In John 6, Jesus fed over 5,000 people. The reason people followed Him was because He performed signs and wonders. They believed that if they followed Him they wouldn’t be hungry.
John 6:4-5
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”
This was the third Passover feast since Jesus started His ministry.
On the Passover Day, Jews eat unleavened bread. Jesus came as our Passover Lamb. Everything that He did in this passage links back to the Passover and foreshadows His death on the cross.
Exodus 12:1-4
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb.
Exodus 12:46
46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.
The meat wasn’t to be carried outside of the house. This connects to John 6:13, when He commanded the disciples to gather up the leftovers instead of throwing them away. Both of these passages link to Jesus as the bread of life and our sacrificial Passover Lamb. When He died, they did not separate or throw away His body.
The blood of the Passover Lamb was put on the lintels of the house. Jesus’ blood is sprinkled on everyone who believes.
We need to sprinkle Jesus’ blood by sharing the gospel.
John 6:5-6
5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
Why did Jesus ask Philip this question? In John 1:45, Philip had faith. When he heard about Jesus, he ran and told Nathaniel He was the Prophet.
John 1:45
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
Jesus wanted to give Philip a chance to show his faith in John 6. He wanted to hear him say, “Jesus, nothing is too difficult for you. You are the Messiah.” But Philip said, “It’s hopeless. There’s nothing that we can do.” He totally failed in his answer to Jesus.
When you are given an assignment, you don’t have to tell Jesus how weak and hopeless you are, how incapable you are. Jesus knows who you are. If He gives you an assignment, He knows you can handle it if you trust in Him. Jesus doesn’t want to hear your negative report. He doesn’t want to hear your complaints and doubt.
He wants you to say, “Anything is possible for You, Lord.”
Stop analyzing and calculating when it comes to your ministry and God’s assignment in your life. Philip was a disciple of Jesus, but because he calculated everything, He wasn’t as powerful as some of the other disciples, like Peter or Paul.
Something happened in Philip’s life between John 1 and John 6. What happened to his faith? Why do people spiritually lose faith and die? They stop studying the Word of God. They stop praying. They analyze and criticize.
Philip only saw the problem. Andrew wanted to bring a solution.
John 6:9
9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
Why doesn’t scripture mention this boy’s name? God wants each of us to be that boy. We need to prepare and be ready to give whatever we have, just like this little boy. Sometimes it might be hard to relate to the disciples, to Peter or to Paul. But we can all relate to this little boy who gave 2 fish and 5 loaves in time of need.
We need to be like this boy.
People around the boy saw that food and thought it was nothing. But in Jesus’ hands, it was enough. After Jesus’ multiplied the food, there were 12 baskets of leftovers. Jesus told them not to throw the leftover bread away; He saw it as Himself.
Where is your focus today? On the 5,000 and the 200 denarii that you would need to feed them? Or on the 5 loaves and the power of Jesus?
Jesus fed people physically and spiritually. The multitude only saw Jesus as the provider of their physical needs. They wanted to make Jesus their king for monetary reasons; their hearts were wrong.
We think about Jesus we need to think about the bread of life and living water.
Jesus saw their hearts and their attitudes and departed from them. If you feel like Jesus is far away from you, examine your heart to see how you’ve been thinking about Him. Is He only your provider? Is He your source of bread? Or do you love Him. Do you feel His love for you?
What if you told your husband or wife that you were only married to them because they have money? Or because they clean the house well? Or because of what they could do for you? Or because you have no choice. That’s terrible and people who are married only for those reasons always struggle in their marriages.
If you follow Jesus because of what He can do for you or because you feel like you have to so you don’t go to hell or any other reason, you will always struggle. Jesus will feel very far away from you.
You must follow and serve Jesus because you love Him and because you know He first loved you.
God bless you,
Pastor Sun East