“One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ‘There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?’” John 6:8-9.
Evidently, this was not something Andrew did on his own initiative, as can be seen by this verse in Mark 6 where Jesus asked His disciples a question.
“But He said to them, ‘How many loaves do you have? Go and see.’ And when they found out they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’” Mark 6:38.
“Then Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.’ Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.” John 6:10-13.
Other accounts tell us that the Lord had them sit down in groups of fifty. Here it says that there were about five thousand men; Matthew 14:21 adds this, “Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” indicating a much larger group.
Before distributing the food to the disciples to give to the people, Jesus gave thanks. This is a habit many Christians have gotten sloppy at, or just mindlessly rattle off without considering what they are saying.
We are all guilty of this oftentimes; it is just too easy to let it slip. Yet Scripture does tell us to give thanks.
“…pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18.
“…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” Ephesians 5:20.
“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17.
“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” Hebrews 13:15-16.
If you are a parent, you know how nice it is to hear your child thank you, without prompting, for a gift or some privilege. It is just as pleasing to God to hear a thank you from His children.
This grateful attitude will help us draw closer to God as well as show us that our glass is half full, not half empty, after all, five loaves and two small fish is about as empty as you can get.
There is a song “There Shall Be Showers of Blessings” by El Nathan, which refrain goes like this; “showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need: mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.”
This is what the continual offering of thanks shows us; the mercy drops that fall upon us daily.
We learn to see the little things that make our lives so much more bearable. It is not just giving of thanks but prayer also that draws us closer to God and makes the Christian’s life one of constant little miracles (oftentimes big ones).
This is something that the world does not have; and is the reason they live in such a dead, futile world where there are no answers and no hope.
If you are a Christian, please, do this, watch for the little things that happen to make your day easier or safer. An accident avoided, an appointment that did not keep you waiting a long time, an unexpected savings, little things, then give thanks to God for His goodness.
When you begin to see the blessings, you will start to pray for the little things, help me get the best vegetables, do a project at work accurately and quickly, be kinder to my spouse; keep my foot out of my mouth.
When you gain confidence with the little things, the big things will be prayed for with more confidence.
This is not theological stuff; in fact many theologians with a lot of letters behind their name do not get it. They think that prayer consists of praying to a wall expecting nothing, giving general thanks for everything, and going away with no expectations, satisfied that one did their duty.
Folks who say they are Christians but are not, the non-Christian, the ungodly, can pray without expectations as above and be assured of little help. The prayer of repentance or the prayer of salvation is the only one with a guarantee of being answered for these folks.
Confidence in prayer not only increases with use, it also comes with a closer walk with Christ, which is well pleasing to God.
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Romans 13:12-14.
One last aspect of the Lord’s giving of thanks before distributing the bread and fish. Going beyond the fact that this was a miracle, notice that they were all filled and the food went farther.
When we give thanks for our food several things will occur, the food will have been blessed, we are more likely to be filled, and in the case of guests it may be enough to overfill all.
And you will have shown your appreciation to God.
Finally, they gathered up twelve baskets full, one for each disciple, something to strengthen their meager faith. This is also a lesson discouraging waste.
Christians, like all men, must use care in the handling of the things entrusted to them by God.
Christians have no more business using wasteful tactics to plunder the earth around them than any godless businessman or corporation. Yet it is not to stop so called global warming or any other invented manmade crisis, it is to be good stewards of Christ and an example to the world around us.
“Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to a mountain by Himself alone.” John 6:14-16.
Other accounts tell us that when this started to happen, Jesus told His disciples to get into the boat and leave; after which He sent the crowd away Himself and went up the mountain to pray.
So what is the problem here is not Jesus a king? This is what the wise men said of Him.
“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” Matthew 2:2.
Jesus affirmed that He is a king to Pilate.
“Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’” John 18:37.
That Jesus is a king was confirmed by the Gentiles with the title Pilate had placed on the cross.
“Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” John 19:19.
John 6:15 states that the men who were fed were about to take Jesus by force to make Him king, but He departed from them. If this is what He came for, why did He not accept their offer?
There are several interesting things here, the first of which is that the men said that Jesus must be the Prophet that Moses was referring to in Deuteronomy 18:15-19.
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, Him you shall hear…” Deuteronomy 18:15.
This Prophet is indeed a reference to Jesus Christ; the common interpretation was that the Prophet was another man like Moses. So the men’s error was that they were not trying to make the Christ the king but in their minds they were making another Moses their king.
In effect, the men were accepting Jesus as a leader, while rejecting who He really said He was, the long prophesied Messiah. Their attitude back then was little different from what they say today, Jesus was a great man but He was not God, which is a truly condescending remark.
Both their motivation and their intent were wrong. To make Him king would have set them against the Roman government, which then would have made Jesus just another rebel. And rebellion is one of the things God condemns.
Their method was wrong because they were using man’s tactics instead of God’s to accomplish their goal. Their hearts were wrong because they were not intending to do God’s will; in fact it was against His will.
For the Lord Jesus to accept any of this would be sin on His part, so He left them graciously. There is coming a day though when He will reign upon the earth forever.
“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!’” Revelation 19:6.
Five Loaves Two Small Fish, John 6:10-15 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 9-12-12, updated on 8-11-17.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.