Feeding the 5000: What's in your hand?

By Rick Bayer, February 19, 2023

John 6:1-4

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 signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

The vs. 1-9

John 6:5-7

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, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

John 6:8-9

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

"All these

John 6:10-14

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

The vs 10-14, 26-35

John 5:30-35a

So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Scarcity is an attitude that is rooted in the fear that there will not be enough.

Abundance is an attitude that God will always supply more than enough.

Questions for Discipleship group and/or personal study:

Opener:

  • Where do you find your need is greater than your resources?
  • How would you fill in the blank “All these _________”

Go to the Source:

  • Read John 6:1-14.
  • Why do you think Andrew and Philip offered human solutions when Jesus is standing right in front of them?
  • Why is it significant that more is collected afterwards than what Jesus began with?

Live it out:

  • Share a time when you saw God stretch your limited resources?
  • What is preventing you from living with an abundance mindset that God has more than enough for you?
  • What’s in your hand that you can give right now to God?