John 6 - The Bread of Life

Besides the crucifixion, Jesus feeding the five thousand is the only sign recorded in all four of the gospels. As we study John 6, lets attempt to picture it in our minds eye. Verse 1 - 4 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
The "sometime after this" is about 6 months later than the events of chapter 5. By now John the Baptist has been beheaded, Jesus and His disciples have ministered non-stop. We see some added information in Mark 6 30-32 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. " So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. That solitary place backs up against Mount Hebron and the fact that it is Passover time tells us it is Spring. This quiet place is green and lush and it has a back drop of mountains on one side and the blueness of the sea on the other. Jesus and his disciples are not only tired, but they are hungry...as they climb up the hill and sit down, they see throngs of people heading up towards them. They see the blind and the lame, the poor and needy, young and old persistently working their way to them. I can't help but think as Jesus looks toward them as they come, how tired his human body must have been yet His compassion pours forth and He prepares to meet their needs and to also spread forth on the hills around him His very own Passover feast for them.

5When 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?" 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip, just as we often do, humanly calculated how impossible this situation was and told Jesus it would take 8 months of wages to even give them a snack. Then Andrew, with a bit more faith, looks around to see what might be available to feed these folks and finds a young boy with five loaves of bread and two fishes.....he mentions this to Jesus.....and Jesus then takes the gift, has the disciples to organize the people into rows and have them sit down, and then turning His face toward His Father, He blesses and breaks the bread and fish and has the disicples then pass on the pieces to the people....and when it is all over, every person has been fed and there are 12 baskets left over!!! Abundantly Jesus has met their needs.

There are so many lessons here for us to learn. We will just skim the surface...but first of all, here we see Jesus as the Bread of life....He knows He Himself will be broken for us that we might have Eternal life. He is the Bread of Life that we can partake of daily as we come into the presence of His word and into the throne room with prayer. He is the one who can also take the broken pieces of our life and bring forth healing. We are the ones who must lift them up to Him with expectant hearts....knowing he is the Great I AM....and there is nothing He can't use when we give it to Him. Are we like Philip and do we calculate how impossible our situation is or like Andrew, do we look at the little we can give Him and with an expectant heart expect Him to multiply "our little"? Today, lets give Him "our little"....Lets expect Him to move and multiply that very thing that we think it too small to use. He is still the Great I AM....and "He AM" whatever you need today.