Jesus Feeds The five thousand

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (John 6:1-14)

The account of Jesus feeding the five thousand is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels; and all the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John vary somewhat in their accounts as well as in the amount of information and detail.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand."

And this is John's account of At the end of our study last week, 'The Pool of Bethesda,' Jesus was using Moses, or his scriptures, as a witness for His testimony, and against the Jews.

In today's study Jesus doesn't do any preaching to the people and doesn't explain to them about His feeding of the five thousand, but does in our next study.

In today's study the people accept Him as a prophet but associate this miracle with the miracles of Moses, as when the Children of Israel received "manna" on a daily basis. (Deut 18)

The miracles Jesus did were all closely tied to His teaching. Jesus loved and had compassion on the people, but always managed to have His works, or signs as John might say, point to His teaching, letting them speak for themselves.

SCRIPTURE: (JOHN 6:1-14)

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

VERSE 1 - "After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias."

The Sea of Galilee has had a number of names over the centuries, but most seem to think it was called the Sea of Galilee during Jesus time. The city of Tiberias is believed to have been founded around 20AD.

The name of the sea is still the "Sea of Galilee" in our time, but at that particular time in history may have been known as the Sea of Tiberias.

VERSE 2 - "And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick."

John specifically refers to these signs as the healing of the sick; and these signs are what led these people to follow, and seek Jesus.

VERSE 3 - "Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples."

Jesus would have been traveling eastward, so the mountain mentioned would be in what is now the Golan Heights, bordering Syria.

And there He sat with His disciples.

VERSE 4 - "Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand."

Regarding chronological order:

Our last study 'the Pool of Bethesda' is beloieved to have been during the "Feast of Tabernacles', if so, the feeding of the five thousand would have been approximately six months later.

This Passover is thought to be one year later than the one we studied in John 2:13 where Jesus cleansed the temple.

So again, here He was sitting with His disciples on this mountain,

And verses 5-6:

VERSES 5-6 - "Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat? He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do."

So why would He ask Philip this question? (can't you just see Jesus setting this up)

He certainly knew that in the practical sense there was no good way to feed this many people in this remote area, but perhaps it was because Philip lived nearby (in Bethsaida) chose to ask him the question.

Jesus was often called Master, Rabbi, or Teacher; In addition to the teaching and working miracles, for most of the three and a half years of His ministry He was also preparing and training His disciples for the ministry, and they were receiving an accelerated course in the New Testament doctrine for their future ministry;

so, Philip and the other disciples, were I guess we could say about to receive a new lesson.

So, in verse 7 says:

VERSE 7 - "Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii[a] would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." (dih-NEHR-ih-igh)

Philip gave a practical 'common sense' answer, didn't he. "Two hundred denarii." was what some have figured out to be the equivalent of 200 days meager earnings in his time. (maybe equal to our minimum wage nowadays?)

Then Andrew spoke up,

VERSES 8-9 - "One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?"

(Fish and bread were staples, few people could afford meat)

Andrew took the same view as Philip' the only difference is that he knew of someone who had a little food.

The only response from Jesus was:

VERSE 10 - "Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number."

So this mountain had grass, which had to make a better seat than the rocks we typically see.

John says there were about five thousand men, but the Greek term used here is gender specific, meaning that only the men were usually numbered, so the whole crowd, including men, women and children, could have been four times that number.

To put this in context: This crowd is nearly as large as the largest theaters in major cities of that time such as Ephesus. (The seating capacity of the Roman coliseum of between 50,000-70,000 was probably the largest in the world.

So, that's a lot hungry people isn't it?

But verse 11 says:

VERSE 11 - "Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted."

Jesus accepted these loaves from the boy and gave thanks for them. It was customary among the Jew to give thanks before and after the meal.

VERSE 12 - "And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost."

So this wasn't a symbolic meal, or even a snack, it was a full meal, and they collected the leftovers. Even though Jesus could miraculously reproduce this food, He gathered it up, so that it wouldn't be wasted.

VERSE 13 - "So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten."

Twelves baskets full is more than they started with.

And there were 12 baskets of fragments left-over. Again, others who have studied the references see this see the number of baskets "12" as being significant, or relative to the 12 tribes of Israel in the desert.

Maybe it is, what do you think? twelve baskets and twelve tribes, Moses feeding people, Jesus feeding people. Bible scripture is intensely connected

It's amazing how the scriptures are so associated, that they tie events together that are sometimes hundreds of years apart, In this case it would have been over 1400 years ago, (between 1440 and 1400) were the years of the exodus and wandering in the desert.

That's so interesting, isn't it!

So, in verse 14:

VERSE 14 - "When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!"

They said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" and they were right.

what they were referring to was the scripture in DT. 18:15 where Moses was prophesying to the people: "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen..."

(Moses had told them there would be a prophet like himself)

Then they began to follow Jesus hoping for more free food.

But, wasn't that a natural thing for them to do? They saw Jesus do what appeared to them to be the same thing Moses had done. (actually it was God)

These people had recognized Jesus as being the one in Moses' prophesy, and were hopeing to secure a constant supply of food through Him as their forefathers had through Moses.

OUR LAST VERSE IN THIS PART: (but this story continues next week)

VERSE 15 - "Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself."

Doesn't it cause you to wonder how they could force Him to be king?

But to understand how the Jewish people must have felt, and the hopes they had can help us to better understand their situation.

During Passover their hopes of deliverance ran especially high. And they would actually rehearse how that God had delivered them from their oppressors by the hand of Moses.

At that time the Jews were living under the control, or domination of the Roman Empire, and were just one step above slavery, in fact they were living in a type of slavery.

The people were looking for an earthly leader like Moses. They still considered their country to be "their promised land," with the promise of milk and honey.

They wanted to see great miracles, and to have a king who could free them of their enemies and fully restore their country allowing them to live in peace and abundance as they thought was their heritage under the Old Covenant.

So they had seen this miracle "Feeding of the Five Thousand," and had rightly identified Jesus was the One in Moses' prophesy, but what they couldn't understand was that it wasn't God's plan, nor Jesus' mission.

And although the people may have missed His true intent, they did recognize Him. And who knows how many may have later become Followers and Christians after His death and ressurection.

And wasn't it also for us? We can see another demonstration of God's, love, power, and compassion, and provision. He more than met the needs of these people and offered them still another sign that He was the Messiah, the Son of God.

This is also an example of the seed principle we see through-out the bible, "Seed Time and Harvest.

I think most of us would agree that He didn't have to have these few fish and bread in order to feed these people, couldn't He have just spoken this food into existence, instead He accepted this gift from the boy, and multiplied it until it fed thousands of people.

And there were 12 baskets full left over and I wonder how much of that the boy took back with him. Whatever amount don't you suppose it was more than he brought. If put put your trust in God's word He will provide for you like He fed those people.