John 6:1-15
July 11, 2021

Signs: The Gospel of John, John 6:1-15

In chapter 6, John records one of the more famous miracles of Jesus. This is the only miracle that is mentioned in all four of the Gospels. In fact, this is probably one of the most well-known miracles of Jesus outside of the Church itself. On its surface, and as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), it appears a simple story of another miracle of Jesus; a story that has been taught for years as an emphasis of faith for the believer and the faithfulness of God. Most Sunday sermons and Sunday School lessons on this story focus on the idea that “if we are willing to give even a little, Jesus can bless it and make it go a long way,” or—“little is much when it’s given to Jesus.” While these are not wrong lessons to infer, there is definitely an issue of faith here, they don’t tell the whole story. While all four Gospels record the miracle, only John expands on the purpose of this “sign” that Jesus performs—pointing to this “sign” as a setup for Jesus teaching on a deeper and more important truth: Jesus is the bread of life—he didn’t come into the world to simply give bread, but to be the bread of life. John spends almost 4/5th of this chapter recording Jesus’ explanation of the miracle and its purpose: to point to himself and the necessity of believing in Him and the One who sent Him. The feeding of the 5,000 is a setup for a deeper spiritual truth.

Overview
v.1: “After this…” again, John uses this literary device to move his narrative forward; a large space of time has passed between the end of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6 (from the period in Matthew 4-14:12.) Jesus is back at his adopted “home-base” of Capernaum and around the northern part of the Sea of Galilee.
v.v.2-4: There’s still a crowd of people following Jesus—they were excited about what he was doing but were still missing Who he is; they’re excited about a “sign” NOT a Savior. We see a conversion of two large groups: the group following Jesus and a group of pilgrims headed to Jerusalem for the Passover.
v.v.5-6: The other Gospel accounts add context to this verse—we know that Jesus saw these crowds, recognized their needs (physical and spiritual) and was moved by compassion to act. These groups would’ve traveled all day and would’ve used up what meager supplies they had with them (most Jews would travel with a little food and water—stopping at villages to replenish their supplies.) Moved to action, John records Jesus’ question to Philip: “Where are we to buy bread, so that theses people may eat?” This seems an odd question, but John gives his readers insight into what Jesus was doing—he said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Jesus knew what he was going to do—he knew that this would be handled, but he wanted to see how Philip would respond. He wasn’t looking for food from Philip but faith.
v.v.7-9: Philip’s answer isn’t dismissive, it’s practical. It wasn’t that Philip didn’t care—but here was a problem that was too big, the math didn’t add up. Here was a problem that only a miracle could solve. Andrew’s response isn’t much better—after asking around, all he could come up with was some poor kid’s lunchable, but what was so little when the need was so great. The math doesn’t add up!
v.v.10-15: Here we have the miracle itself, the supernatural multiplying of the loaves and fishes—and we see the result with the people is the same as the other miracles: excitement for the miracle. They’re drawn to the “light of the fire,” but have missed its purpose.

The Testing of Faith
The emphasis in John’s account of the miracle isn’t on the miracle itself but the conversation between Jesus and Philip.
Jesus knew what He was going to do—His purpose was to test Philip, to test his faith.
In the light of everything that Philip had seen so far—what was impossible for Jesus?
Like Philip, our faith must be tested. Spurgeon once said, “God does not give faith without any means of proving it.” It is in the trials and testing of life that our faith is revealed and strengthened. This understanding allows us to embrace trials—to whether the storms and troubles of life with a joy that surpasses understanding. 9James 1:2-8; 1 Peter 1:6-8)
It is in the testing of our faith that we learn to fully trust Jesus and that our trust in Him is revealed to the world. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)