Feeding Many

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

FEEDING MANY

John 6:10-13

10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."  13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

NIV

It would seem the natural thing would be to see Jesus doing a miracle and providing food for all those people from a very small amount that he had to work with. The truth is this miracle is just that, Jesus taking a small amount of food and increasing to be enough to feed thousands. It is somewhat of a puzzle why when there is a need expressed within the church for a certain amount of money to either build a new addition, build a well in some far off region of the world, or whatever, that the plate is passed until the entire need is met. Sometimes a chart of some other means of showing our progress toward reaching the desired amount is kept for all to see. Perhaps that is to encourage us or guilt us into giving more. But Jesus took a small amount, food for a few and turned it in food for thousands and there were even leftovers. Sometimes we hear that if we give a certain amount to the church, or the Lord, he will multiple it back to us, which is a principle some churches teach, but Jesus was talking about the seed, the word which is sown in us and that we who are the good ground increase it, sharing the word with many others. We have even heard some preach that you cannot out give God, which is a principle Jesus did teach in a certain sense, when he told us if we judge, we will be judged, if we condemn we will be condemned, if we do not forgive we will not be forgiven, and if we don’t give we not get, all those things will be measured back to us in the measure we give out and even more so, overflowing as it were, but we only use it for the money part. This increasing the food supplied to him is about increasing what we give him for the needs of others. So maybe, just maybe if there is a need of a certain amount, we could simply give a small portion of it and allow Jesus to do the rest. But then that might be living a life of faith, and we certainly would rather meet the need ourselves, then we could boast about how much our church gave to this or that project. We should notice that the small boy who had the loaves and fish is not mentioned by name or given any praise for offering up his food. It is not about who gives what, as we know that when we give we should not let out right hand know what our left hand is doing, and that should include the church as well. The church should give anonymously to whatever it gives to, allowing Jesus to increase it and receive all the praise and glory for providing the needs of the many. This is about Jesus showing his divine power, his divine purpose, bringing people to faith in him, looking to Jesus for their salvation. We might be that small boy in this narrative, or one of the disciples, but for the most part we are the people on the hillside, having Jesus providing life sustaining food in the natural sense, but showing he also provides life sustaining food in the spiritual sense. Jesus provides what man is hungry for, eternal life. Yes this also shows the compassion of Jesus wanting to materially feed people, but ultimately it is about him wanting to feed the people eternal life.