Why the Miraculous Bread?
John 6:1-15: After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). 2 A huge crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick. 3 Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. 5 So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, ‘Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?’ 6 He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.’
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 ‘There’s 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.’
There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 When they were full, he told his disciples, ‘Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.’ 13 So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, ‘This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’
15 Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
On that day when Jesus performed this miracle, probably 12,000+ people were present when we take into account the women and children there with the 5,000 men. All these people could have used two, maybe three, meals. If there would have been McDonalds restaurants nearby, the cost for two meals for all those people would have been around $120,000 (12,000 X a $5 meal and X another $5 meal). “So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, ‘Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?‘” The gospel writer records at this point, “He asked this to test him…” And Philip’s answer was, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.” And he was right, for two hundred denarii would only have been around $30,000. Another disciple, Andrew, looking around to see what might be available, confirms the terrible predicament when he says, “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?” They both gave accurate answers. They passed the test. What could the disciples or anyone do? Nothing. Not enough money. Not enough food. Nobody could do anything. That’s what Jesus was hoping they would understand.
But, as we read in the text, Jesus “himself knew what he was going to do.” He was going to and did perform a miracle. And the question is ‘Why?’ Why did Jesus perform the miracle of providing bread for everyone – “as much they wanted“? What was the purpose of this miracle? And the answer is: it was a ‘sign.’ That is, it was more than a miracle for a miracle’s sake. It was not just a magic show to impress people. It was even more than demonstrating he had this great power. This miracle said something about Jesus, who he was, why he was there, why he came. It pointed to something beyond the miracle itself.
And the Jews kind of understood that: “When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, ‘This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’” They made a connection. They said: “Amazing miracle! Therefore, he is the Prophet!” And because they made this connection – a faulty one – “Therefore, … they were about to come and take him by force to make him king…” But something was missing in how the connected that miracle to what it meant. What was it?
We see what was missing the next day when they found Jesus again. He said to them, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs – as Jesus intended them to be used – but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.” (6:26-27) They looked at Jesus’ amazing power (and perhaps also his compassion for them) in a temporal sort of support manner. To help out with the here and now. To give them everything they needed for this body and life.
We see what was missing the next day when they found Jesus again. He said to them, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs – as Jesus intended them to be used – but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.” (6:26-27) They looked at Jesus’ amazing power (and perhaps also his compassion for them) in a temporal sort of support manner. To help out with the here and now. To give them everything they needed for this body and life.
Now, as we know, God is there to give us everything we need for this body and life. That is what we confess in the explanation to the First Article of the Creed: “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that he has given me my body and soul, eyes and ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them; that he richly and daily provides me with food and clothing, home and family, property and goods, and all that I need for this body and life…” But the question remains, Is this sign – this miraculous feeding of these thousands – merely sending the message that God or Jesus can and will provide these important and necessary earthly needs?
Jesus is saying, “No. That is not why I did this.” The message Jesus wanted these people to take away from this was this: what’s ultimately important is not the here and now, but the then and there – the eternal things, and the food that is necessary to get one to the eternal. “I am the bread of eternal life,” he was saying. “What you need is this bread above all. I can give to you this bread. I can give you me – my flesh and my blood.”
But they were saying, “No! We want you for the here and now. That’s all!”
It is very common to view Jesus in this temporal way. We can easily slip into it even as Christians. For example, when our main concern about ourselves becomes how good we think we should have it in this life, so we have an abundance or even just an adequate supply of the good things. Or when our focus is mainly on being free from earthly afflictions. Our prayers then become earthly oriented rather than eternal and spiritually oriented. Again, we know God cares for us greatly when it comes to the things of this life, and that means we should pray for earthly blessings and earthly relief. But never to the neglect and priority of the eternal.
Same thing when it comes to our concern for others. If our prayers for our loved ones and friends are only that they be healed physically or relieved of some earthly affliction, we are missing the boat. We should pray such prayers for our neighbors, but the fact remains that someday they will die and they then will have to face eternity. So, we want them, along with us, to find and receive and eat the eternal bread – Jesus, the Son of God, who laid down his earthly life, who suffered the eternal pains of death for all men. As he himself said in the same chapter, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)
Those who rejected Jesus’ sign in this miracle that day came there missing or avoiding two things. In fact, one could say there were two big elephants in the room that they failed to acknowledge. Two elephants in the room. The first elephant could be discovered with this question: ‘How are you doing with sin?’ Most people avoid the reality of their sin, or at least its depth. For in each of us, sin is very real and very deep. Why else would the Son of God leave the glory he had with the Father in heaven, take on human flesh, and become the ransom for all men on the cross? Sin is very real and very deep. That is the first elephant in the room they were avoiding. But that must not be the case for true Christians, including you and me. Our sin is very real and it is very deep.
The second elephant can be understood by asking these questions: “Are you going to die some day? What do you think about death? What do you think will happen to you when you die? Is there some sort of eternity beyond your death and will your sins have any say in what that eternity will be for you?” The reality of death is the second elephant in the room.
Most people think death is natural. It just is. But sin is not natural! It is earned; it is well earned. “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6) And whether people realize it or not, there is an eternal aspect to death that begins once the heart stops beating. Death is the other elephant in the room.
If those present that day on that mountain who Jesus miraculously fed would have realized their sin and connected that sin with their upcoming deaths, they would have gladly and joyfully made Jesus their King. But made him their King in this way: this King had come there to conquer their own worst enemies: their sins and their deaths. And he would do so by taking upon himself all their sins, by taking upon himself all their well-deserved deaths; and then by them recognizing and believing that he, with his body and blood, is the bread of eternal life.
Peter is a good example of one who sees Jesus in this eternal way at the end of John 6. Many of the Jews who had been fed by Jesus were grumbling against him, assuming that Jesus was merely human, rejecting that he had been sent from heaven by God the Father. They were also offended by Jesus’ teaching that his body and blood were real food and real drink. But here is the saddest thing: even many of those who had been his disciples, who had been following Jesus, came to the unfortunate and deadly conclusion that his teachings were too hard to swallow. And so, we read, “From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him.” (6:66) Jesus then turned and said to the Twelve, “‘You don’t want to go away too, do you?’ Simon Peter answered – and this is great! – ‘Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’” (6:67-69)
No matter how challenging the words of Jesus may appear to us, no matter how incomprehensible they may be to our minds, no matter how contrary they may seem to our limited (and fallen) reason, there is only one who has the words of eternal life. There is only one who is the bread of life.
My brothers and sisters, your sins prove you need Jesus and you need him for much more than the things of life. That upcoming day when you breathe your last is proclaiming to you that you need to secure him and hold fast to him who has secured for you that life where there will be no more sin or death. Those times in your life where you find yourself in a remote or lonely place, where you find yourself worn out because you have trudged up a hill or a mountain and are now spiritually exhausted and spiritually famished – such remoteness, loneliness, weakness, sufferings, and crosses are all saying you and I need a Jesus who is “the Holy One of God,” who has “the words of eternal life,” who is right now and always will be your bread of eternal life.
Amen.
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