Sermon Nuggets Mon April 7
Theme-Feeding of the 5,000
Verses John 6:1-7 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.The Jewish Passover Feast was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"(NIV)
Preparation-
Growing up my parents enjoyed entertaining. We would have folks over to our house often. It was the job of everyone to help fix things up to make the place presentable. Dusting, cleaning, vacuuming, taking out the trash and putting the papers in the garage was all part of preparing for company.
If our neighbor, Francis, came over it didn’t make a difference how things looked. If our cousins and relatives came over we made things look more presentable, but if some church people or preacher came over lots of extra effort was given for things to look nice and for food to be just right, including our best dishes and silverware.
Can you imagine the situation when thousands of people came from the other side of town to hear and see Jesus and have him heal sick and perform miracles and then have Jesus look at you and say lets give them lunch? No wonder panic crept in with Philip, Andrew and the rest of the disciples. Give them something to eat? “Lord even if we had McDonalds, Hardees, and Burger King all next to each other we don’t have the money to feed them.”
According to Matthew's account the men numbered about 5,000. But Jesus was preparing more than a meal that day that fed 5,000 people. He was also preparing his disciples for the ministry to which they were called. Jesus knew one day He was to leave them. They would not be alone. They would not be called upon to feed 5,000 but they would be called upon to speak to thousands to give them bread from which they would not hunger again. They would have His Holy Spirit, but now was the time of their preparation.
The lesson they needed to learn was Jesus can do the impossible. He is not limited to the amount of people in the audience. The disciples had seen Jesus at a wedding turning water into wine. They had witnessed Jesus healing some sick people. It’s hard to keep something like that quiet.
Somehow to come up with food for a few would be a challenge, but absolutely impossible for 5,000 people. But these chosen 12 were now going to be part of that miracle. Preparing a heart to serve the Lord is preparing them to focus on the bigness of God rather than the size of the problem. This miracle was of large proportions. But that was only a small matter to the bigness of Jesus. We serve a big God.
Pastor Dale
