We begin a 5 week series on the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. We being with the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on water. These upcoming weeks have a common theme, which is bread. It is, of course, more than
something to eat, it is about Jesus being the bread of life.
Let us pray. Lord God, be with us this day as learn more about the character of Jesus. Open our hearts and minds to hear the good news of Jesus, the bread of life and how we can bear witness to Him. Amen.
Our story begins with Jesus sailing or more likely rowing across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and His disciples berth their boat a few miles north of the Sea in the Jordan River. Many people were out and about as they prepared for the feast of the Passover and traveled the road to Jerusalem. The crowds, knowing who Jesus was, the healing and miracles He did, followed Him up to a large grassy hill.
Jesus notices that the crowd was in need of food and so He does a little test. He asks Phillip “where are we to buy bread for these to eat?” Notice Jesus doesn’t ask “if” or “can” we, He asks “Where are we.” Phillip does a little math and notes that it can’t be done, they don’t have the money. Andrew is a bit more optimistic when he finds a boy with some bread and fish, but says “it so little with so many.” Jesus, of course has a different plan. With just a little, He transforms it into plenty.
A little side note to all of this, I have always wondered about the fish in this story. How did this fish make it to this little boys picnic basket? There were fish caught in the Sea of Galilee similar in size to a sardine. They caught them by the hundreds. In order for people to have fish to eat away from the sea, they were pickled to keep them edible. Pickled fish from Galilee was well known throughout the Roman Empire. The barley bread of this boy was the cheapest of the breads available, the barley loaf was known as the bread of the poor.
From these items of the poor, Jesus does a miracle. First he blesses the loaves and gives thanks. Giving thanks first, is a significant act. Five thousand, plus women and children are fed. That in itself is a miracle. I wonder if the other miracle was that no one complained. Only barley bread and no regular wheat bread with regular pickled fish and no extra crispy and by the way, where is the lemon?
There were leftovers from this pickled fish and loaves of barley bread. Enough to fill twelve baskets. Jesus had the disciples gather the leftovers so that nothing would be wasted. Jesus didn’t want anything wasted. Or more importantly, Jesus did not want anyone left behind or left in need.
The people see this great sign and declare “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” But they want more, they want what cannot be given. Jesus realizes they want to force Him to become a King. That is not His calling and Jesus finds a way to withdraw to the mountains.
At evening time, the disciples leave Jesus, as they were told to do, and began to head sail for Capernaum. A storm comes up and after rowing for three or four miles, they see Jesus walking on the water coming to them. They were terrified. As always, Jesus assures them through His words “It is I, do not be afraid.” The sea is calmed and they reach the shore.
What are we to learn from this Gospel lesson? First we can see how Jesus works. Andrew is the one who brought the small boy to Jesus. Jesus took the gifts of the boy and multiplied it to feed the crowd. There is the story of an old German schoolmaster who, when he entered his class of boys in the morning, he removed his cap and bow ceremoniously to them. One day a person asked him why he did this. His answer was “You never know what one of these may some day become.” He was right——one of his students was Martin Luther.
Andrew did not know what he was doing when he brought the boy to Jesus that day, but he provided material for miracle. We may think sometimes we don’t give or do enough, but whatever gifts we give to Jesus are multiplied and grace abounds. He sends us out to be living bread according to His example, making the world a better place through humble acts of love, compassion and service. Jesus is the One who can satisfy every human need…and He does it through us. God’s Work, Our Hands.
There is the story about a business man who was fed up with the incessant demands of his job and the pressures of working in a difficult environment. He had just about given up trying to live according to Jesus’ example his daily life. One morning while getting ready for yet another busy day, the man promised himself that he would try very hard that day to bear witness to Jesus in his words and actions. A few minutes later he sets off to catch the train to work. He thought he had enough time, but by the time he bought his ticket, he realized he was running late.
Across the lobby he goes, bounding down the steps as the conductor is calling “All aboard.” In his mad dash to board the train, the businessman bumped into a small child carrying a jigsaw puzzle. Pieces scattered everywhere. The man paused, saw the child in tears, and looked again at the train doors that were about to close.
With a sigh, he walked toward the child, smiled and bent down to help him pick up the puzzle pieces. Meanwhile, the train leaves the station. The child watched the man intently as they worked together to gather all the pieces. After the last pieces were placed in the puzzle box, the little boy looked with awe at the man, and asked, hesitantly, “Mister, are you Jesus?”
Are you Jesus? It caught the man off guard. In that moment he was. A glimpse of the character of Jesus came shining through that simple small act of that man.
Jesus has come to reveal that God’s essential character is loving. (John 3) God’s essential desire is to be accessible and available to the people of God (John 1 and 2). It may not be what we want — so convinced are we that material possessions will make us happy — but it is what we need.
A small child says to each of us: “Are you Jesus?”….
Amen…