John 6:1-15 The Feeding of the 5,000

John 6:14   “. . . the people saw the sign Jesus performed.”

All four Gospels record the feeding of the 5,000, and in John’s Gospel the account of this miraculous sign and the response of the people takes almost as many verses to record as the resurrection does. Clearly, for the early church this event in the life of Jesus was important. On the surface of the telling we see the compassion of Jesus for hungry people, and his response to their hunger gives us a model for our own ministry to the needy. However, Jesus spiritualized this event so that the miracle more importantly became a sign of salvation than an act of compassion for the physically hungry. Jesus said to the people who received the food that he had distributed, “. . .you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” (John 6:26-27)

Following the example of Jesus and taking a spiritual interpretation of this feeding ministry we observe that Jesus used this event in the wilderness, first, to confront his disciples with the fact of their spiritual scarcity. They did not have the ability to feed the people, physically and more importantly spiritually. Philip, exasperated with the instructions to provide food for the multitude of people, complained to Jesus that it would take eight months of wages to give everyone even a bite to eat. (v.7) Before we can see the miracle of provision the church first acknowledges its inadequacy. We cannot feed the hunger of people for God. We cannot even fill our own spiritual need for God. We look at what little insight we have, and we are like Andrew who looked at the five barley loaves and two fish, and said, “how far will they go among so many?” (v. 9)

However, it happens in John 6 and in the church again and again that we witness the power of God when we acknowledge our own limited resources. When we face our spiritual scarcity then we hear Jesus say to us as he said to his disciples, “Have the people sit down.” (v. 10) We stop looking at our empty pockets and our scarce resources and we simply follow the instruction of Jesus. When we do we discover that the people will be able to eat their fill with food left over. (v. 12) When we simply give people the Gospel of Christ, not in our own strength, but in obedience to the instructions of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, we discover a spiritual abundance that fills our deepest hunger and the hunger of those to whom we preach. 

God revealed this Gospel principle to Paul. He wanted to be strong, but he suffered an infirmity that made him weak. He pleaded with God to have his infirmity, his thorn in the flesh, removed. Then he heard God’s response, “. . .my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9) The church receives power to feed the spiritually hungry when it recognizes its own limitations, its spiritual scarcity, and awaits the instructions of Jesus who will say at the right place and the right time, “Have the people sit down.”