Offered to the congregation of the Long Valley Presbyterian Church on July 25, 2021
by Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA
As we prepare to look at this passage in John this morning, I think it is important to take a step back to understand what John is trying to accomplish in his Gospel. I am sure, that you all already know that the way John’s Gospel tells of the ministry of Jesus is very much different from what are known as the Synoptic Gospels. One of my favorite ways of describing the differences between the four Gospels is to say that Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us what happened; John tells us why it happened. This telling of the Feeding of the five thousand is a perfect example. In Matthew, he devotes 9 versus to the event; [that is Matt 14: 13-21]. He simply tells us it happened. John devotes 14 verses in chapter 6: 1-13 but follows it up with 38 additional verses [22-59] to provide meaning and understanding. After 70 or so years of mulling and thinking about Jesus’ ministry, John has much deeper insight that he meanss to share; and if we are going to benefit and grow in our knowledge of Jesus, then we have to follow John down his very rich and rewarding rabbit hole.
In the first three Gospels, the writers tell us with a great degree of compassion the story of the life and ministry of Jesus. Mark says that Jesus is moved with compassion for the Leper. Mark also tells us that Jesus had sympathy for Jairus regarding the impending death of his daughter. When Jesus raises the son of the widow, Luke tells us with tenderness how Jesus gave him to his mother. We are told that Jesus wept at the death of his friend Lazarus. But in John, the telling of the miracles that Jesus preformed have a different purpose. For John their purpose was not so much to show Jesus’ compassion as it was to demonstrate the glory of Christ and through Christ the glory of God.
At the Cana, John says to us, “This was the first of his signs … to manifest his glory. [John 2:11] Of the raising of Lazarus, he says it was for the glory of God. [John11:4] For John, it was not that there was no love or compassion in Jesus’ miracle acts but that in every one of them we see the glory of God manifested through Jesus into our human time and space. These miracles were signs that revealed to us a glimpse of who God is. And this is vitally important if we are to understand John. Every one of the miracles that Jesus preforms opens up for us a glimpse into who God is. And the critically most important element of these signs, is that these glimpses of God are ONLY opened to us through the Christ.
So, with that as our backdrop, let’s take a look at the miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand.
Right at the top, I am going to suggest to you that there are three ways in which we can look at this miracle. The first would be very plainly that it was an outright miracle where sparse and meager gifts were turned into a magnificent meal. And certainly, the text stands on its own in substantiating that view. The second is that it might have been a sacramental meal; that is like our communion the elements are tiny parcels of the bread and wine and that is what everyone received. That is just an OK explanation for me. But the third is a much more compelling explanation for me.
We are told in the story that the “Passover Feast was near.” What does that tell us? Well, it means that thousands of Jews were on the road on their way to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover. Remember it was a requirement of the Law that anyone within one day’s journey must make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A census taken by Roman historians revealed that the population of Jerusalem would swell to over 2 million people during the time of Passover. Now, what is important to understand, is that these people didn’t have fast food restaurants or convenience stores along the road where they could stop off to get food for their journey. No, if they were making this trek, they would have to plan to bring enough food for themselves when they needed to stop and eat. And that’s what we see when Andrew finds the young boy who had five loaves of Barley bread and two fishes. This meager meal is what the lad had brought along for the journey for his own nourishment. It is reasonable to assume that many of the people in the crowd that day had done the same to one extent or another. Perhaps, Andrew went through the crowd and was turned away by vast numbers who indeed had something to share but refused, and it was only this boy who was willing to give of what he had.
Andrew brings this boy and his offering to Jesus. Jesus tells his disciples to tell the crowd to sit on the grass. Jesus begins by giving thanks to God with a traditional Jewish prayer of thanks. “Blessed are thou, O Lord, our God, who causes to come forth bread from the earth.” Now one of two things happens at this point. We can either imagine the loaves and fish regenerating themselves over and over and pilling up before Jesus so that there suddenly appeared enough food to feed all; OR, we can envision Jesus solemnly praying to God and that prayer was as much praise as it was a request that the hearts of those in the crowd who had food to eat would be moved to come forward and share. Then we see a similar miracle. This one is not simply that Jesus replicated and reproduced vast amounts of food but that his prayer has silently moved the hearts of the thousands of people and they came forward to share. This version exposes for us an even greater glimpse into the majesty of Jesus and God. That Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit can reach into the hearts of people and move them to preform great works of sacrifice and sharing. Either way, we see a miracle of Jesus’ doing.
What we see is a meager gift offering that a believer brings to the Christ and how in Jesus’ hands miracles happen. For John, this is an opportunity for us to see the glory of God. This is a chance for us to see how Jesus uses our gifts and offerings, the personal offerings that each of us place in the basket each week. On the surface, our own individual gifts may seem small and inadequate. But in his hands – in God’s hands, miracles can and do happen.
It is to the glory of God that Jesus provides food to feed the people. Either way that you view how the miracle happened, it is to the glory of God. In this instance we see a glimpse of the God that feeds the people. We see the God that nourishes and sustains us.
How?
OK. Answering this question is when we get down to the nitty gritty. And to understand what’s going on we need to go further on in the text to verses 22 and beyond.
In the following verses, we learn that Jesus had snuck away to avoid the crowds because they were moving to assert him as king after he had fed them. So, the next day the crowd searches and finds him in Capernaum. They ask him when did arrive and how. Jesus’ response is to plainly say to them that they are searching for him not because of the signs that he had performed, the glimpses of God’s glory that he gave them, but because he fed them. Jesus says to them, “Do not search for food that perishes, but for food which lasts and gives eternal life, that food which the Son of Man will give you; for the Father, God, has set his seal upon him.”
What is Jesus saying here? He reads the crowd plainly and he calls them out for their shortsightedness. He knows they are nothing more than groupies following the latest pop star. And he says it directly. I’ll paraphrase it here, “the only reason you are here is because I fed you. I have shown you Signs of God, but you have not preceived them. You have come for bread to eat; but the bread that you search for will perish and leave you hungry tomorrow. I can give you so much more. The bread that I can give you will feed you forever and give you eternal life.”
And what is their response? In verse 30 we read, “What signs are you going to perform that we may see and believe in you?”
Are you kidding me? Are you blind? Well, yes. Many of them were. Jesus fed 5,000 people the day before and you come asking, “What signs will you perform?” He has raised people from death. He has cured the blind and the leper. And you ask, what sign will you perform?
They go on to speak of bread feeding miracles in Jewish history that is when Moses fed them manna in the desert. In other words, “we have seen this trick before”. But Jesus counters saying, Moses did not feed you the manna, God did. Further, “The bread of God is HE who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Now, it appears that they are beginning to get it. They respond, “Sir, give us that bread.” But their response is as if to say, “Where is it? Where can we buy it?”
Jesus responds by saying to them it’s right here in front of you, “I am the bread from heaven.”
Now this creates up a fire storm of questions in the crowd. Who is this guy? Isn’t he not the son of Joseph who we have known as a boy? How can he say, I come down from heaven?
But Jesus persists. “I am the bread of life. He who believes will have eternal life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert, and they died. This is the bread of life come down from heaven that you may eat of it and not die… Anyone who eats of this bread will live forever.”
Now we have to pause a moment and understand what Jesus means by “Bread”. It is not any earthly type of food manna or otherwise. What Jesus is speaking of is the “WORD” of God. Jesus is the Word made flesh. From John 1, “The Word was in the beginning. The Word was with God. The Word was God.” Jesus has come to reveal to us the sustaining and lifegiving love of God. Hearing the “Word” of God spoken by Jesus is feeding on the Bread that will give us eternal life.
So, when we look back at the feeding of the 5,000, we need to realize how temporary that earthly food was. And Jesus points that out to them. They were fed yesterday and here you are today looking to be fed again. He tells them, you need to be looking for something more substantial. You need to be looking for the bread that brings you closer to knowing who God is, closer to having an intimate relationship with God, closer to knowing the Name of God.
