John 6:10-15 PODCAST
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. John 6:10-15
Today, we continue in our study of the twentieth miracle performed by the Lord Jesus, the feeding of the five thousand. Mark's account of this miracle tells us how the Lord Jesus did it. Mark says that Jesus "blessed, and broke" the bread (Mark 6:41). Then He gave the bread to the disciples to distribute to the hungry people. Here again, the fullness of Christ and the emptiness of man is accentuated. There was a continual supply until the whole multitude of five thousand men were fed.
I direct your attention back to the one who provided this meal. No one in the crowd would have imagined that this little boy was carrying the means for this miracle, not even the boy. This was one little boy in the crowd, with a little meal, but he had been chosen by God to be a significant piece of the Messiah's redemptive plan not only for that day, but for the rest of human history.
We will never know how God will use us despite the fact that we have so little to offer. The Lord Jesus knows how impotent we truly are, yet with Him in the equation, our impotence is not a deterrent.. He is the One who is writing our stories. He can do eternally amazing things with the little fragments of our lives. The key for us is to be available and willing to be used by Him.
It was a Wednesday night and I went to Food Lion to purchase a few things for the remainder of the week. As I turned from one isle to another, the Lord gave me a message for the man at the end of the isle. I balked for what seemed to be an eternity. I told the Lord that this man would probably think I was crazy. To make a long story short, I finally fearfully obeyed. I said to the man , "the Lord is aware of your discouragement, don't give up." No sooner had I told the man that message, he began to cry and then told me that he was a Pastor of a local church and he had just told the Lord that he was quitting after that night's Deacon's meeting.
Needless to say, I went away amazed at how the Lord Jesus works in this world. I tell you this true story to encourage you to step out and do His bidding. Like the little boy in this true story, you will never know how you will be useful to the God of all creation until you step out in faith.
After the hungry people had eaten, the Lord Jesus commanded the disciples to gather up all the leftovers. Wouldn't you know it, there were twelve baskets of leftovers, one for each of the twelve disciples.
In those days every Jew who traveled carried a basket. These were the full baskets after this miracle had been performed. Like the miracle of turning the water into wine, this miracle was primarily for the disciples. When the people saw the sign which he had done they said, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."
Once the people reached the obvious conclusion, they immediately wanted to set Him up as the King. They wanted to use God to work for them according to their ideas. Their idea of a King was different than what the Lord Jesus had in mind. This story is given to teach us that this is not the kind of relationship that we are to have with God.
I find it very instructive that the Lord Jesus would not consent to being lauded as a King by these people. Like the Lord Jesus, our greatest privilege is to see ourselves as His instruments, doing what He wants, not using Him to do what we want to do.
