Feeding or Floundering Faith?

John 6:1-21

Feeding the Five Thousand

1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.

4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."

8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"

10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."

Jesus Walks on the Sea

15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. 18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. 19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. 20 But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

Are we feeding faith or is it floundering after we start trusting our Lord Jesus Christ?  Here Jesus tested His disciples when a large crowd came to listen to His teaching about the kingdom of heaven on a mountain down below on earth.  He asked them where they should buy bread to feed the masses to test whether they understood that He could provide for them.  He was testing their faith as Philip answered about the material lack of enough funds to buy the required amount of food to meet the needs of such a crowd.  Do we doubt He can provide everything we need (Philippians 4:19)?  Do we look to what is in our own hands which we possess or do we lift our eyes up higher to find what we need for our daily provision (Luke 11:3) and providence?  Andrew looked only at what the disciples had at hand that amounted to five barley loaves and two small fish, but he could not see the provision of the Lord to stretch that small amount to feed so many hungry mouths.  What did Jesus do?  He told them to seat the crowd as He gave the example of thanking the Father in heaven above and then breaking bread to distribute enough for everyone.  The source of the food was like the manna of olden days (John 6:31) when the LORD fed the entire number of Israel on their desert journey and which pointed figuratively to Himself as the bread of life (John 6:58).  He fed them daily and faithfully without fail to build their faith to trust Him to provide all they needed day by day.  There was even enough left over for each of the twelve disciples!  Immediately, Jesus left because the crowd saw the miraculous provision and wanted to make Him king (supposedly to drive the Romans out instead of ruling in a spiritual kingdom).  The disciples waited a bit then got into the boat to row to Capernaum.  The wind howled and they grew afraid with doubt about their safety until Jesus came walking on the water towards them.  Their faith floundered with the circumstances of the wind and waves and fear overwhelmed them until Jesus identified Himself and told them the oft repeated assurance, “do not be afraid.”  We must remember when He says “it is I” and shows Himself mighty on our behalf (2 Chronicles 16:9) according to our faith in His work with a complete and whole heart of trust in His ability, power, and grace to supply all our needs in the words and work of Jesus Christ.  Are we feeding our faith or floundering in doubts?  That is the question we need to answer with assurance according to His unshakable and eternally reliable word.