A Journey Through the Gospel of St. John The Miracle of Jesus Feeding the Hungry Multitude

St. John 6:1-13

We have come to a miracle of signal importance – the feeding of the five thousand hungry souls.  This miracle is of signal importance because each of the four gospel writers mentions it.  This miracle intimates that our blessed Lord has unusual power.  In this miracle, we find our Lord satisfying the bodily needs of a grand host of people with a meager five loaves and two small fish.  What a miracle and what an exhibition of unusual power by the Lord!  As we approach this study, we find our Lord leaving Jerusalem and Judea and “went over the Sea of Galilee” (St. John 6:1).  As He moved, a great flock followed Him, for His fame as a master Physician was increasing; and quite frankly, many were following Him only because He produced physical relief, but they were not interested with being spiritually relieved.  They only followed Christ because He was producing; the crowd did not discern that He was the Lord of glory; they were oblivious to His divine glory!  That point leads me to ask this poignant question – “What is our sole reason for following Christ?”  Are we following Him because He is multiplying blessings in our lives?  Or, will we follow Him if He begins to subtract blessings in our lives?  Again, what is our motivation for following Him?  Our Lord knowing the motivation of this crowd, withdrew to the mountain with His disciples (v. 3); and immediately, we read that the Feast of Passover was nigh (v. 4).  The Passover was a signal event in the life of the Jews, for it signified the night in which they left Egypt, the night in which they were emancipated from slavery.  Yet, in their midst, the Lamb of God was, for the most part, rejected by the mass of people, for they only looked upon Him as a glorified miracle worker, and did not discern His divine glory.  Whereas, the hungry multitude didn’t really discern His divine glory nor appreciated the supreme excellence of His person, Jesus, nevertheless, displayed unusual compassion for the multitude, and raised a rather poignant question to Phillip – “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” (v. 5).  Our Lord being omniscient knew or had the solution to the problem of feeding this vast multitude, but raised the question to prove or test Phillip (v. 6).  In our lives, the Lord often gives us pop exams as various trials invade our lives in order to refine and cultivate our characters!  What a God we serve!  Phillip’s response in verse 7 is a portrait of many of us who are overwhelmed by the trial of the hour, for we forget that the same Lord who was sufficient in handling yesterday’s problem, is the same One who is more than adequate in handling our present problem.  Furthermore, Phillip’s answer exhibits that he placed a frugal calculation to the problem; thus, he made a mere calculation without looking to the vast resource that he had in Christ!  Phillip’s language in verse 7, is the language of unbelief.  Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, suggested that there was a lad with a meager amount of five barley loaves and two small fish, but said:  “But what are they among so many?” (v. 8-9)  Both men’s frailty in arriving at a solution to the problem, paved the way for the Master to display His compassion and power.  As our lesson concludes, we find the people being seated, preferably in order (Mark 6:40); our blessed Lord then blesses the meager amount, with the disciples being used as distributors!  (v. 10-11)  My brothers and sisters, from a spiritual perspective as disciples of Christ, and as we obey His commands, we are nothing more than distributors of the bread of life.  And if mankind would only appropriate this bread, he or she will never hunger (St. John 6:35).  A vast miracle will occur in the lives of anyone who appropriates the bread of life:  “they will be sufficiently fed!  Just as Jesus fed the five thousand beside women and children (Matthew 14:21) and there were leftovers, He can spiritually satisfy those who are spiritually devoid of eternal life.  Yes, if you are spiritually famished today, Christ is the answer, for St. John 6:47, says:  “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”  May God truly bless!