and plan, often in ways we never anticipate.