“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? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, there is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 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. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 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. 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.”
-John 6:5-14
This miracle is recorded in all four of the gospels in the Bible (Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6), which testifies to the very high regard that the early church had for this particular miracle. This was perhaps the most public of the miracles of Jesus in the sense that there were more than five thousand witnesses and direct recipients of the blessing of this miracle. It is in fact the first of at least two occasions that Jesus miraculously fed a multitude in the wilderness, with the second account being recorded in Matthew 15 and Mark 8.
The sixth chapter of John opens with a multitude following Jesus because of the miracles of healing they had witnessed. This was a very large multitude, numbering five thousand men beside women and children. As Jesus left town, they followed Him and also left town without taking any time or concern with preparation for a journey. It is important to note that this journey was not an easy one. Jesus sailed across the sea of Galilee (about the size of what we would generally call a lake), but the multitude followed on foot. Jesus’s destination was a rugged place, described as mountainous, desert terrain. In short, it was a wilderness that was fairly difficult to access. Here, we see an interesting contrast between the confidence of the multitude and the concern of the twelve disciples. This contrast will reverse by the end of the chapter when the majority of the multitude left the teaching of Jesus but His nearest disciples remained faithful.
Near the close of the day, Jesus spoke with His disciples regarding the practical matter of feeding this multitude. In the middle of nowhere, Jesus asked Philip where food could be found for a multitude of five thousand men. Of course, even the most resourceful person would have no answer. Philip’s statement shows his consideration of the impossibility of a solution: even if bread were available for purchase, a large sum of money would not have provided enough for everyone to take even a little. Jesus asked the question with anticipation of this response to prepare His disciples for the miracle He was soon to perform.
This miracle provides a demonstration of the power of God to provide for His people, even when provision is inaccessible by human means. The same God that fed His people when they were led through the wilderness by Moses once again miraculously fed His people in the wilderness. But, Jesus is greater than Moses. In the days of Moses, God caused the manna to be found upon the ground and the Israelites labored to gather it. Note that it did not come directly from Moses’s hand. However, Jesus broke the bread and gave it directly to the multitude, revealing that He is the source of this blessing. That is, He revealed that He is God.
After this miracle was accomplished, the multitude desired to make Jesus their king, with the intention that Jesus would lead the natural Jews in the same way Moses and David led Israel in their day. This was the result of a prevalent misunderstanding of the nature of the Messiah. The Jews believed the Messiah would reign from Jerusalem and reestablish the nation Israel, overthrowing its captivity under the Roman empire. However, the true Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. As such, Jesus would not reign as an earthly king. He has a much greater throne! Jesus’s purpose was to overcome sin and death, then to reign triumphant from heaven forever. Therefore, Jesus departed from this multitude to a mountain alone.
In our day, God yet has a people reserved to Himself. He leads this multitude through the wilderness of this world, where we may feel the threat of scarcity of resources. We may experience doubts from time to time and sound a little like Phillip: we may say, “With evil men waxing worse and worse, the world is completely hostile to the values of Christianity. Where may I find provision, spiritual or natural, in such a barren landscape?” If we have such doubts, we must go to the Lord and beg that He would increase our faith. God can make abundance out of nothing, He can feed a multitude with five loaves and two fishes, and He can provide for His people in this current environment.