Faithlessness Exposed

The earthly mind always miscalculates.

Jesus Christ is all-sufficient for any need we have, but our faithlessness often misses the opportunity to see Christ provide.

Fickle Followers

At this time, Jesus’ popularity was staggering. The swelling crowds followed Him in Galilee, but their interest was primarily superficial, and self-serving.

John 6:1 After these things Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee 2 And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased.

Capernaum was His headquarters and Jesus was going around the villages and towns of Galilee healing and teaching concerning the Kingdom of God. A great multitude followed Him. They were living in a primitive world. Jesus came along and could heal all their diseases and give them free food; they weren’t about to let Him go.

Drawn by His miracles and sent away by His words.

Faithless Disciples

John 6:7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.”

Jesus goes into the crowd and spends the day healing the sick and speaking to them concerning the Kingdom of God. As the day begins to draw to an end the disciples come to Him and say, ‘send these people away, we can’t feed them.’

So Jesus says to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread so that these may eat?” Philip can think only at the level of the marketplace, the natural world.

Jesus knew that Philip could not possibly answer His question. There was no village nor stores nearby, and they had very little money. His question is clearly designed to set before Philip a predicament that had no human solution.

Andrew’s contribution is to introduce a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. This was inexpensive bread and pickled fish, to be eaten as a side dish with the small cakes. Andrew’s point was that this tiny meal was ludicrously inadequate to the need.

We are all faced with predicaments for which we can find no answer in the normal resources of human life.

Christ Is Sufficient

John 6:10a And Jesus said, “Make the men sit down.” 6:11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting down; and likewise of the fishes, as much as they wanted.

The disciples said “send them away.” Jesus said, “sit them down.” Nice grass, afternoon picnic, and all four gospels say there were five thousand men. Matthew 14:21 adds, not including women and children.

Jesus probably had twenty-five thousand hungry people, and five little crackers and fish relish in His hand. He thanked the Lord for this wonderful meal that they were about to partake.

With no fanfare, no voice from heaven, no lightning, no thunder, He distributed to those who were seated. He just kept passing out crackers and fish. He was creating it.

The Filled Multitude

John 6:12 When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”

All are filled, and what lavishness of the supply. The people ate as much as they wanted, far outstripping the titbit that even two hundred denarii would have failed to supply.

The Lord has lavish abundance to meet the needs of people, but He will let nothing be wasted. After all had been satisfied, there is more left over than there was at the beginning.

The earthly mind always miscalculates.

In the miraculous signs, the people find sufficient evidence to argue that Jesus is the expected Prophet who is to come into the world. Deuteronomy 18:15–19 The people are wrong in this judgment, but only in their estimate of its significance.

Their attention was focused on food and victory, not on the divine self-disclosure mediated through the incarnate Son. They would miss Him as the Bread of Life, and therefore miss a realistic assessment of their own need.

John 6:15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force to make Him a king, He departed again onto a mountain alone.

Jesus is not willing to be a temporal provider.

Jesus does not acquiesce to whims and fancies. He comes to no man on that man’s terms. People cannot manipulate Him for their own selfish ends. He will not be a quick fix for felt needs.

Jesus desires to provide for our spiritual and physical needs, but only on His terms, which He makes crystal clear.
Let’s be faithful followers in 2017.