Jesus, The Bread of Life
7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Philip realized that even a huge amount of money wouldn’t have bought enough bread for everybody to have had a little bite. What Philip leaves unsaid is that there was probably nowhere nearby to actually buy that much bread, and that Jesus and his disciples certainly didn’t have that much money in their treasury.
That’s exactly why Jesus chose this place and this time for this miracle. It had to be impossible for it to be understood. Andrew (the first of Jesus’ apostles) offered what he found in the crowd, one boy’s lunch (perhaps he was Andrew’s own son). Andrew’s question, “How far will they go…?” shows the hopelessness of finding food in the crowd.
(It isn’t important to the miracle, but John’s word here for the fish isn’t the usual ichthys, but rather the word opsarion, “prepared fish,” either dried or salted—a specialty of the area. It’s the word of an eyewitness. John’s memory recalled the feel of the grass; the smell of the little boy’s fish.)
So then, no food to be bought, no money to buy it, and nothing to speak of from the crowd, either. There was no way to feed them. That was finally the conclusion that Jesus needed them to arrive at.
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.
Matthew (14:21) tells us that the 5,000 number did not include “women and children.” Mark 6:40 tells us how they were able to be counted, since the men sat down military style in ranks of hundreds and fifties. At the very least, the number would have shot past 15,000 people in all; perhaps many more. Jesus’ command, “Have the people sit down,” told his disciples that he was about to do something incredible.
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. (NIV)
We don’t know what prayer Jesus spoke as he gave thanks for the loaves. Perhaps one of the traditional Passover prayers came to his lips:
Baruch atah Adonai Elohenu melech ha-olam
ha-motzee lechem min ha-aretz.
Blessed are you Lord our God, Eternal King,
Who brings forth bread from the earth.
Whatever the prayer, John doesn’t give any hint about the nature of the miracle. There is no exclamation point, no startled “Behold!” There is only Jesus, distributing “as much as they wanted.” Did the people laugh? Did they wonder? Did they weep? We are told the most important fact: They ate “as much as they wanted.”
Out of the impossible, Jesus produced more than enough. Out of the hopeless, Jesus produced abundance. This miracle has nothing to do with Andrew’s pathetic attempt at sharing or pooling his resources; it has everything to do with the almighty power of Jesus to do the impossible. And what Jesus can do with food in the physical realm, he can do with faith in the spiritual realm. Out of the impossible, more than enough. Out of the hopeless, abundance.
Blessed are you, Almighty God. We beg you to keep us from seeing anything of ourselves in this or any of our Savior’s miracles. Help us to see Jesus, and only Jesus. Amen.
Something Extra:
Psalm 37:20-22
כ (Kaph)
20 But the wicked will perish:
The LORD’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields,
they will vanish—vanish like smoke. (NIV)
Kaph, the eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is the first letter of the common word ki, which Dr. John Brug of our Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary calls “Multifaceted Ki” in his commentary on the Psalms (Volume 1, p. 391-392). Although almost all of the uses of this conjunction can be translated by the words “that” or “indeed,” here it is translated by “But” at the beginning of verse 20. Indeed, the wicked will perish. All of those who oppose the Lord have no future except destruction, but the Lord has rescued us.
He has saved us because he loves us.
ל (Lamedh)
21 The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
22 those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be cut off. (NIV)
The twelfth letter of the alphabet in Hebrew is lamedh, the first letter of the participle loeh, “borrow.” Like the grave, which asks and asks but is never satisfied (Proverbs 27:20, 30:15-16; Habakkuk 2:5), the wicked borrow and borrow but do not repay. Does that mean that an unbeliever will never repay a debt? No, it means that an unbeliever will not repay a debt the way a believer does, out of faith and out of love. When a brother in Christ gives, the gift is also a gift from God. It is given with joy and blessing; there is nothing quite like it. Our forgiveness from Jesus is the supreme gift of that kind. It’s the gift that keeps on being given, forever, without stopping. It’s the gift of eternal life.
What borrowed fortune could ever be so precious as that free gift, given from love?
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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