John 6:1-15 – Jesus provides food for a hungry crowd
This morning we are looking at a very well-known story from the Gospels, that of Jesus feeding the 5,000 – although the number was probably far more since the 5,000 was only the men and there were many women and children also present. You have probably heard several sermons preached on this incident since it is recorded in all four of the Gospel records of Jesus' earthly ministry. And because it is recorded in all of the Gospels, I am going to take the liberty of using some of the details recorded in other Gospels in helping us understand the significance of Jesus' actions and the lessons for ourselves this morning.
I have five main points I want us to take note of from this incident:
Here I want to refer you first to the record of this incident in Matthew's Gospel which provides us with more details of the context.
In Matthew 14:1-12 we have the record of Herod ordering John the Baptist to be beheaded at the request of his lover's daughter. We read in verse 12, "John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus." Then in verse 13 we read, "When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place."
Jesus is distressed to hear of the death of his cousin, John. No doubt not only because he knew John and that John had lost his life for being faithful to God, but Jesus probably felt that this foreshadowed his own coming death. John had been the herald preparing the way for Jesus' ministry. John had now been killed. Jesus can see that his own ministry will also lead to his death.
Moreover, Jesus had sent his disciples out on a mission by themselves. They have only just returned and are anxious to tell Jesus about all that they have experienced in their ministry.
So Jesus seeks to get away from the crowds who have followed him to go to a solitary place with his disciples, somewhere he can grieve for John and spend time in prayer with his heavenly Father preparing himself for all that will face him in the coming days. He wants also to find somewhere where he can spend time with the disciples, listening to their stories and helping them to learn from their experiences.
So Jesus and the disciples cross the lake by boat. Probably not rushing but taking their time. But they have been spotted and news about where he is going quickly spreads so that when they landed on the shore on what was supposed to be a deserted spot, they find that the crowds have got there before them.
How would you have felt? What would you have done? I think that I would have got straight back into the boat and set sail for somewhere else. But not Jesus. Matthew tells us, "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick" (Matthew 14:14). Indeed, Luke tells us that Jesus, "welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing" (Luke 9:11).
Though Jesus is grieving and needing to spend time alone with his heavenly Father, when he sees the crowds his heart is moved with compassion. They need him. His time alone with the Father must wait.
Jesus feels compassion for the crowd.
And turning back to John's Gospel – to the passage you asked me to preach from – we see Jesus compassion for the crowd in his recognition of their most basic physical needs. It is Jesus who notices their hunger and asks Philip "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" (John 6:5). He does this to test Philip, we are told, but it’s a genuine expression of his compassion for the crowd and their needs.
Jesus has compassion for the crowds. We will return to this point when we seek later to apply the lessons of this passage to ourselves.
Secondly, Jesus' power displays his glory
Do you remember the first of Jesus' miracles that John records in what we call the second chapter of his Gospel? John tells us of Jesus' attendance, with his disciples, at a wedding in Cana in Galilee. The wine ran out and Jesus turned the water in 6 enormous jars into the very best of wine. John tells us, "What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him" (John 2:11).
John wants us to recognise that the miracles Jesus performed were signs. They were signs displaying something of who he is and revealing his glory. And so it is with the sign that we are looking at this morning.
Faced with a crowd of 5,000 men, plus many women and children, all sat expectantly on the grass, Andrew brings Jesus the contents of a young boy's lunch – five rolls of barley bread and two small fish – with the comment "but how far will they go among so many?" (John 6:9). How far indeed?
By way of answer we read:
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. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. (John 6:11-13)
Who could do something like this? Only the living God, the one who brought creation into being at the beginning simply by the power of his word. John wants us to see something of who Jesus is; to recall how he describes the Lord Jesus at the beginning of his Gospel. Jesus is God incarnate. He is the Word through whom all things were created and by whom all things are sustained. His is the power that created the universe out of nothing. He can take five small rolls and two small fish and satisfy the hunger of the crowds, so that all have enough to eat.
The miracle is a sign showing us who Jesus is and revealing his glory.
Do you remember at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, when he was baptised by John, how the Spirit descended on Jesus to equip him for his ministry. The first action of the Spirit was to drive Jesus into the desert regions where he spent 40 days fasting and praying. At the end he was tempted by the devil who sought to get him to use his power to turn the stones into bread to feed himself. Jesus would not do it. He will not use his power for his own ends or to meet his own needs. But here he turns a boy's packed lunch into food for thousands to meet their needs – to satisfy hunger.
Jesus displays his glory as the mighty creator God who is also the Suffering Servant King. He uses his power in service of others and to meet their needs – to meet us at the point of our need. We see his glory displayed ultimately in the cross where he gives himself for the needs of the world.
Thirdly, note the abundance of Jesus' provision
One of the wonderful details picked up by all of the Gospel writers is that all of the crowd had all that they wanted to eat and yet there is more left over at the end than what comprised the boy's packed lunch at the beginning! John tells us that when Jesus told his disciples to gather up what was left over, "they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten" (John 6:13).
Jesus does not supply just enough for the crowds to have a little to fend off their hunger; he supplies them with more than enough.
Let me take you back again to the first chapter of John's Gospel. There in verse 16, John, speaking of Jesus says, "Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given", or "grace upon grace", or, in the words of the Contemporary English Version, "we have been given one blessing after another". Jesus does not simply provide for our needs, he supplies an abundance of blessing, an outpouring of grace to meet all our needs and then more.
And all of this comes streaming to us from his own inexhaustible fulness. In him there is a spring of grace that never runs dry and that is there to be poured out upon us in our every need.
What do you need from him this morning? Forgiveness? Cleansing? A greater measure of his Spirit? Strength to face the challenges of this week? Whatever your needs, there is more than enough provision in the Lord Jesus to meet them and to meet them abundantly. Jesus is not a mean or resentful giver.
Let me remind you of the words of a couple of choruses:
Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other name for me.
There's light and life and lasting joy
Lord Jesus found in thee.
Christ alone can satisfy the longings of our needy world, and satisfy them fully.
His love has no limit, His grace
has no measure
His pow'r has no boundary known unto men
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again
Jesus provides abundantly for our need. And this is seen supremely in his death upon the cross and in his glorious resurrection. Do you remember how Paul begins what we call Romans 5?
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Jesus has not done the bare minimum for us. He has not simply cancelled our sins through his death, he has made us part of his family, brought us into the presence of the living God and given us the promise and hope of sharing in his glory. We have a wonderful Saviour who is rich in mercy and abounding in his love for us.
Fourthly, Jesus engages his disciples in his work
Jesus had compassion on the crowds in all their need and set about meeting that need. But in doing this he recruited the help of many others.
Firstly there are the disciples. Jesus shares the needs of the crowds with them. In Mark's Gospel we even read that Jesus tells his disciples, "You give them something to eat" (Mark 6:37). Jesus then recruits the disciples and has them seat the crowds on the ground. It's the disciples who have to distribute food to the thousands of picnickers, and it’s the disciples who have to clear up the remnants at the end.
And then there is the young lad with his packed lunch. Jesus could have called food into being simply by the power of his word, but he chooses to use this young lad's lunch as the basis for their meal.
Jesus uses others to meet the needs of the crowds; he did it then; he does it still. This young lad could not have fed the crowd from his own from his lunchbox. The disciples could not have fed the crowds left to themselves, as is clear from their protests when Jesus suggest they feed the crowd. Nevertheless, Jesus chooses to use them and to use their resources to meet the needs of those around them.
This is something the Apostle Paul discovered in his own ministry. He was amazed that God chose him and that Christ called him to be a co-worker in God's service (1 Corinthians 3:9). He is fully aware of his own weakness and that he can do nothing of value by himself, but he has discovered that God's grace is sufficient for him and that God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:8). He has discovered that he is able to do all things through Christ who is his strength (Philippians 4:13).
Jesus engages his disciples in his work and empowers them for the work he calls them to do. He did it then; he does it still.
And now to the last point I want to draw out from this passage this morning:
Fifthly, Jesus wisdom and knowledge is displayed in single-minded focus upon his calling
The crowds, having been miraculously fed by the Lord Jesus, decide that if only they can persuade Jesus to be their King they can be fed every day; all their needs will be met. But, we read, "Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself" (John 6:15).
Let me take you back to the beginning of Jesus' ministry and to the temptations thrown at him by the Devil. Jesus was tempted to throw himself down from the roof of the temple in the assurance that God would send angels to catch him and ensure that he did not strike his foot against a stone. Jesus was being tempted to wow the crowds with evidence that he was the Son of God so that they will flock to him. Jesus refused this temptation. And here it is again. "Keep impressing these people and they will love you and want you as their leader." Jesus again refuses this temptation.
Or take the last of the temptations Satan threw at him: "Bow down to me and I will give you all the kingdoms of this world." Here is the same temptation. "You know the way the world works. You know what will get you human approval and win you the following of the crowd. Take the easy route to power." Jesus refuses the temptation.
Jesus is wholly committed to being obedient to the will of his heavenly Father and completing the work that the Father has sent him to do. His path will take him to the cross with all its pain and torment. He will face rejection by the crowds but will accomplish the redemption of the world. He will be raised up to sit at the Father's right hand in glory and shall reign until every last knee bows to him and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus rejects the path of human popularity to walk the path of the cross. He turns his back on the crowd to withdraw and commune with his Father to gain strength for the path that lies before him.
What are we to take away from this passage?
Jesus calls us to follow him. He calls us as his disciples, to have compassion for the crowds in our world around us in all their need. That compassion finds its expression in prayer as we bring our suffering world to him. But he still says to us, "You do something about it."
It's easy to suffer from compassion fatigue. It's easy to feel that the demands of others upon us are just too much, especially when we live in a society and culture increasingly antagonistic towards the clamouring needs of others.
Jesus calls us to untiring compassion. We feel our own inadequacy but he assures us that his grace is more than sufficient for us and his resources are inexhaustible.
But Jesus also teaches us of our need to spend time with our heavenly Father. The call to compassion does not mean that we are to be always at the beck and call of others. Just as Jesus turned his back on the crowd to withdraw by himself for time with his Father, so we need to realise that our ability to minister to others is utterly dependent upon the closeness and depth of our relationship with our Triune God. We need to draw on his strength and to seek his wisdom. If Jesus needed time with his Father, how much more do we?
Jesus calls us also to beware of the temptations of the evil one. We are not to court popularity or bend to its demands, nor are we to seek power or praise for ourselves. We are to have a single-minded focus on the work of the kingdom, which may result criticism and even suffering. We are to be followers of the Lord Jesus.
When you look at our broken and suffering world, what are the things that tear at your heart? What can you do to bring Christ and his redeeming power into that situation?
Peter Misselbrook: Marshfield – 31/8/2025