John 6:3-7 - How shall we feed them?

6:3,4

Jesus’ favoured position for teaching was to sit down. he probably went up the hillside so he could address the large crowd more effectively. As we know from subsequent verses there were five thousand men there, so probably about ten thousand in total. Mark 6:34 tells us that Jesus had compassion on them. Now Jesus had tried to get away from the crowds with his disciples. How do we react when our peace is disturbed? Then note in Mark how Jesus’ compassion manifested itself: He taught them. If we have compassion for people we will teach them the truth about Jesus. The Passover was at hand. This is why the crowds were so large, for there would have been a large number of people in Jerusalem. John also calls it “the Feast of the Jews”, indicating that he expected many of his readers to be Gentiles.

6:5-7

“Jesus said to Philip”. Now this little phrase seems innocuous enough, but it is actually quite important in helping to confirm the authenticity of the gospels. Why did Jesus ask Philip where they could get food from for all the people? Maybe it was just that Philip was the nearest, but it is more likely that it was because Philip was nearby Bethsaida, so he was the obvious person to ask. There are several little details in the gospels that all add to the authenticity, little details that tie in.

Jesus recognised that the people would be hungry. Now Jesus knew what He was about to do, so the question was designed to get Philip, and the others thinking. Naturally speaking the situation was hopeless, there was no way they could provide for the people. It would have cost an awful lot of money. The NIV says almost a year’s wages. The Greek says 200 denarii, and one denarii was a days wage. Even if they had enough money the practicalities of getting the food would have rendered the task hopeless.

God sometimes confronts us with situations that seem utterly beyond us, and indeed without Him they would be. But God never intended us to live purely out of our own strength. Rather He intended us to live in fellowship with Him and that makes everything different. We need to be prepared for Jesus to take us beyond ourselves. This can be very stressful until we come to the point of trusting Him, then we find a peace far greater than anything we ever knew before.