Spirituality Column #774

September 14, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Can’t Buy Me Bread …    By Bob Walters

“And give us this day our daily bread…” – from the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:11)

“I am the bread of life.” – Jesus, John 6:35

The sixth chapter of the Gospel of John has Jesus, at a mountain along the seashore of Galilee, miraculously feeding “the 5,000” not just their “daily bread” but also a generous ration of fish to go with it.

Later in chapter 6 we read Jesus’s critique of what He saw in the people who ate, who then followed Him the next day, and what He was really trying to teach them.  We’ll go into that in a minute, including comparisons with God’s provision of manna in the desert hundreds of years earlier to the Israelites escaping Egypt.  But let’s notice first a few often lost aspects of this miracle meal on the mountainside in John 6.

You may see other minutiae, but I noticed these.

1.    Verse 4, “The Passover Feast was near.”  The Gospels teach that Jesus IS the new Passover, the salvation of life, not just for the Israelites but for all mankind.  Jesus throws His own feast of a kind with the bread and fish.

2.    Verse 5, the disciples ask Jesus, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”  In verses 6 and 7 we see a) Jesus was testing his disciples with that question, and b) Philip responding that it would take “eight months wages,” an exorbitant sum. Jesus is trying to teach them the lesson that some things cannot be bought; His bread is eternal and of faith, not for purchase.

3.    Verse 8 has Andrew, who is always introducing people to Jesus, introducing the young boy who has “five small barley loaves and two small fish.” Andrew’s news is quickly tempered by his own doubt, “but how will we feed so many?”

4.    Funny, we never hear anything more about the boy who donated his lunch.  You’d think somebody would have thanked him.

5.    Perhaps the lesson is akin to that of the tiny mustard seed from which great plants grow.  Jesus turns this small boy’s personal sacrifice into a giant blessing for the entire assemblage.  Never doubt what Jesus can do with the gifts we give, no matter how small.  In His multiplication is our joy.

6.    And, leftovers … verse 13 notes that they “filled twelve baskets … with pieces of the five barley loaves.”  Huh?  Why was no fish left over?  No idea.

Anyway, the people ate, recognized the miracle, and Jesus left before He let them crown him King by force (verse 15).  Notice that not a word of what Jesus said to the crowd – another significant and divine sermon on the mount? – is recorded.  I think that’s because the lesson here isn’t about what Jesus said to them, but what the crowd selfishly, foolishly, merely, expected of Jesus: to fill their stomachs, not their souls.

Note, the people were following the miracle, not the savior.  They liked the free lunch, but missed the eternal point about the bread of life by faith. This is the whole point of John 6:25-59, “I am the bread of life.”  Jesus promises life eternal, every day.

God’s desert manna was a one-day meal deal; the Israelites had to trust God day by day for another provision.  Jesus is teaching that His provision and gift – His bread – is eternal, it won’t rot like manna, and the bread of Jesus is not for sale; it’s for love.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) remembers the Beatles’ song, Can’t Buy Me Love.