It’s the last weekend of July, so I think we are far enough into the summer months (or at least some decent enough weather) to take an important survey. Please put your hand up if you have been to a BBQ or a summer picnic in 2024 so far. Keep your hand up if you have been to two, three, four, etc.
Well done. I am glad to see that we have not disappointed as Brits and have endeavoured to make the most of the summer season. You’ve got to love a BBQ. There is nothing quite like the smell of smoky, burnt meat or the adrenaline rush of ‘Is the chicken cooked or not?’ roulette. A BBQ is great when everything is going well, but there is always the great BBQ fear, each host’s worst nightmare: running out of food. Is there anything worse than running out of food at an event centred around the live cooking of food and eating of said food? I’ll tell you this: a few chapters ago in John’s gospel, the wine ran out, and this is worse than that. It’s the worst feeling in the world, having loads of hungry people in front of you and no food to feed them. This is common knowledge; even Jesus knew this, and he was willing to use this knowledge to have a little fun with his disciples.
Let’s set the scene. Jesus was in Galilee. He had been healing the sick, performing signs and miracles to the point that a large crowd began following him. So, Jesus heads up the mountain with his disciples. To the initiated, you know that this signals that Jesus is about to drop the mic. If you are new to the person of Jesus and new to church and the Bible, it’s useful to know that going up a mountain is a big deal. The mountain is often a place where momentous things happen, places of encounter with the power and presence of God. Moses went up a mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, and then again after he smashed them, and then again and again as he spoke with God in his presence. The mountain was where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son, Isaac before the angel stopped him, and a ram was sacrificed in Isaac’s place. The mountainside would be the place where Jesus gave his most famous sermon (or sermons), which have been collated into the Sermon on the Mount. The mountain was where Jesus was transfigured, and God spoke to the three disciples closest to Jesus. The mountain is synonymous in the Bible with the presence and power of God. So, if Jesus is going up a mountain, you know that things are about to get real.
So, Jesus goes up the mountain with this crowd following, and he turns to his disciple Philip and says to him, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’[1] I bet Philip’s jaw dropped at this point. He has a crowd of around 5000 people in front of him and Jesus tells Philip to feed them. Jesus said this to test Philip, ‘for he himself knew what he was going to do.’[2] Man, Jesus can be sneaky like that. Why ask Philip if Jesus knows what he is going to do? Well, Jesus wanted to test Philip. Test him for what? This is an impossible task. How can Philip feed 5000 people out of the blue? Jesus knows that he has asked Philip to do what looks like the impossible. Therefore, Jesus is not expecting Philip to do the impossible; rather, Jesus wants to see how Philip reacts when faced with the impossible.
‘Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’’[3] Notice how Philip didn’t say that this task was impossible; rather, Philip simply stated the scale of the problem, how feeding this crowd of people would take more than half a year’s wages. To put that in today’s money, the average salary in the UK today is £35,000, which suggests that a catering budget of £17,500 still wouldn’t be enough to feed everyone.[4] This is a mammoth amount of food that is required to feed these people. There aren’t many people who would A) have that kind of money ready to go and buy that amount of food on a whim, and B) have the means to source that much food at once. There was no Costco in those days. On the surface, it seems impossible. The disciples search around, and Andrew finds a boy who is smart enough to bring his lunchbox with him. Five loaves of bread and two fish. Now, salmon and cream cheese sandwiches can go far, but not that far. These loaves of bread and these fish would not be able to feed everyone, not even close.
But then something amazing happens. Jesus takes the bread and the fish, gives thanks, and then distributes the food. This small amount of food then proceeds to feed everyone. Each of the 5000 or so people were fed, and not just a meagre amount, but everyone ate until they were satisfied. Then, at the end, the disciples collected the leftovers and found that the result of the five loaves and two fish meal was twelve baskets of leftovers. It’s gone from one lunchbox to twelve lunchboxes leftover, and that’s after the 5000 people eat £18,000 worth of food. It’s a miracle. Jesus has provided the impossible, and he has done so in an impossible and supernatural way.
Jesus had provided the impossible. When Philip was tasked with the impossible, Jesus provided the impossible. I think this is what Jesus wanted Philip to take away from this situation. He wanted Philip to know that when faced with impossible situations in life, the solution isn’t to hang your head in disbelief; rather, we must give our situations over to Jesus. We give over our situations, the good and the challenging, and let Jesus work in it and through it. When we do this, we find that the things that feel impossible are made possible through God.
You might be facing similar situations in your own life. You might be going through a family or relationship breakdown, someone is sick, money is tight, or work is really hard. Your situation might feel impossible. When this happens, do what the disciples did in the story and give your problems over to Jesus. Notice that this doesn’t abdicate all responsibility and involvement. The disciples first found the five loaves and two fish and presented what they had to Jesus. He then took what they had to more than they could have imagined. He used the small offering of food to feed the crowd generously until they were satisfied. Jesus will give so generously to us that he will satisfy all the hunger and desire of our hearts.
God doesn’t want to do miraculous things to us, or we will become like puppets. But God wants to do miraculous things with us. Ephesians 3 talks about how, through God’s power at work within us, we are able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine. This is what God wants to do in our lives. He wants to come into our challenging situations and work in them. So often, these situations feel impossible to us, but the feeding of the 5000 shows us that if we give our problems over to God and everything we have, his power at work in our lives will do far more than we could ever ask or imagine. The disciples didn’t ask Jesus to multiply the food. But Jesus took the 1% of food they could offer and transformed it miraculously into more food than people could eat.
This is the promise of the Spirit of God. God is able to do things through us that are greater than we can do on our own. All we need to do is trust God, faithfully do what we can, and offer our problems over to God. Even when we can only do what feels like 1%, do that because God responds faithfully to our faithfulness. And he will do more than just provide for our needs; he will do abundantly more than we could ever imagine. We only need to give our situations to him. What do you need to give over to Jesus today? What are impossible situations and challenges in your life? What are the problems you face that make you feel as though there is no way out? Give God your impossible and let him do the impossible in your life. As we gather around God’s table this morning, let’s bring before him the things we need to give to him, and let’s see the miraculous things God will do in us that will be abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine.
Amen.
[1] John 6:5 [NRSV].
[2] John 6:6 [NRSV].
[3] John 6:7 [NRSV].
[4] https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/pay-salary/average-uk-salary
Shakeel Nurmahi 