John 6:1-14 GOD’S WORD Translation
Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand
6 Jesus later crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or the Sea of Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed him because they saw the miracles that he performed for the sick. 3 Jesus went up a mountain and sat with his disciples. 4 The time for the Jewish Passover festival was near.
5 As Jesus saw a large crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 Jesus asked this question to test him. He already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, “We would need about a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”
8 One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, 9 “A boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish is here. But they won’t go very far for so many people.”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)
11 Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.
12 When the people were full, Jesus told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.
14 When the people saw the miracle Jesus performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.
There is inherent power in doing the little things.
In fact, some of the most notable people who changed history knew this, even as they accomplished great and noble strides for humanity.
We should pay attention to their words of wisdom:
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa
“Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either” – Albert Einstein
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” – Helen Keller
And of course, the greatest world changer that ever lived, Jesus Christ said:
Matthew 17:20 GOD’S WORD Translation
20 He told them, “Because you have so little faith. I can guarantee this truth: If your faith is the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” [a]
The Awesome Power Displayed: “Smallest of Things”
When Elisha received twenty barley loaves and some grain, he saw that by God’s power the food would feed a hundred people (2 Kings 4:42-44).
Jesus took five barley loaves and two fish and fed a crowd of five thousand.
At both meals there was so much that there were several baskets of leftovers.
As in the days of Elisha, the Lord often did miracles to help with the personal needs of his people.
Jesus, the bread of life, is concerned that we have not only food for our souls but also our daily bread.
Sometimes we do not appreciate exactly how much God cares about of our smallest and seemingly most meaningless and mundane day-to-day needs.
But notice that Jesus does not feed the people by himself—he uses the disciples to distribute the bread and serve the people.
As Jesus’ disciples today, we should expect the same—Jesus will use us to share in his many ministries of compassion – even the tiniest of ministries have great value in the kingdom of God – even those of which are staffed by only children.
Without any display of partiality, He is always eager to bring us into His work.
He not only wants to feed our tiny bellies but also wants us to help him feed the tiny and tiniest bellies, souls, spirits of others whom God calls our neighbors.
Of course, like the disciples, we will look at our meager resources and wonder how we can make any difference – our supplies will seem small and inadequate.
But Jesus doesn’t care about how meager our finite resources might be.
Our call is to offer what we have to him and to trust that it will be enough.
Are we ready to stand by, ready to serve from our meagerness, to be surprised by what He does with the most temporary and very finite of resources we have?
The Size and Scope of What the World Presents to Us
This massive crowd was gathering and heading toward Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover holiday, similar to the thousands upon thousands which pour into Times Square, New York City to ring in and celebrate the coming New Year.
It was a crowd of 5,000 heads of households (men), along with their wives and children, that came to witness the ministry of Jesus.
So the enormous problem confronting the disciples which needed to be resolved was exactly how to feed a large famished crowd without having food on hand.
This was a big problem!
It was not going away.
The disciples tried to dismiss them for lack of money and available food.
Except Jesus refused to dismiss them without giving them something to eat.
So, all the disciples could do was look at them all in their great wonderment –
Imagine all of the shoulders being shrugged, all of the heads being scratched!
All the thoughts, “How impossible is this?” being thrown towards the heavens?
And how does it get solved?
Simply, by someone believing in the power of “small” doing something small – a small boy who had five barely loaves and two small fish, gave Jesus his lunch.
Even though we would all recognize this gesture was small in relation to the size of their problem, we probably do not understand exactly how small it was.
We might be able to visualize the meagerness of “five barely loaves and two small fish” as being the equivalent to loaves of French bread and two Tilapia.
But this was a little boy’s lunch, and the word used here by John describes the boy as a “lad,” which refers to a boy between the ages of 5 and 7 years old.
So, his lunch would have probably been more similar to five crackers and two small sardines from one “Lunchables” found in a grocery store! That’s small.
Now, everybody there – including the disciples – felt like the only way to solve the problem is with a big solution.
Recall that Philip said in verse 7 that two hundred denarii (about eight months worth of work wages) could not come close to being able solve their problem.
More than likely, the others unhesitatingly, nodded vigorously in agreement.
I imagine Jesus’ eyes lighting up with satisfaction as Andrew made the tiny little suggestion of the loaves and fish, possibly thinking, that’s it, he gets it.
He understands!
And then even Andrew caved to the snickering and peer pressure, and adds “but what are they among so many?” (John 6:9b)
It is a sad thing to witness, as we fail to reach our potential, either as individuals or as caring and compassionate communities (churches, neighborhood groups, school communities, charitable organizations), because we too often fall victim to this worldly snare which utters “what are they among so many” mentality.
What good will the once a month that I can serve do to make any difference in the life of our church, in our adult ministries, young adults ministry or in our kid’s ministry?
What good will my one compliment to a co-worker do to change the morale of our work environment?
What sort of good will my small donation make in the bottom line of such a large organization?
There is a very definite self-defeating, morale suppressing, mindset that needs to be broken off that teaches the little things do not really make any difference.
It’s a lie that keeps us paralyzed in life, and prevents us from being proactive. It’s what leaves us as Christ followers in the pathetic state that James refers to:
James 2:19-20 The Message
19-20 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
We remain paralyzed in life because we have bought the lie that we are too insignificant to spark change, and too inadequate and weak to be impactful.
That our talent is too small and our time too limited and too unnecessary.
We belly up to the table of apathy and complacency, believe that our treasure, our financial contribution, is too insignificant to ever really make a difference.
The truth is, there is genuine power in one, no matter how small it may seem!
The Power of One
Nehemiah 8:1-11 GOD’S WORD Translation
The Public Reading of Moses’ Teachings
8 ⌞When the seventh month came,⌟ all the people gathered together in the courtyard in front of Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of Moses’ Teachings, which the Lord had commanded Israel ⌞to follow⌟. 2 Then Ezra the priest brought the Teachings in front of the assembly. This included men, women, and any ⌞children⌟ who could understand what they heard. This took place on the first day of the seventh month. 3 From daybreak until noon, he read from it in the courtyard in front of Water Gate to the men, women, and ⌞ children⌟ who could understand it. All the people listened to the Book of Moses’ Teachings.
4 Ezra the scribe stood on a raised wooden platform made for this occasion. Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah stood beside him on his right. Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchiah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam stood beside him on his left. 5 Ezra, standing higher than all the other people, opened the book in front of all the people. As he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Ezra thanked the Lord, the great God. All the people responded, “Amen! Amen!” as they raised their hands and then bowed with their faces to the ground and worshiped the Lord. 7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—explained the Teachings to the people while they were standing there. 8 They read the Book of God’s Teachings clearly and explained the meaning so that the people could understand what was read.
9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people told them, “This is a holy day for the Lord your God. Don’t mourn or cry.” All the people were crying as they listened to the reading of God’s Teachings. 10 Then he told them, “Go, eat rich foods, drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those who cannot provide for themselves. Today is a holy day for the Lord. Don’t be sad because the joy you have in the Lord is your strength.” 11 So the Levites calmed all the people by saying, “Listen. Today is a holy day. Don’t be sad.”
I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do something I can do.” – Edward Everette Hale
One man – Ezra the Scribe – stood tall in the pulpit and read the Word of God to the gathered people for the first time is who knows how many years, decades!
Nehemiah, one man, a well respected advisor to a Babylonian King, gave up everything to return to the city of his ancestors and in a miraculously small amount of time, brought his nation together by rebuilding of the city walls.
From our reading of John’s Gospel, Andrew understood (at least for a moment).
But more importantly, the lad with the lunch understood that even one person doing something small, with the anointing of God, could make a big difference.
Is it any wonder why Jesus himself said:
Matthew 18:1-5 The Message
Whoever Becomes Simple Again
18 At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, “Who gets the highest rank in God’s kingdom?”
2-5 For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.
This little boy easily believed what the adult disciples struggled with, that big things could be solved through the power of doing something small.
And guess who made history that day?
The little boy.
He believed that there is great power in doing even the small and very smallest of things, so much that he was the first one moved to taking a positive action.
John 6:11-13 GOD’S WORD Translation
11 Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.
12 When the people were full, Jesus told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.
And because that little boy believed, people were drawn to Jesus as a result of it.
John 6:14 GOD’S WORD Translation
14 When the people saw the miracle Jesus performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.”
Even the smallest size absolutely matters! How many people would be drawn to Christ if we, as His church, would begin to do more small things, like warmly greeting the people we come into contact with, or doing simple acts of kindness (can I get you a bottle of water, pick you up anything from the store, help you to meet your deadline, maybe help with the dishes, the laundry or the homework).
The Power of Everyone Doing Something Small
Acts 2:43-47GOD’S WORD Translation
43 A feeling of fear came over everyone as many amazing things and miraculous signs happened through the apostles. 44 All the believers kept meeting together, and they shared everything with each other. 45 From time to time, they sold their property and other possessions and distributed the money to anyone who needed it. 46 The believers had a single purpose and went to the temple every day. They were joyful and humble as they ate at each other’s homes and shared their food. 47 At the same time, they praised God and had the good will of all the people. Every day the Lord saved people, and they were added to the group.
If there is such tremendous power in just one person doing something small, how much more power is there when a group of believers join hearts and minds, and collectively, synergistically, begin to worship God, start working as a team?
We follow Jesus’ example together, I definitely believe we’ll change the world!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Almighty God who is my Abba Father, thank you! Thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice. Thank you for the Spirit’s presence in my life. Thank you that these two parts of your being intercede for me as I pray. Lord, I want to be excited about life and the things you have in store for me and your people. I yearn to live with devotion for you and the things that matter to you. Father, I long for the Spirit to help me have a soul-level reverence and awe for you and your work in my life and the lives of your people. I know you will work this devotion and awe in my life as I live with the expectation for your work and power released through the Spirit to me and your other children. I commit to this expectation and pray with all reverence to your honor. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 