It’s a miracle!!! It’s a miracle!!!
I can see the excited headlines plastered across the newspaper.
Or, in today’s world, I can picture the trending topic on Twitter, and the stories filling my Facebook “news feed.”
Jesus Feeds 5,000 People and you’ll never guess what He Does Next?

Hash tag #Bread Miracle.

Something noteworthy is happening here. Some big! Something huge! Something Epic!

We have been told that Jesus is attracting attention. Big crowds of people are following him.
But why?
The text says the crowd “saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.”
Just prior to this, Jesus has healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda.
God is up to “something special,” and the people know it. Signs and wonders, shock and awe. Stuff is going on…like Biblical bling…
Something is drawing these crowds to hear Jesus.
So everything’s going well, and a huge crowd of people is gathered together, ready to hear what Jesus is teaching…and they are more than ready to see what he’s going to do next.
And…all of a sudden…problem.
It’s getting late and it is time to eat!
Apparently Jesus’ teaching was “so engaging” that they can’t help listening and everybody lost track of time. Jesus included!
Now, it’s interesting that this feeding miracle is the “only one” of Jesus’ miracles that appears in all four Gospels.
There’s only one significant difference between the accounts.
In the synoptics, (Mark, Matthew and Luke) the disciples come to Jesus and ask him about food.
But in John’s gospel, Jesus notices the problem first and asks Philip “what the plan is” for feeding all the people.
It’s so typical of John – Jesus is completely in control, already knowing what he’s going to do; he’s just asking as a kind of test.
Apparently, Philip fails the test, since his response, is a perfectly logical response, it is essentially, “I have no idea.” Ummm…idk
Feeding all these people would take “a miracle.”
Fortunately, Andrew (Simon Peter’s Brother) comes to the rescue. …Like the cavalry…
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” He’s right! What are they among so many people?
Five loaves and two fish are not going to do much good. It is still going to take a miracle.
Ta Dah – Shock and Awe is about to occur…no sleight of hand here…no smoke and mirrors…no parlor tricks…just a good old fashioned miracle!
Jesus has the people sit down, divides them into groups, takes the bread, gives thanks, and distributes it to the people.
And seriously…everybody gets free food, and everybody’s happy.
Actually, everyone’s really happy.
Everybody likes free stuff! Getting stuff for free is good!
People like the free food so much that they want to make Jesus their king.
And why not?
Think of the “economic prosperity” from having a king who can miraculously, mystically, (magically?) multiply stuff!
Think of the increase in Israel’s GDP!
The “gross domestic product” is the “monetary measure” of the “market value” of all the “final goods and services produced” in a certain period of time. Jesus would be awesome! He would be great. He would be epic-plus!
But apparently that’s not what Jesus wants.
He’s got something different in mind than being a “Messianic vending machine.”
“TANSTAFL” is an old acronym meaning, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”
(Sorry if that hurt your ears, Momma always said, “There is not any such thing as “aint no!”) Use proper English! (Sorry Mom!) No double negatives, please! Clearly, Jesus never took economics 101!
Most people don’t walk on water. And for most people – bread doesn’t just multiply. And neither do their fish…
But then, in my experience, most people don’t rise from the dead either, and go back to their teaching… So, I think, this is probably saying something about Jesus! And WHO he was!
There’s no such thing as a “free lunch,” or a “free gift” or…”free grace?”
For that to happen – it would REALLY take a “real miracle!”
It’s a Miracle! It’s a Miracle! Told You so! Amen!