(1) When?
The Passover was near.(2) What?
The miracle of giving bread to a large crowd
The miracle of giving bread to a large crowd
(3) Result
6:14 Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
(NET) The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.
Deut 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him.
God called His army, Israel, out in the 1st Passover. Then God gave them manna when they were in the wilderness. Now when Jesus giving them bread made them think about Moses and his prophecy about another person like him. They were correct that Jesus was that Prophet. However, recognizing this fact as not sufficient for them to be the people of Jesus' kingdom. From the rest of ch 6 (and from ch 3-4), we see that people needed to have a new life in order to enter the kingdom of God.
Reflection: Jesus was ready to be the King of the Kingdom. Are you ready? Are you spiritually ready? Are your loved ones ready?
(4) A test set up for the disciples
v. 5 Then Jesus, when he looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?” 6:6 (Now Jesus said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.)
6:8 One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 6:9 “Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are these for so many people?”
From Andrew's answer, note, "a boy," barley loaves" (PNTC- the inexpensive bread of the poorer classes), "2 fish" (BDB-preserved fish eaten with bread). All of these pointed to the hopeless solution Andrew brought to the problem of feeding large a crowd.
6:8 One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 6:9 “Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are these for so many people?”
From Andrew's answer, note, "a boy," barley loaves" (PNTC- the inexpensive bread of the poorer classes), "2 fish" (BDB-preserved fish eaten with bread). All of these pointed to the hopeless solution Andrew brought to the problem of feeding large a crowd.
After they people finished eating,
6:12 When they were all satisfied, Jesus said to his disciples, “Gather up the broken pieces that are left over, so that nothing is wasted.” 6:13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves left over by the people who had eaten.
Note, Jesus wanted the disciples to witness the food leftover "from the five barley loaves."
Reflection: What did the disciples learn after this? Things they are supposed to look up to Jesus could not be handled by their own. They were hopeless. Jesus has more than sufficient power to solve their problem. How about us? Are we overwhelmed by problems in our lives? Do we believe that He is more than sufficient? Are we confident to trust Jesus for our problems?
Audrey
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