Thu, 16 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

John 6:1-15

¹ After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ² And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. ³ Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. ⁵ Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” ⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. ⁷ Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

¹⁵ Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Jesus is building a following. (Interestingly, the chapter starts with people wanting to make Him king by force, and ends with many fleeing from Him after He preaches a sermon on election. But that is a discussion for another day.)

Today, we’ll look at Andrew and his reaction to the crisis of the lack of food for the five thousand.

What do we learn from this?

The others see the need and the impossibility of their being able to meet it. Philip speaks for the group when he states the tremendous cost of feeding such a crowd.

But Andrew, though expressing doubts of his own, brings a boy to Jesus. They have a need, and Andrew does what he can to meet the need. Here are five loaves and two fish. What good can they be in the face of such a need? Andrew doesn’t know. But he does what He can and brings the situation to Jesus.

First of all, I’ve always found it interesting to note how in scripture, when Andrew is presented, he is always bringing someone to Jesus. Andrew seems to always be pointing others to Jesus Christ. Whatever is going on in their lives, he introduces them to his Master. Not a bad model for us to follow, and certainly something for us to consider. Do we point others to Jesus? Do we see the people who need to hear about what Jesus Christ has done to save us from our sins, and do we tell them about the Savior God has provided?

But second, Andrew tries to do what he can to help in a time of great need. He realizes that in itself, what he does can’t do much good. But in doing what he can and entrusting the results to God, great things happen. The five thousand are fed from the little that the boy gave. And the boy was brought to Jesus by Andrew.

God often times works in our own lives in the same way. When we are faced with a situation we can’t handle, we do what we can and entrust the results to God, and He provides what we lack. He controls the situation for His glory and for our good. God takes what we do in faith, and makes it into much more than we could have ever accomplished of our own strength and ability.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ accepted the small gift of the boy whom Andrew brought. He took that small gift and used it to bless thousands of people around the boy.