After his trip to Jerusalem where He healed the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda, and then provided four witnesses (last week’s blog) to the fact that He was indeed the Messiah, Jesus returned to Galilee with His disciples. And, after seeing Jesus heal dozens of people of their sicknesses, a great multitude began to follow Him. As the crowds continued to press in, Jesus felt the need for some “alone” time with His disciples, and He decided to “escape” for a while up on the hillside, some distance from the Sea of Galilee. But, as you might have expected, the multitude could not get enough of Jesus. After all, they were not only drawn by His ability to heal, but also by His penetrating words of spiritual truth. 

John records the following: 

Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Jesus therefore lifting up His eyes, and seeing that a great multitude was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?” (John 6:4-5).

Now consider what Jesus didn’t say, for example, “Hey guys, look, the crowds are still following us!” or maybe, “Where are all these people going to sit?” No, because the Passover was coming, Jesus wanted to share a meal with the multitude. But that’s not all, because John records that Jesus was “testing” Phillip to see how he would react. Interestingly, Jesus already knew what He was going to do. Here’s how Philip responded:

“Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive just a little” (John 6:7).

Now check this out – A denarii is considered to be a day’s wage, and Philip says that even two hundred day’s wages would not be enough be buy the bread needed for the crowd. Looking at this in today’s economy, let’s say that an average wage is $50/day, and then multiply this times 200, and we have $10,000 worth of bread to feed the multitude, and that wasn’t even going to be enough because John records the fact that there were about 5,000 men on the hillside that day, and that doesn’t include women and children! In fact, Andrew (Peter’s brother) said:

“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people” (John 6:9). 

For one thing, we know that children were present, and likely their mothers also. So, there would have been more than 5,000 to feed. Asking the people to sit down, and after giving thanks (which we should do before every meal) he distributed the loaves and fish, feeding all of those present, and John even adds: 

As much as they wanted (John 6:11). 

And then Jesus asked His disciples to gather up the leftovers:

…so that nothing would be lost. And so, they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten (John 6:12-13).

Nothing would be lost! Twelve baskets of bread fragments! What does this mean? There are many possible interpretations of what Jesus was trying to say to His disciples, one of them being that he wanted leftovers for each of the twelve disciples!. It believe that this might be the immediate “practical” outcome of the baskets of food, but I think that the real message goes much deeper, in that Jesus was telling them that He came so that none would be lost from the twelve tribes of Israel. Remember, they were the “lost sheep” of the house of Israel, and Jesus came so that none of them would remain lost, but find “life” in the Son. 

When the people saw the feeding of the multitudes, they exclaimed,

“This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14).

And this Prophet was predicted by Moses who told the Israelites over 1,400 years prior, 

“You should listen to Him” (Deut 18:15).

Indeed, we should all listen to and obey all of Jesus’ words. He was surely the Prophet of whom Moses spoke, and the entire Old Covenant was centered upon Moses and the Law that was given to him on the Mountain. But he foresaw another one coming who would be greater than he, and that was THE PROPHET, and His name would be Jesus. Let’s all obey Moses’s words and listen to Jesus, the Savior of the world. But He is not only the Savior of the world, but He can be your Savior too. Just come to Him in repentance and faith, and He will give you the LIFE that He promise, and that LIFE changes everything.