What Good is That? (John 6:1-15)
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jeremy_1_06-11-2025_123054: [00:00:00] There's only one miracle of Jesus that appears in all four of the gospels. This one miracle must have been deemed very important by the early church to make sure that all four of the accounts included it. So let's check it out today. This is found in John chapter six. The story begins in verse one.
Says After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberius. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and he sat down with his disciples all around him. It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.
Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming. To look for him turning to Philip, he asked, where can we buy bread to feed all these people? [00:01:00] Can you imagine following Jesus? You're like one of his right hand guys. And then he asks you these kind of questions and you have to figure out an answer. So Philip's like what verse six tells us he was testing Philip for, he already knew what he was going to do.
Philip replied, ah, even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them. Philip's like, we don't have a solution to this problem. Have you ever been in a challenging situation that you didn't know how to handle? Now that's just life, right? That is so much of the situations we find ourselves in, and the longer you live, the more of these situations you get to live through.
But these are the situations that show us what our faith really is, how it emerges in moments and seasons like [00:02:00] these. Now I just wanna point out for us as moment of encouragement that even the people who literally followed Jesus around during his earthly ministry got into situations that they didn't know how to solve.
Because we think sometimes, like being a Christian means I'm not gonna be in these situations anymore if I just follow Jesus. I don't have to worry like everyone else. I'll have a life that just makes sense and everything will be. Taken care of for me, and it's not at all what it means to be a Christian.
See, it's never about being removed from these kind of situations it's about experiencing Jesus in the midst of them when you don't have a solution to realize that Jesus meets you even in that moment, and then you get to verse eight, then Andrew, Simon Peter's brothers spoke up. Well, there's a young boy here with five [00:03:00] barley loaves and two fish.
But what good is that with this huge crowd? Now, where did this boy come from? The narrative implies it was probably the boy that came forward. This is a boy who is watching this play out and goes, well, I've got lunch. I've got some food for me. Maybe we could do something with that.
It wasn't the disciples solving this, which begs the question, who are the people that see what other people can't see? Like if you ever met one of those people, they see a same situation You do, but they tend to see it differently. And I would suggest for those of us who follow Jesus, this should be something we're known for.
Being able to see the world in ways that other people can't because we follow Jesus. But notice Andrew's response here. When this boy brings forth the possible solution, Andrew's response is, [00:04:00] what good is that? I love just dismissing this. Boy. What good is that? So many things that God does start. With this kind of an idea, what good is that?
These small beginnings, these moments of faithfulness where we say, yeah, this may look naive, this may look like it'll never work, but I'm gonna try something. I'm going to take a step out in faith. Barley loaves to, to even add to this, were the bread of the poor. So not only is it not a lot of food, but this isn't even good food.
So you got no quantity and no quality. And so they're like, what would we even do with this meager cheap lunch that we have? Imagine the point of view of the boy. Now this boy realizes he's got enough food.
He's not gonna [00:05:00] go hungry that day. He brought food. And he is got plenty for himself. So when he's bringing this idea forward, it is at a direct cost, a direct risk to himself. He could have watched this whole scene play out with Jesus and the disciples from a position of comfort. He could have sat there eating his food while he watched to see what are they gonna do?
How are they going to solve this problem? But instead, he makes a courageous decision to sacrifice what he has for the benefit of others. Now, keep in mind when he does this, he has no idea what Jesus is gonna do. He has no idea if this will work out. In fact, if Jesus were to just say, let's just split.
Right. What, what this boy has brought. That'll be so little for each person that essentially this boy would have nothing to eat. But in his willingness to sacrifice for the benefit of others, he [00:06:00] models for us an imagination for a better future, right? This one moment of sacrifice and surrender models, an imagination for something better to emerge.
Then we get to verse 10. Tell everyone to sit down. Jesus said, so they all sat down on the grassy slopes. The men alone numbered about 5,000, plus the women, plus the children. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God and distributed them to the people. Afterward, he did the same with the fish and they all ate as much as they wanted.
And after everyone was full, can you imagine? Jesus told his disciples, now gather the leftovers so that nothing is wasted. So they picked up the pieces and they fell filled 12 baskets with scraps left [00:07:00] by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. And when the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed.
Surely he is the prophet. We have been expecting. And when Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself. Jesus thrives off of our limitations, and in fact, it's the situation that prompts some of his best work Kat Armas says it like this, In the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus partners alongside his skeptical, exhausted, hungry disciples.
To do something beautiful for the community. I love that Jesus isn't phased by the things that make us human. Having it all together isn't a prerequisite to be used for others. I love that phrase there. Jesus isn't phased by [00:08:00] the things that make us human. And when we look at a story like this, I would suggest a takeaway is this, that you don't have to be optimistic.
But you should always be hopeful. some of us are just not wired to be optimistic. And I would say right now as I look at the news, there's plenty of reasons not to be optimistic.
But if we are following Jesus, there is always reason. For hope. So it's time for us to follow the example of a young boy who is willing to dare greatly, who is willing to put some imagination in play.
When I look at the current political situation in our country right now I cannot help but see the same dilemma. Being played out in different ways. Some people are just trying to get their own needs covered. They don't care about anybody else.
As long as I can figure out how to [00:09:00] get what I want, that's all I am worried about and any means to that end is worth it. Some people are watching everything play out right now from a position of comfort and probably tuning out a lot of these things 'cause it doesn't directly affect them. Then there are some who are willing to give up what they have willing to sacrifice, and it may cost them, but for the sake of others, for the sake of other people thriving.
Miroslav Volf has said for the heart to see rightly. The hand needs to give generously. We need a better imagination for a way forward, and that will only come. When we are willing to sacrifice what we have for the benefit of those around us. I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
