JESUS CAN MEET YOUR OVERWHELMING NEEDS MOMENT BY MOMENT. CLAIM IT! BELIEVE IT! Our God is a God of Miracles!!!
"Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, 'How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?' This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do" (John 6:5,6 RSV)"
Jesus was testing Philip's faith - how much did he know and believe about Jesus and who He was and what He was capable of doing? Jesus realized that Philip could not possibly answer his question. Our faith, in times like this, usually does not take over and literally "Look to the Lamb" for the miracle. Philip failed the test just like we would have. He thought there was no answer to this immediate problem. "Lord, how can we do this? We don't have money and it takes money to buy bread."
Andrew also failed the test when he said, "...There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many? (John 6:8-9 RSV). Again, where is the faith - the answer is standing right in front of them. When Jesus heard this, He said, "Make the people sit down. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish" (Mark 6:31-44).
Jesus feels compassion on the crowd. He wanted to escape the crowd so He and his disciples could find some time to eat and rest, but because of the compassion He felt He realized that they were a needy people "like sheep without a shepherd" and so He stays and attends to the crowd. He realized the place was desolate, and the hour was late. Jesus sensed the theological significance of a leaderless crowd of Jews in the wilderness, and the problems needed to be turned into opportunities. Jesus instructs the crowds to sit down in groups of 50 to 100 each and after blessing the loaves and fish he has his disciples serve the food to the thousands who have gathered. Even though the place was desolate, heaven was making it a banqueting table.
After the miracle of the feeding the 5,000 plus, there was tons to eat and bushels to spare. Jesus fed over 15,000 people including women and children. If each consumed only five ounces of food, the total eaten would still have been more than two tons. And afterwards, the disciples picked up 12 bushel baskets of leftovers.
The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. The disciples were concerned that there was no food available. But Jesus already had the answer. He told his disciples, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." The disciples reminded Jesus - we have found only five loaves and two fish among the crowd. Jesus didn't hesitate, "Bring them here to me." We bring what we have to the Master, and He will bless it. A little with God is more than much without Him. And yet they were staggered to look into the faces of 5,000 men, plus women and children, and then look at this little lunch basket. The crowd was obviously satisfied for there were twelve baskets full of fragments leftover. After Jesus fed the crowd he talked with them about their need for spiritual sustenance. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst" (John 6:35). As food sustains the energy of the body, so living by the energy of identification with Christ is the only sustenance of spiritual life.
Are you available to God so that you can turn stones into bread for people? We are to take care of the people God has entrusted to us. We need to buy up every opportunity to teach a spiritual lesson to those people God sends our way. Our greatest privilege is to see ourselves as his instruments, doing what he wants to do, not using him to do what we want to do. This is definitely the lesson which this incident engraved upon the minds of these disciples - that they were to be his followers, and that when they were ready to take that role, God himself was ready to do great things through them.
Go out today and be a blessing to someone! Remember the lunch pail is NEVER empty when your faith is in God.
