A Meal for the Multitudes

The story is told of a young man who just got out of Bible college and prepared to preach at his home congregation. He studied real hard and even memorized his lesson. Banging his hand on the podium in the middle of the sermon, he told the congregation that Jesus took 5,000 loaves and 2,000 fish and fed 5 people. With a dramatic pause he asked the congregation if they could do that. A roar of laughter filled the auditorium, and the young preacher couldn't figure out what was going on. One man even raised his hand which caused the preacher to ask why he thought he could do what only our Lord could. The gentleman kindly corrected the preacher telling him what was wrong with what he said. The young preacher was at a loss for words, and he sat down in humiliation without even being able to finish the sermon.

The people of the congregation were very supportive of the young man even encouraging him to preach it again next Sunday, so he did. That next Sunday morning he correctly stated that Jesus took 5 loaves and 2 fish and fed 5,000 people. Again he asked if anyone could do that, and to his surprise the gentleman in the audience raised his hand again. Very upset again, the preacher questioned the man who then replied that would be possible because he could use the leftovers from how he preached it last week.

In the gospel of John we do find what is referred to as the fourth sign, the feeding of the multitudes. With the Passover at hand and a big crowd on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus saw an opportunity to provide for the people. Here we see that Christ provides a meal for the multitudes as he indeed uses 5 loaves and two fish proving that he is the master of quantity (Tenney). Follow along with me in John 6:1-14.

Jesus tested the faith of the disciples

There are opportunities in life which test our faith. Sometimes we grow as we go through these tests and trials if we bear up under them and hold fast. However, sometimes we buckle under the pressure and fall away from our faith. Different people react in different ways; each situation is going to be different.

Jesus asked a question to test the disciples' faith. He asked Philip where they could get bread for these people to eat. There were two responses from his disciples. The first came from Philip who seemed to be a pessimist. Philip immediately knew that it would be hard to feed this many people. By the way, there weren't just 5,000, as that was besides women and children (Mt. 14:21). It seemed it was his way of saying two hundred denarii (a denarius was a day's wage) would hardly be enough to provide appetizers for all these people. On the other hand, the second response came from Andrew who found a boy with five loaves and two fish. Even though he did ask how this would be enough for so many people, he still found something that the Lord could use. Andrew seemed to be an optimist. By the way, every time we see Andrew he is bringing somebody to Jesus. Think about it!

Jesus multiplied the meal for the multitudes

Remember the creatures in the movie, Gremlins where both the furry kind and the ugly, monster kind multiplied when they got wet? That was pretty cool for a movie, especially when Stripe jumped in the swimming pool as Billy watched in horror. In this story from John 6, Jesus doesn't use water to multiply the loaves and fishes; he does it himself as he takes the five loaves and two fish and multiplies it for the multitudes.

After Jesus gave thanks, he distributed the food. The bread was barley, which supposedly was one of the least desirable breads, even as it was the least expensive of that region. The fish were probably small fish which were dried or pickled, very similar to our version of sardines. Though this was a very small amount, Jesus took this and distributed it to those in the grass and they ate as much as they wanted. Who would ever think that five loaves and two fish would turn into an all you can eat buffet? It seems as though it did in this case.

Jesus taught a lesson on leftovers

In 2010 more than 34 million tons of food waste was generated. We are truly throwing away so much food that goes to waste, which is not a good thing. In our text, Jesus took this time to teach a very valuable lesson on waste. He commanded that the disciples gather up the leftovers so there would be nothing lost. If he was saying this just to have them clean up, it seems as if he would convey the idea of not making a mess, but instead he said so that there's nothing lost. It appears as if they would reuse the leftover food, according to his wording.

There were twelve baskets of leftovers from the miraculous feeding. How often are you going to wind up with more food after you're done that what you started with? Who knew Jesus could do so much with so little. Merrill Tenney says that Jesus is the Master of Quantity!

Though we see what Jesus did by providing such a miraculous meal in the feeding of the multitudes, there are still some great lessons for us today.

The testing of our faith is a good thing - 2 Cor. 13:5

There is no job too big for the Lord - Mt. 19:26

The Lord can do greater things than what we can imagine - Eph. 3:20