Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (John 6:1-15 NIV)
Of all Jesus’ miracles, only two are recorded in all four Gospels. Many of you know that there are four Gospels in the Bible—four books about Jesus’ life. What are they? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Only two miracles are written down in all four books. Do you know which two miracles they are? Well, you should probably guess the one we’re talking about today: Feeding the 5,000. Can you guess the other one? Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Easter! Those are the only two miracles recorded in all four Gospels. God wants us to know how Jesus fed the 5,000.
Maybe because it fits so well with what Jesus taught us to pray. In the Lord’s Prayer, what did Jesus teach us to pray about food? “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). God wants us to turn to him every day. God wants us to learn that everything comes from him—even bread. “Give us today our daily bread.” Today we see that prayer answered in the biggest possible way.
As our story starts, Jesus sailed across the Sea of Galilee. The east side of the Sea of Galilee was more quiet and less inhabited, but not on this day. People who had seen Jesus’ miracles ran miles around the lake to find him on the other side. When Jesus looked up, he saw “a great crowd coming toward him.” There were 5,000 men, along with probably just as many women and children too. Imagine a basketball arena full of people. Thousands and thousands of people!
When he saw all the people, Jesus turned to his disciple Philip and asked, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” The people had just walked all the way around the lake. They were miles from home. The text doesn’t tell us, but it must have been a Sunday, otherwise they would have just gone to Chick-fil-A, but it was closed! So Jesus asked Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” Actually, “he asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.” Jesus had it all planned out, and that plan included testing Philip to see where he would turn. If Philip needed to feed 5,000 people, where would he turn?
Well, where did Philip turn? To math. Philip sounds like an engineer. He immediately started to make a spreadsheet in his mind. “5,000 men. 5,000 women. Thousands more children. If each eats x amount of bread, and y amount of fish, and if the price of bread today is $z per loaf…” Doesn’t this sound like a math problem? Philip figured it out! He went back to Jesus, “I got it! It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
But Jesus wasn’t asking a math question. He was asking a faith question. Jesus didn’t want Philip to turn to math. What did Jesus want Philip to turn to? Him. To Jesus! What was really the answer? “Philip, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” The answer was, “We can’t! Jesus, we can’t afford to buy bread for all these people! But you can do anything. We can’t, but you can!” Wasn’t that the right answer? Jesus was testing Philip to teach him to turn to Jesus.
Do you think Jesus tests you too? Of course he does! What’s his goal? That we learn to turn to him in faith. That’s so much harder than it sounds, isn’t it? We turn to math. As long as there’s money in the bank, we’re okay, right? We turn to friends or relatives. As long as other people support us, we’re okay, right? We turn to ourselves. I can handle it, right? No. When Jesus tests you, he often isn’t looking for you to figure out the answer. He’s looking for you to turn to him. He already has it all planned out! “Jesus, I see the problem. I can’t, but you can. It’s up to you.”
At that moment, Andrew came up. He was Peter’s brother. I wonder if he heard what Philip had said. Philip says, “It would take more than half a year’s wages…” And Andrew says, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” It’s kind of funny: “We need thousands of dollars, but we have one little boy’s lunch.” And that was perfect. God loves to start with nothing, so that we realize everything comes from him.
Because with Jesus, nothing is too little. You realize that, don’t you? However small it seems, with Jesus, nothing is too little. God loves to start with our inadequacies to showcase his power and grace. God once chose a widow who had just enough floor and oil to bake one loaf of bread. What did he do? He made her flour and oil never run out (1 Kings 17). God once chose a poor, young virgin, and what did he do? He made her into the mother of God. Mary herself sang, “He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:53).
With Jesus, nothing is too little. Do you believe that? I know that when you look at your life, it seems like there’s not enough. For each of us, the need is different, but doesn’t it always seem like there’s not enough? Not enough money or not enough friends or not enough health or not enough work or not enough… When it feels like we don’t have enough, do you know what God says? “Perfect! Now you’re ready to see my grace to you.” Feeling like you’re running out doesn’t mean that God is against you. God has a tendency to wait until we feel like we have nothing, so that we learn that everything comes from him. With Jesus, nothing is too little.
Jesus took that one little boy’s little lunch: Five little loaves and two little fish. He gave thanks. Then he distributed it to those who were seated. It sounds so simple. It’s incredible to imagine. Jesus hands a loaf of bread to a disciple, but when you look back at Jesus, he still has a loaf of bread. He hands that loaf of bread to another disciple, but when you look back at Jesus, he still has another loaf of bread. Those disciples start handing loaves to people. You watch them put the loaves in people’s eager hands, but when you look back at the disciples, they are still holding other loaves. It’s not as though mountains of food appear. But, little by little, everyone has food.
And not just a little. They all had “as much as they wanted.” It would have been tempting for those disciples to say, “Just one loaf per person. Don’t take too much! There are a lot of people here. We’re not sure if it’s all going to make it around…” There was none of that. God is not a God of a little. He’s a God of abundance. God doesn’t just barely give us what we need. He gives us so much more! Isn’t your life proof of that? We have a God of a lot, not a God of a little!
Actually, there were leftovers. 5,000 people. Five loaves of bread and two fish. And there were leftovers? Yes! Jesus was concerned about those leftovers too. He said, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” God doesn’t want his gifts to be wasted. Just because God blesses us abundantly doesn’t mean we can be careless with what we have. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. The miracle wasn’t done. Each disciple had food to eat for another week!
Why doesn’t God do that for us today? He does. Every day. Miracles aren’t as unusual as they appear. Actually, miracles are often God doing what he always does, just in a big way so that we actually notice it. Has God fed 5,000 people today? Yes! God has fed way more! God has fed 8,000,000,000 people today. For some reason, feeding 5,000 jumps out at us. Every day, God feeds billions of people. Every day, God feeds you. Usually with as much as you want. Often with leftovers. Jesus’ miracles open our eyes to what God is always doing behind the scenes.
What does that lead us to pray? “Give us today our daily bread.” Can you see why Jesus teaches us to pray that? Notice especially the word “today.” How often do we need to pray, “Give us today our daily bread”? Every day. That’s how God wants it. He wants us—he invites us—to turn to him every single day and trust that he provides for us. And then tomorrow? The same thing. The next day? The same thing. Turn to Jesus every day: “Give us today our daily bread.”
But we can’t stop with bread. Unfortunately, the people in Jesus’ day did. They liked having Jesus provide for them. In fact, they were ready to make Jesus their king by force. Their “Bread King.” Have you heard that expression? They wanted a “Bread King.” They wanted a king who would miraculously give them free bread every day. Isn’t that what Jesus came to do?
No! This miracle cries out at us to see something greater. If Jesus fills our bodies, what should we also look to him to fill? Our souls! If Jesus provides the little things that we need, like food, what should we look to him to provide? The big things: Forgiveness. Salvation. Eternal life. The people saw this sign—this miracle—and they wanted Jesus to be their Bread King. But that’s not what Jesus’ signs were for. Instead, “these signs are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name” (John 20:31). Our daily bread points us to the Bread of Life—Jesus!— who gives eternal life through faith in him.
It’s a sin to not turn to God for all our physical needs. It’s a sin to somehow think that we provide for ourselves, that we don’t need God at all. We do! But it’s not enough to turn to God for all our physical needs. It’s not enough to recognize that God gives us our daily bread. It’s a sin—an even greater sin—to not turn to God for all our spiritual needs. It’s a sin to somehow think that we can save our souls, that we don’t need Jesus’ salvation. We do! Do you know what the end result of the feeding of the 5,000 was? Just about everyone stopped following Jesus.
And Jesus let them walk away. Why? He didn’t come to be our Bread King. He came to be our Savior. Jesus didn’t come just so that we could have food. He came so that we could have eternal life. He didn’t come to offer little fish. He came to offer forgiveness through his life and death and resurrection. Remember what two miracles are recorded in all four Gospels? The feeding of the 5,000 and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Can you see how they go together? God wants us to turn to him for every physical need so that we learn to trust in him for every spiritual need. God’s food for our bodies points us to God’s salvation for our souls. We really need both!
We can wrap all that up in six little words: “Give us today our daily bread.” I hope you pray that every day. Jesus teaches us to! Every gift is from above. From the donut you ate this morning to the air conditioning in our church to the forgiveness for your sins that Jesus won on the cross to the eternal life that is waiting for you in heaven. Every gift is from above. “Give us today our daily bread.” As God fills your body, look to him to fill your soul. He will! “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). In every test, in every trial, turn to Jesus! “Give us today our daily bread.”
(To listen to this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior podcast, please click HERE. To watch this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior YouTube channel, please click on the link below.)
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