THE MIRACLE WITH A BOY'S LUNCH

JOHN 6:1-15

          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 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 Him, "Two hundred 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 numbers about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and having giving 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 twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were leftover by those who had eaten. Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is true 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.

INTRODUCTION

          A little nun was on a much desired mission assignment to the Apache Indians. She was so excited that she drove past the last gas station without noticing that she needed gas. She ran out of gas about a mile down the road, and had to walk back to the station. The attendant told her that he would like to help her, but he had no container to hold the gas.

          Sympathetic to her plight, he agreed to search through the shed in the back for something that might suffice. The only container that would hold fuel was an old bedpan. The grateful nun told him that the bedpan would work just fine. She carried the gasoline back to her car, taking care not to drop an ounce. When she got to her car, she carefully poured the contents of the bedpan into the tank.

          A truck driver pulled alongside the car as the nun was emptying the container into the tank. He rolled down his window and yelled to her, “I wish I had your faith, Sister!”

          I would like us to explore together "The Miracle with a Boy's Lunch as we examine Jesus' Miracles in John's Gospel.

          The importance of this outstanding miracle can be gathered from the fact that it is the only miracle of our Lord Jesus that is mentioned in all the four Gospel narratives. John is the only Gospel writer who provides the interpretation of this miracle. Miracles are the common currency of heaven. The feeding of the five thousand was just a little loose change spilling from a hole in its pocket.

I.      THE BACKGROUND OF THE MIRACLE VV. 1-4

          After the events recorded in John’s Gospel 5, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). Jesus noticed that the crowds were still in pursuit so He went to the mountain to rest. In His earthly ministry Jesus taught us the importance of retirement or rest. Rest is good for the whole person. It rejuvenates you physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Therefore, once a while take time to rest your body and mind.

          The pressure of the circumstances over the death of John the Baptist, which was a foreshadow of His own death, compelled Him to retire privately for rest, not only for Himself but also for His disciples, who had returned from their first mission. With them were the disciples of John the Baptist who had brought the sad news of murder by Herod Antipas. All of them needed a season of bodily and spiritual refreshment.

          However, the period of quietness and solitude, which Jesus had sought was short-lived but He did not complain. The multitudes interrupted His rest, because they had managed to locate Him. Jesus was not upset because as the Good Shepherd, the need of the sheep without a shepherd was His first concern. The multitudes seeking Him seem to grow like a rolling snowball, and He could not hide from their presence. Even though Jesus and His disciples made the journey by sea, the crowds had gone ahead of them so that by the time Jesus got to the northern end of the sea, the people were already there to greet Him. Jesus was not annoyed that the people had thwarted His efforts. Though He had been denied the rest He sought, He was moved with compassion and embraced the opportunity of teaching the multitudes and healing the sick among them.

          A few of us delight to see people intruding our privacy. A few of us also ever learn the art of adjusting ourselves to what breaks our plans and turning disappointment to good account. Nevertheless, in this episode of Jesus His compassion prevailed over the quest for solitude. In His earthly ministry, others showed but little consideration to, or for Him, but in His perfect grace, He was ever ready to show the fullest consideration to them.

II.   THE TEST OF FAITH VV. 5-7

          When Jesus saw the sea of people approaching, He seized the moment to test Philip’s faith. “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” Jesus tested Philip because he was from the city of Bethesda, which was not far from where they were. Philip, who probably was a mathematician puts a sharp pencil to the problem and is quick to calculate the cost. He concludes that the expenditure is beyond their budget. He puts his pencil down and says, “It is impossible; it cannot be done.” You and I are like Philip, in that we have short memory. In the preceding chapters of John’s Gospel, the author has told us that Jesus had performed many miracles in addition to the  three John has listed leading to this fourth miracle, and yet Philip has forgotten that it is the same Christ who is asking him to get something for the crowds to eat. We all have our lists of impossibilities: You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. You can’t get blood from a turnip. You can’t change a leopard’s spots. You can’t reform an alcoholic. You cannot win a murderer to Christ. The list is endless. Philip failed to realize that what Elisha had done on a smaller scale, Jesus was able to accomplish on a larger scale. Bewildered, Philip said, “We have two hundred denarii worth of bread and it is insufficient for them. In effect Philip was saying, “What could thirty-five dollars worth of bread do among the sea of people?”

          Impossibilities? Not to the Word who was in the beginning with God, flinging galaxies into orbits. Not to the Word who was God, coming down from heaven to become flesh and dwell among us. For Jesus drew the leadership of His church not from aristocrats in Caesar’s palace, but out of raw threads of fishermen and tax collectors. He selected His leaders from the ordinary and at times despised walks of life. He got wine from ordinary tap water and He changed a man covered with leprous spots, and made him clean. Omnipotence was about to show that all things are possible to them who believe. Man is made to feel his insufficiency and then when necessities are truly felt, a miracle is wrought, but only where a miracle is required.

III.           A SEARCH FOR ANSWER V. 9

          Andrew the brother of Peter goes to a little more trouble to search for an answer. He does not look at what can’t be done but at the little that can be done. In doing so, he finds a poor boy with five flat loaves of coarsely ground barley bread and a couple of fish in a wicker basket. “But how far would they go among many?”

          What Philip and Andrew don’t see is that impossible situations are not solved by how much we have in our purse or in our baskets. Not by how adequate our bank account or how abundant our assets. Impossibilities are solved by miracles—pennies from heaven. And Jesus had a pocketful. That is where the disciples were to go to get bread.

IV.           THE SOLUTION FROM THE MASTER VV. 10-14

          Having drawn from Philip an admission of their inability to meet the need Jesus said, “They need not depart.” There was no excuse to send the multitudes away on empty stomachs. Faith must learn to draw on divine resources. Full of compassion, Jesus was the personification of calmness. When all our resources are depleted that is when God steps in to perform the impossible. To Jesus, there was no such word as impossible.

          Jesus turns to the boy with bread and fish. He does not have much, and what he has is not the best. It is the food for the poor: bread made from barley, not wheat; salted-down sardines not lamb chops. The boy did not have much but what he had he gave. There are many Christians today who do not have much like this boy but what they have they keep. Because of their stinginess they miss the miracle of Christ. What the boy has is enough. The surrender of a child and the compassion of a Savior are all that is needed for this miracle. Little is much when God is in it. With the boy’s lunch Jesus was able to prepare a table even in the wilderness (Psalm 78:19).

          Jesus gives the command for the people to sit down by companies on the green grass. Jesus commands the people to sit down in companies by hundreds, and fifties, proving that order is heaven’s first law. Had the multitudes not been broken up in manageable numbers, there would have been confusion and chaos. This shows that our Lord is the Lord of order. Such order is stamped upon all His ways whether in creation or grace. “God is not the author of confusion.” When you attend a church or any meeting where chaos and confusion reign then, I submit to you that Jesus Christ is not present.  Recall that that only the men are counted according to Jewish custom. Therefore, if the women and children were countered the number probably would have doubled.

          How dramatic it must have been when Jesus took the five loaves and the two fishes in His hands! We can imagine what hushed expectancy there was both among the disciples and the crowd. The first act of Jesus was to give thanks. The public thanks that Jesus offers, reveals the amazing combination of human dependence and divine omnipotence in one Person. In the miracle of the highest order, the process of multiplication is beyond our comprehension. Every miracle is incomprehensible except to Him by whom it is wrought. The multiplication of the loaves of bread afforded a striking proof of Christ’s deity.

          The miracle that day was wrought by Christ’s hands and mediated to the multitudes by human hands, for He gave the blessed and miracle-produced loaves to His disciples, and they in turn gave them to the multitude. We receive in order to give.

          You and I do not know how the wonder bread was formed, but that it was, is proven by the fact that there was enough and to spare. When the compassion of Christ, a boy’s surrender of all he had, and the need of many meet, omnipotence has a three-fold reason for blessing, and does it bless. “Spare and you have not enough for one; share, and you have enough for multitudes.” Jesus tells the disciples to gather the leftovers and not waste them. As waste is the enemy of such miraculous generosity, nothing had to be wasted. Care had to be exercised with the use of the leftovers. We are not told what they did with the leftovers.

          Now put yourself in the shoes of the boy who gave away his lunch to Jesus. What reward did he receive for not withholding his frugal meal, but gladly surrendering all he had for the Master’s use? What a thrill and joy he must have had as he saw Jesus miraculously multiply the little he gave! Christ gave him good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, for he went home with a glad heart and with more food than he could carry for his household. The Creator is no man’s debtor.

          The enthusiasm created by the miracle was intense. The people wanted to enthrone Jesus as king immediately and have Him lead them in a march to Jerusalem for the Passover. They wanted Jesus to provide a political victory over the Romans as David did during his time, but Jesus knew better. He did not come as a political Messiah as they had anticipated. He came as the King of a different kingdom. In due time He will establish a visible government in Jerusalem, and then social problems that baffle the keenest sociologists of the present era will find perfect solution.

          What is the great lesson of this miracle? The great lesson of the miracle is evident. Christ is the Bread of life to a perishing world, and as the Living Bread, must be passed on to others by the eaters themselves. In Christ there is sufficiency for each and for all. As Christ used what the boy gave Him and the disciples passed on the multiplied bread Christ gave them, so through your surrendered life, Christ visits to make others the sharers of your knowledge and experience of His all-sufficiency.

          Therefore, when the Lord asks you to give Him what is in your hands; go ahead and give it to Him. He used the staff in the hands of Moses to deliver the Hebrew people from captivity in Egypt. He used a shepherd boy with a slingshot in his hand to slay a giant. He used a couple passed the age of childbearing to create a nation as populous as the sand of the seashore. He used a boy’s lunch of five loaves of bread and a few fishes to feed thousands. Go ahead and give to Christ what you have and see Him do the impossible in your life.