Sermon on John 6:1-15, for the 4th Sunday in Lent 2018 (1 YR), "God can work with that"

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. It’s worth noting that the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded by all four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—outside of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which are the main focus of all four. In all four retellings of the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus turns to His disciples to provide for the food, and they are in disbelief. How can we possibly feed this multitude? Only John’s Gospel records Jesus’ specific question to Philip: “Where are we to buy bread that these people may eat?” and explains that Jesus was testing him, because He already knew what He was going to do.

We don’t often appreciate being tested—especially if we’re caught by surprise. Pop quizzes are sure to make any student groan and panic. In work and personal relationships, if we find someone is testing us, we’re often suspicious of their hidden motives. In our faith life, we often question why God is testing us. But God sure seems to do it a lot. In the Old Testament reading, also about a miraculous feeding with bread from heaven, God was testing the Israelites to see whether they would obey Him or not. Well, like it or not, at least we know in general God’s motives when He tests our faith—it is to deepen our trust and dependence on Him.

So when Jesus tests Philip and the disciples to feed a multitude of people (5,000 men, plus women and children), it’s obvious to human wisdom that He’s asking far too much of them. But by God’s own wisdom, and by His knowledge and calculation, He’s not asking too much of them at all—because He knows what He’s going to do. Philip is quick to do the math and reply that 200 denarii, more than half a year’s wages, wouldn’t buy enough bread for everyone in the crowd to have a bite. Isn’t this just like us, to face a test or challenge that God has placed before us in life, do a self-inventory, and think that we come up short? We might even protest, like Philip—“God, you really haven’t given me much to work with—how do expect me to get the job done? Honestly, do the math and you’ll see it can’t work.”

Next comes Andrew, and you can sense his embarrassment to offer up for the service of Christ—these humble gifts of a small child. “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” What a tiny inventory to feed a crowd totaling probably 15-20 thousand! But in Jesus’ hands and by His wisdom, this was just the thing! Why did Jesus want these small gifts—this small offering of food that was already on hand? To show that it is not in our might or resources, but in God’s power and generosity to give. Perhaps Pastor Fricke’s best known quote is: “You can’t out give God”. And Pastor Roschke loves to point out from this text that “what’s on hand is enough.” Jesus takes a look at what God in His goodness has already provided us, and says, “I can work with that!”

What service is God now calling us to do? What hungry multitudes to feed, or what restless and needy people, does Jesus lift up His eyes upon, and have compassion on? What is testing or challenging your faith right now, that demands your resources—but you inventory them to be too small? God is reminding you to trust in Him, not in your own wisdom or resources. We don’t have to look far to find places where Christ’s compassion calls us to serve—as near as our neighbors, our families, our schools and communities, there are needs to be filled, and people in need of God’s love. And beyond these, there are limitless opportunities to serve the poor, the suffering, and defenseless.

What are the gifts of our children meant to be offered for? Among these children, students here at Emmanuel, among your children, or those of your friends and neighbors, those whom you mentor, or grandparent, or encourage—what are their talents, gifts and abilities that Christ is calling forward to be offered, to be multiplied and blessed in the service of others? Jesus does not think little of these gifts that He has already given, and He knows His intent and purpose to multiply, bless, and use them for His service. Our test is to lean into Him, and trust and follow His lead.

Let us not, like Andrew, be embarrassed to imagine the possibilities of those humble gifts, or like Philip to doubt what could be done with so little—but like Jesus, be delighted to work with, multiply and increase those gifts to the glory of God! Let us each bring our gifts, however lowly and humble they may seem, and place them into Jesus’ hands to bless and multiply, and be given to serve others. Life is infinitely better (even with all challenges it brings) when lived according to God’s wisdom, instead of our human wisdom. Human wisdom is small and short-sighted, while God’s wisdom is infinite and sees beyond all horizons. Human wisdom picks up on obvious details—mostly the problems and our scanty resources. But God’s wisdom perceives the solutions, even if He doesn’t clue us in on them, we can trust that He knows all that He is ready to give and to do when we work for His purposes.

Jesus performed a miracle—multiplying and increasing the food so greatly that 12 baskets were filled with the leftover pieces. There was more leftover than there was to begin with, and everyone was filled and satisfied, and nothing went to waste. Also unique to John’s telling of the story, is this detail: that Jesus’ miracle made them realize that Jesus was the great Prophet that Moses had foretold. They saw themselves standing at the brink of history being made—and they were right about that—but they misunderstood what would happen. They tried to take Jesus by force, and make Him king. What’s that all about?

For centuries Israel was in turmoil as a nation—currently ruled by the powerful Roman empire, which they hated, and many other empires before that. Revolutionaries came and went, always promising to restore the kingdom to Israel, but all of them failing. So here they thought they had their man. With His bread-making miracles, and other great signs and wonders He had done, they figured their problems were solved! Make Jesus their king, and they’d be unstoppable, and could return to the peace and prosperity of the good old days.

And unlike almost any other person offered such power, Jesus turned it down and went away into the wilderness by Himself. To understand why, we need to relate this miracle to Jesus’ cross. The rest of John chapter 6 is a lengthy sermon that follows the miracle, after the crowd tracks Him down and finds Him somewhere else Jesus tells them “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” Jesus tells them to stop thinking only about their stomach cravings—but to hunger instead for spiritual food that leads to eternal life. The lengthy sermon that follows is about how He is the Bread of Life, and who will give up His life for the life of the world.

So Jesus rejects being made king by the popularity of the masses, but instead offers Himself up to eventual mistreatment, betrayal, abuse, and death on the cross. There, at the cross, He would bear the title of king—though He said His kingdom was not of this world. He came to rule a greater kingdom. While they wanted their stomachs filled and their nation freed, what Jesus was really ready to do for them, and saw that they truly needed was for Him to suffer and die for their sins. That’s what He was sent to do. That’s what He was going to do, so that we might have life. But they still couldn’t wrap their heads around it. Of course it’s easier to recognize the hunger of our belly than the emptiness of our soul without God. It takes some introspection to see and recognize our spiritual hunger, sin, and need.

Jesus turns away from human wisdom, with its limited perception, and invites them into His heavenly wisdom. He calls with words like these: John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” When Jesus left them that day, without the bread-king that they wanted—He left to serve them in a far more significant way, as His steps traced the path to His cross. That was His destination and the throne of His coronation, not with gold and jewels, but with thorns. He went there because humanity needs so much more in life than food to fill our stomachs for a day, or a better leader to rule our nation. Like that crowd, our attention might be drawn to those things. And the Lord knows that we need them, and generously provides us our daily bread.  But Jesus knows that we have an even deeper need for total rescue from our sinful condition. We need spiritual food to satisfy the deepest hunger of our soul. And only Jesus—no other king or leader—can provide both. Only Jesus offers up His perfect, costly life as the Son of God as the sacrifice for our sins. Only Jesus is the Bread of Life that gives us eternal life, when we believe in Him.

The crowds weren’t going to just stumble upon this truth and figure out for themselves—it wasn’t a point that they could grasp without guidance—but everything in the Gospels pointed this direction, to the cross. Only after He gave Himself up on the cross, and physically rose up, alive again, after three days dead in the grave, did it become clear what Jesus’ Kingship was. This is what I mean that the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 “sets the table” for greater things. Jesus came as the Bread of Life, to feed much more than a multitude on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, 2,000 years ago. Jesus offers Himself as Bread of Life to all mankind, a multitude that stretches far beyond the shores of that remote lake in Israel. “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (6:33). Still today, Jesus’ followers—you and I, are distributing His life to the world. Whenever we carry the Good News that Jesus died for our sins, and rose to defeat death, we carry it out to a world of hungry souls. Jesus tests us, “Where will you get bread so these people may eat?” And we learn by faith to answer: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!” (6:68). He is the Bread of Life, and He is more than enough to feed a world that is hungry for eternal life with God. Jesus looks around at each of us, and all the gifts He has blessed us with, and sees that it is enough, because He has already planned in His heart what He will do. Go out in joy, knowing that God will bless and multiply all the work that is done for Him, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Sermon Talking Points

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1. The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle (outside of the cross and resurrection) found in all four Gospels. John records some unique details. What does John 6:5-6 tell us about what Jesus was doing?
2. How did Philip and Andrew respond? What do their answers show?
3. How do we often respond when we are tested, or meet a challenge that seems too big for us?
4. What opportunities and needs are in front of us, in our families, schools, and communities, where God is calling us to have compassion and help?
5. What are the gifts, talents, and abilities God has already given you? How can Jesus tell us that this is enough, or that He can work with what we have available? John 6:6. How much was left over after the miracle?
6. What idea did the crowd suddenly have, about what to do with Jesus? John 6:14-15. Why is it unusual that Jesus resisted this (compared to other leaders, and people offered power)? What did Jesus want or plan to do instead?
7. Keep reading the rest of John 6. What problem did Jesus say the people had, with what they were seeking? John 6:26-27.
8. How was Jesus planning on doing a much greater “feeding” than the miracle they just witnessed? John 6:51. How many are fed by Jesus’ death on the cross? John 6:33; 68.
9. How do we continue to feed the world? Where do we get this ‘bread’ to feed them?