I would like to talk with you today about the event that occurred in which Jesus feed five thousand men with a young man’s dinner, five barley loaves and two fish. This event is the only miracle recorded in all four gospel accounts of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Given that I am memorizing “The Gospel According to John” it is that account that I am referencing to today, (John 6:1-14). It is very interesting that John chooses to include this account that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all included because typically He did not set out to simply record the same account that everyone else did, nor, set out to record a different account, his account is deep and personal. John was close to Jesus and his account of the gospel shows this closeness, John includes in his gospel account deep and personal things. Things that were said directly to the apostles by our Lord, John includes Jesus ministry in Judea prior to the ministry in Galilee, he does not really talk much about Jesus’ ministry in Galilee because the other three gospel accounts record in detail the things He did and said in Galilee. John’s account focuses mainly on the interaction and conflict that occurred between our Lord and the Jewish leaders (Pharisees) at the Jewish feasts in Jerusalem; that is the first half of the gospel account, then the second half of the gospel is a detail account of Jesus’ last week leading up to His crucifixion and resurrection, particularly His personal interaction with and teaching given to His disciples in private. There was much conflict between Jesus and the Jewish leaders and it was after one of these that John records the event of the feeding of five thousand men with five barley loaves and two fish.
In John five the Jews sought to kill Jesus because He broke their Sabbath (not God’s)by healing a man who was sick and could not walk, then they sought to kill Him because He called “God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Not only did He not deny that He was equal with God, but the remainder of chapter 5 is a long discourse in which Jesus adds to that thought, “so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father” (John 5:23). With that in mind, and looking at John’s stated purpose for writing this gospel, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31), we can then understand why John includes this miracle of feeding five thousand men with five barley loaves and two fish.
This miracle as well as Christ turning water into wine shows Jesus as the creator God; both of these are miracles of creation and show Him as the creator. In both accounts He made something that was not previously there, matter had to be created. They are so similar in fact, that while I was memorizing this, when I got to (John 6:11) “Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted”, I would often revert to re-sighting John chapter 2 saying, “Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the waterpots with water.’ So they filled them to the brim” (John 2:7). Other miracles; healing blind men, healing leprosy, healing the lame, are miracles in which He took matter that was already there and reformulated it; but both turning water into wine and feeding of the five thousand, matter that did not previously exist was created; showing Jesus Christ as the Creator God.
"Repent and believe in the gospel"
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
