Joh 6:9-13 | 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 6:9-13

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’.

The Multiplication of the Loaves

The Lord uses the disciples to bring peace and order to the crowd. This is possible because the place has a lot of grass. He has consciously chosen that place and thus led the crowd that has followed Him, to, as it were, green pastures. They all sit on the soft grass. John mentions the number of men. Men are the power of the nation, but they are completely dependent on the provisions of the Lord Jesus.

Before the Lord in His Divine omnipotence distributes the loaves and the fish among those who sit there, He first gives thanks. He always does everything in connection with His Father. The work of multiplication is a work that He has seen the Father do and therefore He does it (Jn 5:19). It is characteristic of this Gospel that we read that the Lord Jesus Himself distributes the loaves and the fish, while we know from the other Gospels that He used His disciples for that. Here He is the Son of God Who uses His power for the benefit of people and gives blessing. The blessing is abundant and everyone gets as much as he wants. There is no limit to His giving. It is up to us to make the best use of it.

The Lord has multiplied so much that there is a leftover. That appears when all are filled. The leftover is not a mistake, but a proof of the abundance of His benefits. With Him, abundance is never waste. The leftover may not be lost and must therefore be collected. What has been left by those who have eaten is good for filling twelve hand baskets. It is possible that each of the disciples received a basket with fragments. The number twelve is reminiscent of the whole nation. The leftover indicates a supply for others yet to come, not so much for Israel alone, but for the whole world, for He is the Savior of the world.