John 6:8-9 NIVUK
[8] Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, [9] ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’
A Romanian friend of mine has a brilliantly dark sense of humour – as many in the former Communist countries do. I was there less than a decade after the death of the Communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu. As many people pointed out, under Communism, they could afford what was in the shops, but there was nothing there. After Communism fell, the shops were full of goods, but they could afford nothing.
My friend had a brilliant coping mechanism. If he passed a shop that sold goods he would have liked to have bought but could not afford, he would gaze at the price tag and mutter to himself, ‘Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t want it!’
But not everyone can face a lack with that sense of humour.
While it might work fine for things we can do without, it doesn’t work for essentials like food, heating, clothing, accommodation. Many of us have found ourselves in positions where we have been seriously tested in these areas.
It hurts. It really hurts.
And it’s a lot worse if you can’t provide for your family.
This is a very famous event. It’s one of the few events – outside of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion – that is present in all four Gospels.
And there is a very good reason for that. More than any other – outside of the resurrection itself – this event proved conclusively that Jesus was who He said He was.
Why?
Because of this:
Exodus 16:4-5 NIVUK
[4] Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. [5] On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.’
John 6:32-35 NIVUK
[32] Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ [34] ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘always give us this bread.’ [35] Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus proved His divinity by providing bread from heaven in a desolate place.
There could be no more doubting over who He was.
Which is why we see this:
John 6:14-15 NIVUK
[14] After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ [15] Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
But what does this mean for us?
We will study this event in its context to see what we can find out about how God can provide for us, even in times of desolation and hardship, and even when we really don’t have enough.
The first aspect we see in these verses is that of Pressure.
Pressure
Now, I realise this might seem an little strange. We have grown up with a picture postcard view of this miracle, where Jesus provides for five thousand people, all politely seated in groups on a grassy hill, munching through their seemingly limitless supply of bread and fish.
But we need to understand that there is a lot more to it than that.
One of these is that the people were fed in a desolate, solitary place (Matthew 14:13; Mark 6:32). Luke stated that it was near to the small town of Bethsaida, on the northern coast of Lake Galilee (Luke 9:10). John stated that it was on the other side of the lake (John 6:1).
What we can gather from this is that it took place in a location where the infrastructure could not cope with the need to feed so many people.
And yes, it took place in a location where there was plenty of grass (John 6:10) – likely the grassland on the north-eastern shore of the lake, to the north of most of the cities in the Decapolis.
But the question we should ask is: why was Jesus even there? It wasn’t His usual stamping ground. Why had He gone to this place?
The answer is simple, but very profound:
He and His disciples were under enormous pressure.
In fact, there were three sources of pressure.
The first of these was bereavement.
John the Baptist had been murdered.
That is why we see these words:
Matthew 14:13 NIVUK
[13] When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.
Jesus had not just lost His earthly cousin. John was far more than that to Him. It was John’s ministry that prepared the way for Jesus to come (Matthew 3:1-3; Mark 1:1-4; Luke 1:76-79; John 3:27-30). And yes, the Jewish leaders, with characteristically immature understanding, had pitted them against each other in petty completion (John 4:1-3). And yes, John the Baptist sometimes wavered in his understanding (Matthew 11:1-15; Luke 7:18-30). But it is unmistakable that his death in such a horrible manner (Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29) would have had a profound effect on Jesus.
John was gone. It wouldn’t take a genius to work out that Jesus could be next.
More than that, Jesus’ disciples were at risk.
And yet, at the same time, their ministry seemed to be going well – almost too well. The second pressure came from business: the business of mission. And for them, business had been good. Jesus had sent them out to the surrounding village in pairs as missionaries (Mark 6:6-11). Their mission had been very successful (Mark 6:12-13).
Almost too successful:
Mark 6:30-31 NIVUK
[30] The apostles gathered round Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. [31] Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’
That gave rise to the third pressure – that of busy-ness: the constant to-ing and fro-ing of people.
So Jesus is bereaved, exposed and one hundred percent in the spotlight, and with responsibility for His disciples. The pressure would have been extraordinary.
Particularly with the toxic political situation, where the Jews were longing for a Messiah to lead them to a military victory over the hated Romans and rid their land of them.
Particularly when His disciples’ ministry had been so successful and people were now seeking Him in numbers.
So what would Jesus do?
He took His disciples away to a solitary place to get some rest.
Now, this is such a striking event that it’s something every pastor, preacher, voluntary and vocational worker ought to heed.
Every Christian, regardless of our role – and especially if we are a leader – has to balance work and rest. We have to know ourselves when we have reached our limit and need to take time out. If we don’t take time out, we will burn out. And you can take it from someone who served as a missionary and was burned out twice, that is not where you want to be.
Of course, we need to have a work ethic:
Proverbs 24:30-34 NIVUK
[30] I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; [31] thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. [32] I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: [33] a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – [34] and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 NIVUK
[10] For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.’
But we must balance that with times of rest and seeking God, because that is what Jesus did:
Mark 1:35 NIVUK
[35] Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Luke 5:15-16 NIVUK
[15] Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses. [16] But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
This rubs against our desires to solve problems, to put things right, to check them off our list. It rubs against our ego, in believing that we have to have the answer for everything. But often we find that the best decisions are taken with the clearest head.
When the Covid pandemic struck, my team at work was extraordinarily busy. It was very stressful. I was working from home, but I found that my lunch break wasn’t really a break – my brain was still churning over what I needed to do that day. And with no time between work and mealtimes, I found myself utterly exhausted.
After a few weeks, I realised that I couldn’t continue to work that way. It wasn’t at all healthy.
So I struck a deal with my boss: I would go to work half an hour earlier and take half an hour more at lunch time. I used that time to exercise, and sometimes to go for a walk to clear my head and pray.
That, allied with a disciplined quiet time with God in the morning, helped me manage the pressure of my work.
I also found that I was thinking clearer and planning more effectively.
It might sound counter-intuitive that the best way through a problem is to step away from it, but time spent in prayer and thought and planning is never wasted, whereas time spent running like a headless chicken towards a difficult problem usually is.
Jesus is under tremendous pressure – likely more than we will ever face in our lifetime. Yes, some of it was due to unreasonable expectations – as is often the case with us.
But the way He dealt with it is an example for us.
In the 1990s, a rather cheesy fashion emerged from the Bible Belt in the USA. Christians would wear a bracelet with the letters ‘WWJD’ written on it, which stood for ‘What Would Jesus Do?’
I wonder, in this area of our lives, are we prepared to do what Jesis did?
Apart from pressure, we also see Jesus dealing with, as we said before, Expectation.
Expectation
Because even when we try to escape it, the pressure of expectation has a habit of finding us:
Matthew 14:13-14 NIVUK
[13] When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. [14] When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed those who were ill.
Mark 6:32-34 NIVUK
[32] So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. [33] But many who saw them leaving recognised them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. [34] When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
Jesus had got into the boat with His disciples for a quiet sail around the northern coast of Lake Galilee to the serene countryside around Bethsaida. But it didn’t work. The crowds headed off in the same direction on foot, likely following their boat from the short, and were waiting on them when they arrived.
And with them were huge expectations:
Sick to heal.
Problems to solve.
Direction to receive.
Leadership to submit to.
Verse 34 is very telling:
Mark 6:34 NIVUK
[34] When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
For us, the idea of ‘sheep without a shepherd’ is quite a benign idea.
But for the Jews, it was emotive. It symbolised a simple people having lost their leadership and direction in battle, and being utterly lost, not knowing what to do next:
2 Chronicles 18:16 NIVUK
[16] Then Micaiah answered, ‘I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, “These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.” ’
Ezekiel 34:5-6 NIVUK
[5] So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. [6] My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no-one searched or looked for them.
Zechariah 10:2-3 NIVUK
[2] The idols speak deceitfully, diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd. [3] ‘My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord Almighty will care for his flock, the people of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle.
It’s woeful, isn’t it? Pitiful. Humiliating.
An absence and a failure of leadership.
And Jesus’ intervention here is a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy from Ezekiel 34.
It is also a sad indictment against their leaders at the time – both civil (Herod) and spiritual (the High Priest and the Sanhedrin). A reading of Ezekiel 34 portrays exactly the state they were in – and, if we are honest, often the state we are in.
But look at the situation Jesus and His disciples found themselves in:
Bereaved.
Tired from the business of mission.
Drained by the busy-ness of popularity.
Thrust into the harsh limelight of the authorities’ attention.
Now facing a very demanding, restive crowd of at least (but likely a lot more than) five thousand people, each with their own pretentions and demands.
This is quite extraordinary.
Yet it’s a situation many leaders will be familiar with.
And Jesus’ reaction is quite amazing. He knows His own situation. He knows theirs. He has compassion on them because their situation is worse than His own, so He heals their sick and begins to teach them.
He gives them what they need.
He seeks their good above His own.
That simple reaction, so focused on others and less on Himself, despite the incredible expectations of these people, is just amazing.
Of course, unlike Jesus, we are not God. And there are times when other people’s expectations of us are just too much. We know that.
But how Jesus reacts in this very high-pressured, complex situation is an example for us all.
And what follows is truly an incredible miracle. Because after Pressure and Expectation, we see the third source of deep stress, that of Provision.
Provision
It was more than twenty years ago that the need for this hit me hard. I was heading to catch a bus to work. My wife was pregnant. We had just signed the mortgage agreement to buy our first apartment.
Suddenly a wave of responsibility hit me hard. I could almost hear a voice telling me, ‘It’s time to grow up, Paul. You’re an adult now. People are counting on you.’
The pressure of providing for a family is enormous. I don’t doubt that for a second. I’ve felt it.
When things go wrong and a bonus isn’t as big as it once was, or you lose your job, it can cause serious issues with self-worth.
I know. I’ve felt it.
And I know some people will object to this, but it is way worse for a man.
The pressure Jesus was under here was even greater. At least five thousand – likely more – hungry, tired and tetchy restive Jews depending on Him for everything?
This was a powder keg waiting to explode.
And the disciples knew it.
They saw The Situation.
Mark 6:35-36 NIVUK
[35] By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. ‘This is a remote place,’ they said, ‘and it’s already very late. [36] Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.’
They wanted to call time on His teaching. I’m pretty sure at this point that they were equally as tired as Jesus’ audience – if not more.
But look at Jesus’ response:
Mark 6:37 NIVUK
[37] But he answered, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said to him, ‘That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?’
He asked them to take responsibility and solve the problem they had raised!
And see how they answered! You can see the tiredness and tetchiness in their response, can’t you?
Remote area. Small villages. Hungry people.
It just seemed like a poor combination.
But, you see, there is a key lesson here. If we are in a situation where provision is needed, we need to know what it is we require. We need to be aware of our situation. We need to then bring it to Jesus.
Now, He may point out to us that we already have the solution, but we should bring it to Him nonetheless.
We move on from the situation to The Survey, when the disciples checked to see what resources they had available.
John notes this:
John 6:8-9 NIVUK
[8] Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, [9] ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’
We need to be clear on this. The loaves of bread were each around the size of a bread roll, or a pan de sal. The fish were also less sperm whale, more tiddler.
This was a little boy’s packed lunch, after all.
But isn’t it amazing that out of all these thousands of people, only one little boy had the common sense to bring himself some food?
Isn’t that striking?
Andrew is absolutely right. Among five thousand plus people, this food is nothing. There is barely enough for them to get a crumb each.
It is utterly and completely inadequate.
Isn’t that how often feel when faced with a large, but glaring, need? Don’t we feel that we lack the capacity to meet it? Don’t we feel horribly under-resourced?
Don’t we feel horribly out of our depth?
I have felt that on lots of occasions. One that comes to mind is my first missions trip to Romania. I don’t know what I expected or what I thought I could contribute. But on my very first day there, as a completely inexperienced eighteen year old, fresh out of first year at university, I found myself sitting on the steps of Bucharest’s Gara Nord station, watching as street children emerged from a heating duct and began to sniff solvents to get them through the day.
I don’t think I've felt more out of my depth in my life.
What could I do in a place like that?
What could I contribute?
I’m sure that’s how Andrew felt, faced with the glaring need to feed such a hungry and restless crowd, but with only a child's packed lunch to do so.
I doubt if the little boy felt it, though. I’m sure his only thought was that he had something and he wanted to share it.
Because that’s the way with trusting children. They just want to help. Even if what they have isn’t much.
But following the situation and the survey, we see something a little unusual: the Splitting up.
Luke 9:14-15 NIVUK
[14] (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, ‘Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ [15] The disciples did so, and everyone sat down.
Why did Jesus do this? Did it make the miracle any easier?
No, I doubt it.
But what it did do was make the crowd control easier. It also made it easier for the disciples to see the spread of the food as it was distributed. It prevented queuing or crushing.
It was a quite brilliant idea.
But it wasn’t nearly as brilliant as what followed.
There are three steps to this miracle, as outlined in the text:
Mark 6:41-44 NIVUK
[41] Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. [42] They all ate and were satisfied, [43] and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. [44] The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
First Jesus receives the food. It was plainly inadequate to the task. Jesus knows that. But He doesn’t reject it, despise it or send the disciples to find more. He receives it for what it is.
Then Jesus gives thanks for the food. He is grateful for it. It sees it as a gift from His Father.
Then Jesus shares the food. Nothing hugely dramatic happens here. There is no great vision. No lightning from Heaven. No mighty storm. Just a man sharing out some fish and bread – a fairly basic meal for people who live close to a sea.
But the food keeps coming. And coming. And coming. And it doesn’t stop until...
Mark 6:42-43 NIVUK
[42] They all ate and were satisfied, [43] and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.
The parallels with manna in the Old Testament were striking. Here, again, the foodstuff was plain and simple. God didn’t provide steaks or a cordon bleu meal or a seven course feast.
He provided enough:
Exodus 16:17-18 NIVUK
[17] The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. [18] And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
And that is the miracle here. Jesus took a plainly inadequate food source from His plainly inadequate disciples and fed thousands of people until they had enough.
The thing is, this is not a one-off. This is a miracle God has done again and again, on a smaller scale, in my own life.
I have led missions teams where I’ve looked around and thought I had a tremendously talented team. They usually didn’t go well. Too many egos at play.
But one team I led in particular, in quite a challenging situation on Southern Romania, had an interpreter who couldn’t interpret, a seventeen year old on her first missions trip and very inexperienced and an Australian guy whom only I could understand – and even then only because one of my sisters loved Australian soap operas. I remember meeting them and going to sleep that night thinking, ‘Oh boy! This will be interesting!’.
It turned out to be one of the best mission trips I have ever been a part of.
The interpreter who couldn’t interpret turned out to be amazing with children. The seventeen year old turned out to be someone who could speak English almost like a native – although she still couldn’t understand the Australian, so I had to interpret for him. And the Australian, once he stopped mumbling, turned out to be a really good preacher.
God confounded my expectations.
And He has done so again and again and again.
I am someone who has struggled since my youth with feelings of inadequacy and insufficiency. Yet God has taken me to places and allowed me to do things that I was not qualified to do, and used me in ways that I really didn’t expect that He could.
So yes, I have to admit, I am inadequate. I am insufficient. I am not good enough.
But God is all sufficient.
And He will be for you too.
A Small Sidebar
John has an interesting addition to this amazing miracle:
John 6:14-15 NIVUK
[14] After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ [15] Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
The fact that this miracle echoed the provision of manna in the desert was not lost at all on those who were present. Moses had prophesied about a prophet like him whom they should listen to and obey (Deuteronomy 18:15, c.f. Acts 7:37). It didn’t take them long to make the connection between Jesus and this prophet.
And to a degree, they were correct.
But just like the Israelites in the desert, who wanted more than manna (Numbers 11:4-6), these witnesses to the feeding of the five thousand wanted more from Jesus: they wanted Him to be a military figurehead who would overthrow the Romans and set them free from tyranny.
That was just not God’s plan, in just the same way that none of the temptations satan presented Jesus with were part of God’s plan (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13).
And so Jesus withdrew to a mountain to get away from them.
There is a very pertinent warning for us here. God can, and does, place us into situations that are beyond our capabilities and use us marvellously within them. It’s very easy for our ego to grow and our chest to puff out, as if it was us and not God who did it. It’s easy for us to seek our own glory, not God’s.
And the temptation to do this is even greater when we have been in a situation where there is great pressure, but we have come through it victoriously.
Even Moses fell into this trap (Numbers 20:1-13).
That self-congratulation can lead to offers we should not take up, and opportunities we should not take, because they are there to boost our ego and our glory, not God’s.
A wise person knows when to step back, like Jesus did, because they are aware of God's purpose and will not deviate from it.
Conclusion
In 1997, I began to raise funds to serve with Operation Mobilisation in Romania for two years. I needed to have pledged support of around £10,000. I had never seen that amount of money before. I was more used to no money. It seemed quite insurmountable.
However, I believed God was calling me, so I got myself a part time job, took on some sponsored events and spoke in church about what I believed God wanted me to do.
Of course, the real problem with fundraising like this is there is no absolute guarantee that you will actually raise the money you need. You just have to do your best and see what happens.
It really was quite the ride. But I’m October 1998, I left the UK for Czech Republic for missionary training. Despite coming from a family that had been in constant money troubles for pretty much my entire life, God provided everything I needed.
Or maybe that step out in faith was because of my family’s historic money troubles.
You see, I was well used to not having enough and to being dependent on God. That is how I had lived my life. So trusting Him for a two year missionary term (which turned into three) was not a great stretch.
As I said earlier, I was also well used to not feeling adequate or enough. Yet in all this time I have found myself in positions where many might say I should not be: preaching in Romania and the Philippines without a theology degree, translating and interpreting from Romanian to English without a diploma, taking children’s talks in church without a teaching qualification.
Yet God has graciously allowed me to have these experiences.
When we look at this miracle, we are often thrilled and enamoured by the miraculous provision of food - and that is not surprising. But what should also catch our eyes is the position both Jesus and the disciples were in before the miracle took place.
They were under immense pressure due to John the Baptist’s death, the success of their ministry and the exposure this caused to Herod and his vindictive authority.
They faced immense expectations as they arrived on the northern shore of Lake Galilee and were met by a huge, restive crowd.
Yet in this situation – which I don’t doubt would break lesser men – Jesus did three things that completely changed everything. He accepted what He had. He gave thanks for it., even if He must have known it was wildly insufficient. Then He gave it out to the restive crowd around Him.
And it was enough.
Being enough in a difficult situation like this is often problematic for us. However, I keep returning to a few verses that explain what God does in these situations:
Psalms 23:1 NIVUK
[1] The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Philippians 4:12-13 NIVUK
[12] I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. [13] I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:19 NIVUK
[19] And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Perhaps if we take our eyes off what we don’t have, and focus more on what we do have, we might find our a beautiful truth that we often ignore:
Our God is enough. He is always enough. In every situation.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, when I am in a difficult situation like thus, I confess that I am tempted to focus on what I do not have. Help me to remember that You are always enough, and no situation is too far gone for You to redeem. Amen.
Questions
Can you relate to any of the pressures that Jesus faced with His disciples? Which ones, and why?
How do you think Andrew felt when He presented Jesus with a little boys’ packed lunch to feed five thousand-plus people? Have you ever felt like that? Why?
Do you believe that God is enough for your situation? Why / why not?
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