Jesus, The Bread of Life
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.
It was customary for those who did the serving to wait and eat after the guests finished their meal; since Jesus was the host, his disciples were helping with the serving. The food Jesus had multiplied for the people from the five small barley loaves and the two fish had satisfied all of the people, and only a little bit remained behind. From more than 5,000 people eating, there were only twelve baskets of leftovers, and yet even that was much more than Jesus had started with. There was enough left over for the disciples to eat—the Teacher remembered his disciples. But there was no thirteenth basket; would the disciples remember their Teacher? The text does not share that detail with us. After more than 45 years at the feet of my Savior, I didn’t think of it until now. I shudder to think of what Scripture would report about me, had I been there.
14 After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (NIV)
The “Prophet who is to come” was a way of describing the Messiah. Moses had said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15). News was spreading about the signs Jesus was performing, and now that the people had seen—and tasted—his power, they wanted him to be around all the time. But all they wanted was the free food.
A bread king! How great would it be to have a Master who satisfies the desires of everyone, who opens his hands and gives us anything we want. But what they were looking for wasn’t God in heaven, it was a broken vending machine that would dispense whatever you want. They were looking for a Genie in a bottle. But if Jesus were like that, he wouldn’t be God, would he. He’d be our slave, and we would be like spoiled, lazy, fattening children dying of the diseases brought on by our greed and lust for “more.”
What we need most is a God who loves us, and who looks out for us. We need Jesus exactly as he is, not as we would imagine him to be. We need the Jesus who gave his life for us, and who does open his hand and satisfy our needs. But he fills up our needs with what we need, not always what we want.
Thank you, Jesus, for loving us. Make us your servants, and please, Lord, love us.
Something Extra:
Psalm 37:23-26
מ (Mem)
23 If the LORD delights in a man’s way,
he makes his steps firm;
24 though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand. (NIV)
David begins verse 23 with two words that begin with the next letter in the alphabet, mem. The first, which means “If the Lord…” is quite common. The second, mitsʽad, is very rare, occurring just three times in the whole Bible. It’s related to an unusual word for “walk.” Mitsʽad means “step, way, or track.” In Proverbs 20:24, the writer confesses that “A man’s steps are directed by the Lord.” In Daniel 11:43 the Antichrist is shown gaining control of Egypt, with the Libyans and Nubians falling “in step” (NIV “in submission”) with him.
David paints a picture of believer walking hand in hand with God, in step and yes, in submission, so that when we stumble, God will keep us from falling. We do stumble in our sins, but God’s forgiveness carries us along and makes us new again.
נ (Nun)
25 I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
26 They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be blessed. (NIV)
The fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, nun, is the first letter of na’ar, “a boy,” as David smiles: I was a boy, but now I’m old, and I’ve never seen the righteous needing anything they didn’t have. In part, that was due to David’s faithful reign as king, but he gives full credit to God, from whom all blessings flow. The blessings we receive when we’re young might change as we get older, but they keep coming all through our lives.
Did Jesus think of this verse from the Psalm as he fed the 5,000? Those people certainly didn’t beg for their bread, and God gave them more than enough. He was generous, free and forgiving with them, and he has been generous, free and forgiving with us, too.
The greatest blessing of all is the release we have been given from the guilt of our sins and the power of the devil and the grave over us. Hand in hand with Jesus, we are brought, young and old alike, into God’s house, and there we and our children will be forever blessed.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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