But He's More Than That

Dwight Wood

John 6:1-14 • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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Introduction

In March of this year, the United Nation’s World Food Program, reported that there are an estimated 124 million people in 51 nations in the midst of a hunger crisis These are people who need food assistance immediately. And according to Feeding America there are some 40 million people in this country today struggling with hunger.

Hunger is brought about by many different reasons; poor food supply and distribution, poor food quality, but poverty is probably the biggest reason. They say 769 million people in the world live on less than $1.90 a day, 3.1 million of those people live in America. Think about that. $1.90 a day. If you get $1600 a month is Social Security, that equals $53 a day!

“But Jesus said we will always have the poor and hungry with us, right?” It is true, Jesus told Judas, “You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.” () But Jesus was chastising Judas for being greedy. Jesus didn’t want us to just accept poverty and hunger as an inevitable condition and do nothing about it. When Jesus saw the hungry, he fed them. And that is what he was doing in our passage this morning.

But there is a whole lot more going on here than just feeding hungry folks. Jesus is making an important statement about himself and it is not just that he has the ability to feed 5000 with only five loves and two fish. It is not so much about what he can do, but who he is. Jesus is the bread of life!

The Miracle of Feeding the 5000 in John

The miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000 was evidently a favorite in the early church. It is the only miracle story that is told in all four gospels and all very similar to one another. But John’s account has some very important differences.

First, John is the only one who points out that this event took place just before the Passover Feast. The Passover is a very important theme for John. It was that time of the year when the Jewish people would remember how God had delivered them from their bondage in Egypt and eventually lead them into the promise land.

A second difference is that only in John does Jesus intentionally preform this miracle to make a statement. Both Matthew and Mark show that Jesus fed the 5000 because of his great compassion for them. Luke gives no reason for Jesus performing this miracle except that they were there and hungry. But in John, Jesus was clearly testing the disciples, especially Philip. In verse 6 Jesus asks Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” John says it was to test him, “for he already had in mind what he was going to do.” Jesus was purposely setting the disciples up so that he could teach them something important.

A third difference is that in the other three gospel accounts, after Jesus took the four loafs of bread and the two fish and blessed them, he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. But in John, Jesus himself distributes the food to the people.

Now at first that may not seem important and may even sound a little improbable. Imagine Jesus distributing food to 5000 men plus women and children. How long is that going to take! But once again, Jesus is making a statement.

Jesus’ Statement: He is the Bread of Life

So what is the statement Jesus is trying to make? We could read a lot of meaning into this miracle and the differences we have found, but I want us to see what Jesus is saying to us. And the miracle is not so much that Jesus could feed 5000 people with just four loafs and two fish. As amazing as it was, that was just food. The real message is that Jesus is the Bread of life.

No matter how much the people ate, no matter how full they were after finishing that amazing meal; the next day they would be hungry again. But anyone who eats of Jesus, the Bread of Life, will never hunger again.

The people were reading all kinds of meanings into this miracle.

When they realized what Jesus had done, they said, “Surely this is the Prophet who is come into the world.” (vs.14) The prophet they referred to was the one Moses spoke of in when he said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your one people.”

Jesus a Prophet

Jesus blessing the bread and fish and feeding all the people must have reminded them of Moses in the wilderness and God feeding them quail at night and manna, bread from heaven, in the morning. So just as they thought John the Baptist might be Elijah, they thought Jesus must be the Prophet like Moses promised to them by God. But Jesus is much more than a prophet!

Jesus, knowing the hearts and mind of men, realized that they would come and force him to be their king. Jesus is a king. When he hung on the cross, the sign above his head read, “King of the Jews.” And Paul in 1 Timothy and John twice in Revelation proclaimed Jesus “King of kings and Lord of lords!” But Jesus is much more than a king!

Conclusion

Jesus is the Bread of life! He later in this chapter would tell the people it wasn’t Moses who had given them the bread from heaven, it was his heavenly Father who gives them true bread from heaven. “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (vs.33)

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (vs.35) And that is the reason God sent his Son. Jesus is a lot of things. He is a prophet, a priest and a king. Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. But Jesus wants us to know that he is the Bread of Life. And if you come to him, you will never hunger again, you will never thirst again. You will have eternal life!

When Jesus blessed the bread and fed the people, they would have been reminded about when their ancestors complained to Moses about being hungry and how God sent quail at night and manna in the morning. And they would have remembered back to the words of Moses in when he said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your one people.” Their response to Jesus’ miracle was, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” (vs.14)

And they were right. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well and said, “you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” her reply was, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.” () There were many who thought of him as a prophet. And he was the Prophet Moses referred to, but he was greater than a prophet!

Jesus a King

The people also thought Jesus was the king. In Chapter 12 of John we are told that Jesus enter Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey. The people praised God and called him the King of Isreal!” The apostle Paul calls Jesus King of kings and Lord of lords in 1 Timothy and John called him King of kings and Lord of lords twice in the book of Revelation.

Jesus was the one who would fulfill the promise God made to King David. God told David his kingdom would be forever. It is Jesus who fulfilled the promises. Even at his death, as he hung on the cross, the sign above his head read, “King of the Jews.” But Jesus was greater than that!