A One Question Pop Quiz...

At the church where I serve, we are involved in a sermon series entitled unexplainable. During this series, we are spending the weeks leading up to Easter looking at seven unexplainable events from history in the life of Jesus that are recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of John.

And as John gives us a front row seat to these events from history that seemed to be unexplainable, our hope and our prayer during this series is that as we look at these unexplainable events from history in the life of Jesus, we would discover several timeless truths about Jesus that have the potential to powerfully impact how we view Jesus.

This week I would like for us to spend our time together by looking at the fourth of these events from history that seem to be unexplainable. And as John gives us a front row seat to this event from history, we will discover another timeless truth about Jesus that have the potential to powerfully impact how we view Jesus. So let’s look at this event from history together, beginning in John 6:1:

After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick.

John brings us into this unexplainable event from history by providing us the context in which this unexplainable event would take place. After being confronted by the self righteous religious leaders of the day for breaking one of their religious rules by miraculously healing a man on the Sabbath, Jesus and His disciples headed back up to the region of Galilee in what is now northern Israel.

While in Galilee, Jesus sent out the twelve disciples in pairs on a short term mission trip that God used to do great and mighty things. The disciples returned to Jesus from their mission trip and told him all they had done and what they had taught. However, the disciples and Jesus quickly became surrounded by large crowds of people who wanted to meet and greet Jesus.

You see, at this point in His life, Jesus had rock star status in the eyes of many of the Jewish people. John explains that the reason that Jesus had such rock star status was due to the fact that the crowds had seen the signs which Jesus was performing on those who were sick. As we discovered in this series, signs are different than miracles in the sense that they point to something significant about Jesus. Jesus, in doing the unexplainable, was providing a sign that was designed to reveal and point people to something significant about who Jesus is and what He came to earth to do.

And it was these signs that were drawing these large crowds, who were hoping to see Jesus do the miraculous. John tells us that Jesus and the disciples decided to get away from the crowds and head across the Sea of Galilee. Unfortunately for the group, however, the crowds saw the boat leave and recognized Jesus and the disciples. John then tells us that large crowds followed Jesus to the other side of the lake. After providing the context, John then brings us into this unexplainable event from history in verse 3:

 Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?" This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do.

John tells us that after arriving on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus and His disciples traveled to an elevated location. Jesus then sat down with His disciples and began to teach them. However, as Jesus was teaching the disciples, the large crowd that had followed Him found Him and proceeded to head toward them. We learn from another account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Mark that Jesus responded to the arrival of the large crowds by teaching them many things about God and the kingdom of God.

However, like many preachers and teachers, Jesus was long winded and the day quickly flew by.  As the disciples looked on, they began to recognize a potentially serious problem brewing. You see, this large group of men, women and children had traveled a significant distance and spent the afternoon in the desert sun listening to Jesus teach. And since they were in a desolate place a great distance from any community, there was little possibility for obtaining food to meet the group’s needs.

John provides the evidence of this reality by reminding us that the Passover, the feast of the Jews was near. Now the Jewish feast of the Passover occurred in the spring of every year. And just as it is today, during the spring, there was not an abundant supply of grain available to access, because the crops had just been planted. The fields in the surrounding countryside would have very little to offer in terms of food at this time of year.

John tells us that Jesus, seeing the large crowds that were surrounding Him, and recognizing the lack of resources to feed such a crowd that would be tired and hungry after tracking Him down, asks Phillip, who was one of His closest followers, a question:  "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?" In other words, Jesus basically says to the disciples “Hey guys we need to feed these people. We have a responsibility to meet their needs. So where are we going to get the resources to feed these people and meet their needs?”

You see, unlike today, there are no Smith’s or Sam’s Club’s for the disciples to access in order to buy food. So Jesus is asking “How are we going to get food for all of these people?” In verse 6, we see John, as he looked back on this event, provide for us some historical hindsight. As John was writing down this event from history from Jesus life later in his life, John could see that Jesus had an agenda for asking this question.

And that agenda was that Jesus was giving His disciples a test. Jesus was giving His closest followers a one question pop quiz designed to reveal whether or not they understood what He was trying to teach them about following Him. We see Phillip attempt to provide an answer to the pop quiz that Jesus was giving in verse 7. Let’s look at his answer together:

 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little."

Now 200 denarii would be the equivalent of eight months wages in our culture today. Phillip’s answer, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Jesus, it is springtime, and we are in the middle of nowhere. And even if there was enough food available, it would cost us eight months wages to provide enough food for people to get even a mouthful. Jesus, there is no way that we can feed this many people. We simply do not have the resources to meet the needs here. We do not have the food and we do not have the money to buy food even if there was food”.  Meanwhile, as Phillip engages Jesus with his answer, John reveals for us how the other disciples responded to Jesus one question pop quiz in verse 8:

 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?"

John explains that the rest of the disciples, after doing some investigating, returned to Jesus and informed Him that the only resources that they could find was five loaves of bread and two fish. However, to fully understand the significance of what the disciples brought to Jesus, let’s take a minute and look at the loaves and fish.

Now these loaves and fish were not something that you would pick up at Smith’s. These are not two salmon steaks and five loaves of wonder bread from Safeway. Historical records tell us that the fish actually were the size of sardines, about this big. The loaves were barley loaves, which were small and flat. One could easily eat several at a single meal. In our modern dining experience, these loaves would look like these tortillas.

Now imagine yourself this morning as one of the disciples. Place yourself in the disciple’s shoes. Jesus has told you that you are responsible to feed this large crowd of people. However, you are in the middle of nowhere. There are no grocery stores. There are no crops growing to harvest at this point in the year. And even if there was food available to buy, you do not have the resources to purchase that amount of food. You are a disciple. What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling? How would you respond?

How often can we find ourselves feeling just like the disciples? We see the immense needs that people have. We see that people are in desperate need of resources to meet those needs. People are in desperate need of the resource of our time. People are in desperate need of the resource of our talents. People are in desperate need of the resource of our treasure.

And as we look at all of the needs, we realize that we just do not have the resources that are necessary to meet those needs. We don’t have enough time; we don’t have enough talent; we don’t have enough treasure. How often can we find ourselves feeling just like the disciples here?

The disciples come to Jesus and say “Jesus, all we have are two sardines and five tortillas. We cannot possibly meet the needs of these people”.

Tomorrow, we see how Jesus responded to their answers to His pop quiz…