Joh 6:5-6 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord does not get tired to convince His people by blessings that show the goodness of God, in order for them to return to Him. The feeding occurs in all four Gospels, but only here there are no introductory circumstances. The emphasis is entirely on the glory of the Son that fills the whole scene. Everything is in His hand. We see His Godhead because “He Himself knew what He was intending to do”, and we see His dependent Humanity as He gives thanks for the food ( ). He takes the initiative by asking Philip where they will buy bread to feed them all. With His question, He wants to put him to the test. He wants to see how much Philip has already understood of His glory and power. As the eternal God He knows that, but He wants to bring him to an answer that will show Philip himself, how he judges a situation, whereby it comes down to faith in Him. We sometimes hear the Lord asking us such questions as well. How do we react to situations where it comes down to faith in Him? To Him that situation poses no problem, because in His Divine omniscience He knows what He will do (cf. ) and that He has the power to do so. Philip’s answer shows that he judges the situation according to human standards and that he is not above the crowd in his assessment of Christ. He looks, so to speak, into the purse, sees what is in it and says that this is insufficient. As if the Lord did not know that. Then one of the other disciples comes to the Lord. It is Andrew, the brother of Peter. Just as he brought Peter to the Lord ( ), so now he brings a boy with five barley loaves and two fish to Him. Andrew is someone who brings others to the Lord Jesus. That is a beautiful characteristic. Also Andrew compares what they need with what they possess, without taking into account the Lord and His power (cf. ). That is why, according to him, the breads of the little boy are not enough. But this is exactly what the Son wants to use to do His work. He could have done it with much less or even made loaves of stone to satisfy the crowd. In His grace, however, He uses what we give Him, even though we do not believe that it is of some value in the light of what is needed. It is remarkable that of the four descriptions of this feeding, only John mentions that they are barley loaves. This is reminiscent of the first fruits, which are made of barley. The barley is the first fruit of the land brought to Yahweh ( ; ; ). The first sheaf speaks of the resurrection, about which Christ speaks several times in this chapter. He Who went into death is also the resurrected Christ. We can therefore view this chapter in particular as a ‘resurrection chapter’.

‏ John 6:5-6

Philip Put to the Test

The Lord does not get tired to convince His people by blessings that show the goodness of God, in order for them to return to Him. The feeding occurs in all four Gospels, but only here there are no introductory circumstances. The emphasis is entirely on the glory of the Son that fills the whole scene. Everything is in His hand. We see His Godhead because “He Himself knew what He was intending to do”, and we see His dependent Humanity as He gives thanks for the food (Jn 6:11).

He takes the initiative by asking Philip where they will buy bread to feed them all. With His question, He wants to put him to the test. He wants to see how much Philip has already understood of His glory and power. As the eternal God He knows that, but He wants to bring him to an answer that will show Philip himself, how he judges a situation, whereby it comes down to faith in Him. We sometimes hear the Lord asking us such questions as well. How do we react to situations where it comes down to faith in Him?

To Him that situation poses no problem, because in His Divine omniscience He knows what He will do (cf. Jn 2:24-25 ; Jn 13:3 ; Jn 18:4) and that He has the power to do so. Philip’s answer shows that he judges the situation according to human standards and that he is not above the crowd in his assessment of Christ. He looks, so to speak, into the purse, sees what is in it and says that this is insufficient. As if the Lord did not know that.

Then one of the other disciples comes to the Lord. It is Andrew, the brother of Peter. Just as he brought Peter to the Lord (Jn 1:42), so now he brings a boy with five barley loaves and two fish to Him. Andrew is someone who brings others to the Lord Jesus. That is a beautiful characteristic. Also Andrew compares what they need with what they possess, without taking into account the Lord and His power (cf. Num 11:22). That is why, according to him, the breads of the little boy are not enough.

But this is exactly what the Son wants to use to do His work. He could have done it with much less or even made loaves of stone to satisfy the crowd. In His grace, however, He uses what we give Him, even though we do not believe that it is of some value in the light of what is needed.

It is remarkable that of the four descriptions of this feeding, only John mentions that they are barley loaves. This is reminiscent of the first fruits, which are made of barley. The barley is the first fruit of the land brought to Yahweh (Lev 23:10; Exo 9:31; Rth 1:22 ; Rth 2:23). The first sheaf speaks of the resurrection, about which Christ speaks several times in this chapter. He Who went into death is also the resurrected Christ. We can therefore view this chapter in particular as a ‘resurrection chapter’.