Crowds have gathered coming to be near Jesus. He has performed miracles and healed many who were sick. On a mountainside while sitting with his disciples, he sees thousands and seems to be joking with Philip saying, "Where will we buy bread to feed all these people?" Philip says it wouldn't be enough if we had eight months wages to spend on food. Andrew points out a boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish, but that wouldn't go very far... Jesus has the disciples round up everyone and sit down. There are about 5000 of them there. Jesus takes the loaves, gives thanks, and distributes the bread to those who were seated and gives them as much as they want. He does the same with the fish. Afterwards they gather twelve baskets of leftovers. When the people saw this miracle, they believed he was a prophet and wanted to make him their king by force. But, Jesus escaped and went to a mountain to be by himself.
It's important to note that Jesus always has everything under control. He is not worried when 5000 come to the wilderness to sit at his feet. He can make bread out of stones if he chose to. He comes through for us in unexpected ways. He is the source of great abundance. He is creator. The masses are fed with much left over. When the people seek to take him by force and make him their king for their own benefit... well who wouldn't want a king like that? We would never be in need for anything. With Jesus providing all that we might ever need. But, we don't go to Jesus to get what we want from him. He is more than a provider of food, shelter, safety, wealth, or a good life...
Jesus has the ability, but these people are not ready for his kingdom yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment