Five Loaves for Five Thousand; An Ample Meal John 6:1-14
By Dick York

This, and at least one more article to follow, is the edited transcript of a Sunday morning Bible teaching Dick delivered at the Bend Bible Fellowship. It is being printed here by specific request in the hope that it will minister to you as it did to those who requested it.

1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed Him because they saw His miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. 4 And the Passover, a feast of the Jews was nigh. 5 When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this He said to prove him: for He himself knew what He would do. 7 Philip answered Him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may take a little. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here which has five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many? 10 And Jesus said, Make the men to sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were filled, He said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost. 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

There are two parts to this chapter. The first 21 verses are typical. Pictures are being drawn here, types and shadows that portray doctrinal truth. The last 50 verses are doctrinal. Here we're going to deal with the first fourteen verses of this chapter––the feeding of the five thousand––where Jesus is demonstrating an eternal truth for us.

“And after these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee. After what things?

This story is a continuance of what we learned in chapter five, in which, you will remember, He had done and said some marvelous things. At the Pool of Bethesda He had met a man who was crippled, and had healed him on the Sabbath. That had created controversy with the Pharisees. Jesus had told them clearly that He was the Son of God, and they had accused Him of making himself equal with God, and set about to kill Him.

It was after that exchange that He took a boat and went over the Sea of Galilee, which is Tiberias and a great multitude followed Him because they saw His miracles. And Jesus went up into a mountain. And there He sat with His disciples.

But, when Jesus then lifted up His eyes and saw a great company come unto Him, He said to Philip, “Where are we going to buy enough bread to feed all of these people?" This He said to prove Philip, because Jesus himself knew what he was going to do.

Do you think the Lord ever does that to us? Do you think He tests us? Has he ever tested you? Have you ever come to the conclusion that you were in real trouble because you didn’t have enough money, or enough of whatever it was you thought you needed? Did it occur to you that when these things happen to us the Lord is checking us out like He was checking Philip out? Do you think there ever has been an occasion when the Lord didn’t know before hand exactly what He was going to do?

See what it says: “This He said to prove him, for He himself knew what He was going to do.” In the margin of my Bible I have written to myself the question, Did Jesus see the solution before the problem? What do you think; does He ever see the solution to the problem? Do you think He always sees the solution to the problem? If so, how come we all get so worried about things? Why would you be concerned at the time of your next problem if you honestly believe––and you have attested to it today––that you believe that the Lord always has the solution for the problem?

Sometimes we don’t like the solution. That’s where submission comes in. Are we willing to submit to His solutions? We see here, clearly stated, that the Lord has the solution in hand before the problem arises. We need to keep that in mind. That’s not just rhetorical doctrine, that’s fact; and we need to walk in that truth.

Philip answered him, "Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may take a little."

What is two hundred penny worth? Assuming, as it seems, a penny is a day's wages It's like two thirds of a year’s earnings. That’s probably what they had in the kitty. I wonder if they didn’t open the bag and say," Uh, we’ve got thirty-four dollars here to feed five thousand men plus their women and children. How are we going to do that?

Look at the confidence Philip had about feeding these people. He said, two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient that every one of them may take a little. We can go and spend all this money and buy only enough bread for some of them to have perhaps a bite.

Now one of His disciples, Andrew, Peter’s brother, said to Him, "There’s a lad here, and he has five barley loaves."

The fact that the loaves were specified to be barley caught my attention as I was studying this. Why does it specify barley loaves? So I looked up meal offerings. Thank offerings were of barley meal. These five loaves probably were not baked with the idea of being a thank offering, but they were the right ingredients in the right place at the right time.

The Lord took them, and these five barley loaves became an offering to the Lord. He lifted them to the Father, thanked Him for them, blessed them, and He broke them.

It seems to me the point of this whole thing is that the Lord took what was offered to Him and it was going to be enough. Think about that. When you have what God has provided for whatever situation you are in, you have enough. God’s provision is always enough. He is able to expand it if necessary.

Years ago, before we started the rescue mission in Eugene, Oregon, we––my mother, my brother and I––went to visit an old couple who had been with my brother in a missionary training program years before. They had a real burden for Eugene, especially for the transients––the street people and the hoboes. It was through them that the Lord directed me to start the mission.

They were very poor, but they insisted we should stay for lunch. The dear lady looked in her refrigerator and all she had were three little bowls of leftover stuff. She said, "Let’s bless it and the Lord will make it go round."

So we sat down and we ate and talked and we talked more and we ate more. When we finished eating, we had all had enough. Then she scraped together the leftovers, put it back in a bowl and I saw her put back in the refrigerator, I’m sure, just about as much as she took out.

That was a lesson for me. I thought, Wow! This is true! The Lord really multiplies the loaves and fishes. I've thought about that often. My conclusion? What God gives us is enough!

The Lord wants us to rest in Him. Often we’re upset because we don’t have a lot of stuff. Well, saints, we’ve got everything we need. Of course we can't say, I’m on vacation now. Because I’m a Christian I don’t have to work or be productive. God will feed me.

I think that would be stupid. The Lord has made us to be a productive people. Even those in Ephesians chapter four, who had been thieves before they were saved, were instructed to work with their hands the thing which is good. Why? So that they would have enough for themselves? No, so that they would have to give to him that needeth.

There’s an expanded view of productivity in the Christian walk. One of the things we’re told not to do is worry about our food and clothing. If we’re worrying about how we’re going to survive day by day, we’re no different than the world. That’s the world’s philosophy, not the Christian’s.

This lad had five barley loaves and he gave them to the Lord. They literally became a thank offering and the Lord multiplied them for the needs of perhaps fifteen thousand people, if we count the women and children who may have been there along with the men.

Notice that Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to the people. We’ve been studying in our training session classes about discipleship, about faithfulness, and teaching faithful men to teach others. We see an example here. The loaves and fishes represent the Word of God. We’re not absorbing information for ourselves only, but also for those we’re ministering to. So Jesus gave to the disciples, and the disciples gave to all of those who were waiting to hear; or in this particular case, waiting to eat. So they were all fed.

Verse twelve says, “When they were filled," Philip, looking at his resources had worried about everyone having a little. He hadn’t been thinking big enough. After Jesus broke the bread, He gave to the disciples, and they passed it out to the people.

Imagine their awe that this thing was growing by the minute. All they began with was a handful. Pretty soon each disciple had a handful to give to the people. And they were able to return for more handfuls to feed that crowd. I imagine they thought, Where is all this bread and fish coming from? Well, it was coming from the multiplication of what had been given to the Lord.

Second Corinthians 9:10 tells us that the Lord multiplies the seed sown. Let me illustrate: Suppose I brought home a hundred pound sack of wheat and Darlene should grind it all and make bread. It would obviously last quite a while, but, even so, one day Darlene would say, we’re out of flour again. So I’d go and buy another sack. But this time we take fifty pounds and plant it in the field.

So what happens? By the time we finish consuming the fifty pounds we made into flour, the seed we planted has brought forth fifteen sacks of wheat.

Question! Did the Lord multiply the seed sown or the seed consumed? This is always true. The Lord multiplies the seed sown. And those loaves and fishes were sown when they were placed in the Lord's hands.

All who comprised that multitude were filled. They didn't just have a little, they had enough––more than enough. And He said unto his disciples, "Gather up the fragments." So the result of Jesus’ provision was far greater than the vision of the disciples. The disciples were thinking, in their natural way, about how they could get just a little food to all these people. But Jesus, in His abundance, provided for them until they were filled and running over.

The disciples were responsible for obedience. That’s all. God makes the multiplication. If they relied on their faith, nothing would have multiplied. What was true of them is true of us. We don’t have it in us. But we can be obedient. That’s all that God requires of us.

I think the disciples had a great ministry passing on what Jesus multiplied. The Lord is telling us something, saints. No wonder we can be free to do what God calls us to do, because the Lord already has in hand all of the needed solutions. If I'm a believer and I don’t believe that, I'm impaired. But the Scriptures say, “Though we believe not, yet he abides faithful, He cannot deny himself.” Saints, faith is believing that God can’t fail even though my faith is overwhelmed by the circumstances that confront me.

It's a great problem when the saints expect God to do only what they can understand. In verse fourteen we read that when those men had seen the miracle that Jesus did, they said, Of a truth this is that prophet that should come. They were not impressed because they were fed, but because they were fed by a miracle.

People are not convinced to believe Jesus just because of what we do. They are convinced because they see what Jesus does. It may not always be as spectacular as the feeding of the five thousand, but it is always obvious that it is of Him and not of us. Paul said it this way. "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." He does the work; we are the instruments.

To be continued.