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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain John 6:6:
John 6:5-9
Excerpted from: John's Feeding of the 5,000Verses 5 through 9 is basically where the other accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their accounts of feeding of the 5,000 concentrate most of what they say. It is this interchange between Christ and the disciples that they focus on. But only John of the four says that Jesus does this to test them or he says specifically to test Philip, but it was truly a test of all of them.
He wanted to prove something to Himself. You could say that He wanted to find out where they were in terms of their understanding and their belief, but He wanted to also see if they would take a leap, if you will, of faith. If I can try to get into His mind from what I gather from all this that is happening, He wants to see if they had faith in His ability to provide for them.
You know, He wanted to know, to give them a test to see if they would turn to Him for providence. He wanted to see if they believed that nothing was too hard for Him, that He could do the impossible. If His power extended beyond the "little miracles" that He was doing for the crowds. He wanted to see if they really thought, really knew deep down that He was the Messiah, the Son of God.
In asking these questions He could find out some of these things from the way they answered the question. Now they fail, like we would fail. But they do not fail too badly. Philip does okay. Andrew does better. At least he finds somebody that has a little bit of food.
But they are still not thinking big enough. They still do not see Him as He is. Not fully.
Now why did He ask Philip? Does anybody have a guess why He asked Philip in particular? He was the local boy. He was from the city of Bethsaida and that was at the foot of the mountain. That was the place on the lake and he would know that town. He was like saying, "Philip, I have got a job for you. Figure out where we can buy, I do not know, 20,000 loaves of bread. And fish, nets full. And you know all the bakers here. You know where all the warehouses are. You know where the docks are. Where can we find all this food?"
Think about this. Obviously, He knows and it is reflected in his answer that this was an impossible thing. Even though he knew the lay of the land, he could not procure that much food. And it is at this point that John says this was a test for him, how he would respond.
Philip answered, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little." Now, did you notice that Philip did not answer the question that was asked? These are very important things. Jesus asks where are we going to get the food to feed these people and Philip answers with, do you know how much that costs?
I will put this the other way. Jesus asked where is the source of providence and Philip answers, we cannot afford it. You can see how he did not do too well in this test. He misses the point altogether.
But he really, he should have known. Now remember, this is the third Passover, so he had been traveling with Jesus for a long time, two and a half years. They have been with Him all this time. They have seen so many miracles that He had done. But he came up blank on this one. We cannot do it. It is impossible. We do not have enough to provide.
He is still thinking very physically here about solving the problem in a physical way rather than the way Jesus wanted it solved, which was through faith. And now, like I said, Andrew does a little bit better, but even he is off course in his answer. He finds a little physical food. You know, these are the five loaves and the two small fish, one little boy's lunch and it is not even a very good lunch.
Barley was considered to be the poor man's grain, and he only had two little fish. I mean, they were like little brim or something, who knows, but they were for a boy. We do not know how little this boy was, but at least his mother had had the foresight to pack him a lunch, and here is Andrew was taken away from him. I am just kidding. Maybe the boy … . . .
ArticlesBefore Honor Is Humility: The Story of Andrew
Bible StudiesThe Miracles of Jesus Christ: Feeding the Five Thousand (Part One)
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Feeding the Five Thousand (Part Two)
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Feeding the Five Thousand (Part Two)
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Feeding the Four Thousand
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Feeding the Four Thousand
EssaysBelief and the Firstfruits (Part One)
SermonsJohn (Part 10)
John (Part 10)
Back to Life (Part Five)
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