All good things come to us through the gift of our Creator and we ought to remember and be thankful for what he has done for us. On the one level as human beings we rely on God to make the crops to grow and for the water that we drink. These are basic necessities. Our Lord Jesus spoke to us through the basic necessities to look beyond the literal food we eat and to come closer to the Giver of life. Upto this point Muslims Jews and Christians would agree with the goodness of God for his creation.
The differences start to come when we look at the identity of Jesus. Many Jews but not all Jews would want to disown Jesus as their Messiah and Muslims see him only as a Prophet. Christians on the other hand see in Christ’s identity that he is Fully God and Fully man , the second Person of the Holy Trinity. This last view is my view. Intellectually everyone in the world must make their minds up of who Jesus is. Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Atheist, Agnostic, Communist, Democrat, Republican et al.
This story that we start with is the Feeding of the Five thousand not including women and children who were probably there too. This story is a sign, it is a road sign to something very significant. The people who were fed saw Jesus as the Messiah and the King of Israel. Questions are however raised:
What kind of King would Jesus be?
Ultimately where should our reliance for life be put?
Five Thousand Fed
1 After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” 6 This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. 7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise, also of the fish as much as they wanted. 12 When they were filled, He *said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” 13 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. 14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Jesus Walks on the Water
15 So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone. NASB John 6:1-15
The feeding of the five thousand was close to the time of the Passover. There were many who were sick and this crowd followed our Lord up the side of a mountain. A sign was about to take place. John prefers to use the word signs rather than miracle thus in these signs John has something very important to teach us about the Lord Jesus. There are many lessons to be learned here.
- First of all, our Lord always had compassion for the sick even here at the nth hour of his incarnation with death about to face him around the corner.
- Then our Lord was teaching the disciples that the great provider is in heaven even in the most difficult situations.
- Thirdly through this sign we see that Christ is indeed the King of Kings (But what kind of King would he be?)
- Obviously, it wasn’t the kind of king that the people wanted as they had the intention of taking him prisoner to make him king.
What does Kingship really mean for the Christian?
John here shows us a sign that is amazing. Our Lord fed thousands of people with some fish and bread. Not every one can do this. Only God can do this, as it necessitates creating something as in this case from something very small. Different people interpreted this miracle in various ways:
- Our Lords intention
- The disciples trust.
- The people’s interpretation of Kingship.
Our Lords Intention
4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” 6 This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do.
It doesn’t say but I think possibly our Lord felt compassion for the crowd and this was going to be a test to the disciples. Our Lord says:
“Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?”
This was a loaded question as there are no shops on the top or side of a mountain!
The time was coming closer to the last Passover meal our Lord was going to eat and this was a precursor to this great event. I sometimes wonder how these two events are linked. One thing I do know is that feeding the fives thousand with a few loaves is an unsurmountable situation. This event needs total reliance on our Lord.
The disciples trust.
The Apostles had now been with our Lord for almost three years, and they had seen at firsthand what our Lord Jesus could do. They followed through with his instructions. They showed complete trust here. It does not mean that they still didn’t argue because they did. Especially with Satan working in the heart of Judas Iscariot later on, in the passion narratives.
Our Lord gave thanks for the food. This is a very important lesson that all good things come from God. All bad things don’t come from God. Because of the Fall bad things can come from the world, from our own pride selfish desires or from Satanic influences. No Our Lord as the Second Person of the Trinity in his human form as a real human being thanked God the Father for what was about to take place.
The peoples interpretation of the sign of fish and bread
The people came to a correct assumption that our Lord was the Prophet, The Messiah. They became aware of Who he was. He is the Messiah the Son of God. They got excited but the crwds got the function of Kingship very wrong. They saw in the Son of God someone who could liberate them from the Romans. From a natural perspective as a human being I cannot really blame them. The Romans used to crucify many Jews who fell out of favour with the authorities this includes simple things such as stealing. The crowds could not see beyond their basic needs. They missed the point that all good things come from God including our daily food physically and spiritually. We need both to survive.
Anyhow they got our Lord’s identity correct, but they read into the situation that Jesus was to be an all-conquering King who would destroy the Romans. Our Lord did not come to destroy people because the fact is that God’s judgement already rested on every human being because of the Fall. No, our Lord came to set us free from sin. They were going to force our Lord to be a king by force. This happened before with another king in Jewish history, King Saul. According to the story the people got what they wanted but this was not God’s choice. Here in this story our Lord escaped because his kingdom is a kingdom of peace that sets people free from sin.
Karl Barth said in the preaching section of the Church Dogmatics index:
“ROMANs 51-11 (IIb)
“We have peace with God . . . ” (v. 1). Many serious and penetrating things result from this peace, as emerges in Rom. 5—8. But they result from the fact that we have this peace. Only half-serious and superficially penetrating things can result from a lack of peace with God, or from a supposed peace that we have or think we have in some other way than “ through our Lord Jesus Christ. ” The Christmas message is: “ Peace on earth to men of (God’s) goodwill. ” And what is meant is the peace with God which is included for all the children of men in the child who was born there and then. (IV, 2, p. 273. The Direction of the Son.)
Jesus Christ fought His enemies, the enemies of God—as we all are (v. IO; Col. 121)—no, He loved His enemies, by identifying Himself with them. Compared with that, what is the bit of forebearance or patience or humour or readiness to help or even intercession that we are willing and ready to bring and offer by way of loving our enemies? But obviously when we look at what Jesus Christ became and was for us, we cannot leave out some little love for our enemies as a sign of our recognition and understanding that this is how He treated us His enemies. It is indeed a very clear commandment of God which points us in this direction from the cross of shame. (IV, I, p. 244. The Judge Judged in Our Place.)
It is God first Who is for man, and then and for that reason man is for God. God precedes therefore and sets man in the movement in which he follows. He says Yes to him when man says No, and thus silences the No of man and lays a Yes in his heart and on his lips. He loves man even though he is an enemy (v. 10) and thus makes him the friend who loves Him in return. (IV, 2, p. 580. The Awakening to Conversion.)” (Taken from the Church Dogmaics, Index, page 361, 1988 version, Karl Barth)
Barth is correct here in his estimation that it is God who made the first move to save us from the clutches of evil. We talk about ‘free will’ but my view is that without the Holy Spirit breathing life into us spiritually somehow, we would continue to walk around ‘thinking we are free’. Human beings tend to put money, career, fame, fortune and power et al, as the more desirable things. We then forget our Creator, our family, other human beings, animals, nature and so on.
Reflection
Complete reliance on God entails obedience. This is only possible through our Economic Trinitarian God; The Trinity is a mystery no one actually understands fully but by faith we can confess Jesus as our lord. By believing in our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus died for us on the cross, and relying on His victory over death, we too as sinful human beings, in Christ can be brought before the throne of God in the New Jerusalem, the City of Our God.
God is indeed for us, and we need to start taking stock of our souls of what is important and not important. Our Lord gives us freedom and this freedom comes through complete reliance on Him by the Holy Spirit. If you put money, career, fame, fortune and power et al, as the most important things, I can prophecy that at the end of ones life, can be full of regret.
Tags: bible, faith, God, jesus, jesus-christ
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