John 6:5-7 (ESV)
Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
It must have been quite a journey to the Sea of Galilee after the confrontation in Jerusalem with the Jewish leaders. It would take about four days to walk the 76 miles plus a boat ride to the other side of the lake. I’m sure the disciples had a lot of questions. I’m sure we will get to hear “the rest of the story” in Heaven one day! Won’t that be amazing? Even after that long journey, when he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus’ first thought was not for himself, but for the people.
“Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”
It was a good question! There was an enormous crowd gathered—five thousand men plus women and children—and they were out in the wilderness a bit. The people had seen the signs that he was doing on the sick (v. 2) and so chose to follow him. What were they looking for? What were they expecting to see? More miracles, I’m sure. Healings, at the very least, but perhaps something even more astounding. His ministry had become a bit of a traveling road show for the people of the region and who knew what He would do next! The people looked on Jesus with fascination while he looked on them with compassion.
The testing of Philip is interesting. Jesus didn’t do it to beat him up, but to build him up. We all would do well to remember that Jesus is always at work in our lives to mold us more into his image…a process that requires on-going refining. Philip’s answer is logical, but not faithful or imaginative. He thinks in terms of money—six months’ worth of wages in this case would not even be enough to feed a crowd that size—rather than thinking in terms of Jesus. With God, nothing is impossible (Lk. 1:37), and we need to be open to him doing things in ways that escape us. This should make us bolder in our asking and more faithful in our hope.
The English theologian Alexander Maclaren noted that Philip, “…was a man of figures; he believed in what could be put into tables and statistics. Yes; and like a great man and other people of his sort, he left out one small element in his calculation, and that was Jesus Christ, and so his answer went creeping along the low levels.” The bible does not advocate for a pie-in-the-sky, name-it-and-claim-it kind of faith…but it doesn’t tell us to limit our prayers, either. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think (Eph. 3:20) so let’s not limit our ideas and/or answers to just dollars and sense.
Amen?
