Latest / Reformed Thinking / On the Feeding of the 5000 | Craig S. Keener

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On the Feeding of the 5000 | Craig S. Keener · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis, there
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is a certain expectation of precision.
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Right. Yeah, like engineering.
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Yeah, like engineering. You break your arm, the doctor
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takes an X-ray, the image shows a jagged white line, and the
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professional just points at the film and says, well, there is
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the problem. Broken or not broken?
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Right. It is a binary reality.
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It is clean and honestly, it is comforting.
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We like things to be visible. We like things to be categorized
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so we can fix them. Oh absolutely, we love a clean
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fix. But then you step into the world
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of human motivation, into the Muddy Waters of why we actually
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believe what we claim to believe, and suddenly that X-ray
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machine stops working entirely. It really does.
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It gets messy. We are looking at a landscape
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that is murky and highly confusing.
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So welcome to reform thinking. I'm so glad you were here with
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us for today. Yes, glad to be here.
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We. Were jumping right into a deep
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dive on the historical and theological realities presented
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in the Gospel of John, specifically chapters 5 and 6,
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drawing on some of the most thorough academic research
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available from Craig S Keener's commentary.
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And we are making a massive geographical and theological
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shift today. We really are.
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We are moving from a very tense, very academic clash in the stone
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streets of Jerusalem right out to the rugged rural shores of
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the Sea of Galilee. Where these absolutely massive
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crowds are gathering. The contrast between those two
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settings could not be more stark, you know.
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Yeah, you have the elite religious scholars in Judea on
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one hand, and the desperate, hungry masses in the northern
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countryside on the other. Two totally different worlds.
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They really are. And yet, as we will see, the
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fundamental misunderstanding of who Jesus is remains consistent
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across both groups. And the goal for us today, the
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whole mission of this deep dive, is to uncover the staggering
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theological reality behind one of the most famous events in
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human history. I am talking about the feeding
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of the 5000. A story most people know.
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Right. For sure, if you grew up around
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a church, you have heard this story 100 times.
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But we want to look past the Sunday School flannel graph
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version of this event. Right, the basic fact.
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Yeah, we are going to look at Jesus's direct confrontation
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with human expectations, his sovereign authority over
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physical reality, and why a massive crowd trying to crown
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him king is actually a colossal failure of faith.
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It sounds counterintuitive, but it is true.
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OK, let's unpack this. Before we can even begin to
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understand the crowd's reaction to the miraculous bread in
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Chapter 6, we absolutely must look at the confrontation that
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drove Jesus out of Jerusalem at the end of chapter 5.
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Context is everything here. You cannot understand the
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miracle on the grass without understanding the trial in the
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Temple totally. At the end of John chapter 5,
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Jesus is entirely surrounded by his opponents.
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These are the religious elites, the scholars.
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Yeah, these are men who have dedicated their entire lives to
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studying the law, to parsing out every single theological nuance
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of the Torah. And Jesus delivers a stunning
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reverser to them. It's.
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Just a total shock. He tells them that Moses, the
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very historical and textual figure they trust for their
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absolute vindication before God, will actually be the one to
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condemn them. It is the ultimate rug pull.
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Oh, it really is. If we think of this like a
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modern courtroom drama, you, as the listener, can probably
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imagine the scene. It is as if your own star
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character witness, the one person you brought in to
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guarantee your innocence, suddenly stands up, walks
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straight over to the prosecutor's table and hands the
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state the smoking gun that secures your conviction.
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Wow. Yeah, you would be left
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completely speechless. That is a highly accurate way to
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frame it. What's fascinating here is how
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the writings of Moses, meaning the first five books of
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Scripture, were heavily realized in ancient debates.
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Weaponized. Well, 1st century Jewish
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commentators universally viewed Moses as the single most
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truthful witness of God's revelation.
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He was the undisputed authority. So people actively used appeals
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to the Torah, to the laws of Moses to denounce others.
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They would accuse political or theological rivals of being
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betrayers of the faith or collaborators with the Roman
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occupation simply by saying, you know you are not following
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Moses. Wow.
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The law was not just a religious text, it was the defining
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boundary marker of their national and personal identity.
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So pointing this specific accusation back at the
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Pharisees, the people who meticulously, almost obsessively
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followed the law, was calculated to absolutely infuriate them.
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Oh, without a doubt. I mean, it is one thing to tell
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a casual observer they are wrong.
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It is another thing entirely to look at the foremost experts of
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the law and tell them they have completely misread the very
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author they claimed to champion. It was a direct strike at the
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core of their identity. But Jesus employs a specific
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rhetorical device here, the argument from the lesser to the
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greater. He says that Moses actually
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wrote of him. OK, right Now surface level
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reading might assume Jesus is solely referencing Deuteronomy
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18 where Moses predicts the coming prophet.
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Which is the standard Sunday school answer?
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It is. But the theological research
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points out that in the context of John's Gospel, this goes so
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much further back. It points directly back to the
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prologue of John. Moses literally saw the glory of
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Jesus on Mount Sinai back in Exodus 33 and 34.
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Wait, let's flaws on that because that is a massive
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theological claim. You were saying Moses saw Jesus
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on Sinai. Yes, when Moses asked to see the
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glory of God and God passed by him while he was hidden in the
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cleft of the rock, John's theology suggests that the glory
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Moses witnessed was the pre Incarnate Christ.
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Oh wow. This aligns perfectly with a
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robust, historically grounded view of Scripture where the
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entire Old Testament points relentlessly toward the sun.
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That is staggering. So if these religious leaders
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miss who Jesus is, standing right in front of them in the
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flesh, their entire eschatological hope, their hope
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for the end times and salvation is completely, entirely vain.
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Because they miss the main character.
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Precisely. Moses himself will judge them
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because they rejected the very person Moses beheld on the
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mountain. They trust in their own law,
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keeping their own works rather than recognizing the sovereign
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Lord of the Law. This speaks so loudly to our own
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human tendencies. Think about it, You can have all
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the right academic knowledge, you can memorize the text, you
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can follow all the rules, and you can still completely miss
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the Sovereign Lord who stands behind the text.
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It exposes the total inability of human intellect to produce
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saving faith without a genuine spiritual awakening.
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So true. If the religious elite in
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Jerusalem entirely misread Moses, how does this set the
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stage for Jesus acting as the new Moses out in the wilderness
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in chapter 6? Because he leaves Jerusalem
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right after dropping this bombshell.
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He does because his true identity is vehemently rejected
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by the leaders in Judea. Jesus withdraws.
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He crosses over to the quote other side of the Sea of
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Galilee, right, And this geographical move prompts a
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massive crowd to chase him straight into the wilderness.
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He goes from the center of religious academia to the rural
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margins of society. Which brings us to a massive
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shift in the narrative. We have a colossal crowd
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following him. It looks like a massive ministry
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success on paper. Yeah.
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If you were a modern metric driven organization, you would
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say the engagement numbers are off the charts.
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The crowd size is swelling the. Analytics look great.
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Exactly. But the text identifies a grave,
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fundamental problem with this crowd.
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They are driven by science, faith.
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That concept of science, faith, is crucial to understanding the
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entire Gospel of John, the text says.
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They followed him because they saw the signs.
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He was performing on the sick right, the miracles.
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They saw physical healings and they wanted to see what else he
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could do for them physically. It is a faith-based entirely on
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external observation and personal benefit, not on
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spiritual awakening or recognizing His divine nature.
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They just want the perks. They are drawn by the spectacle
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and the physical relief. Jesus is looking at a crowd of
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consumers. They are shopping for miracles.
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Consumer Faith. Yeah, and if you are listening
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to this, you have to ask yourself how often we do the
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exact same thing. We treat faith like a
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transaction. We really do.
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We show up expecting the divine vending machine to dispense
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physical health, financial stability or emotional peace.
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And when the machine stops dispensing the goods, the crowd
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scatters. Precisely.
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It exposes the reality of the human heart.
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The natural man is entirely focused on the flesh.
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And John gives us a very specific chronological marker
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here that we cannot ignore. He mentions that the Jewish
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Passover is near. Furthermore, he explicitly
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mentions that there is green grass in the place where they
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are gathering. Which to a casual reader seems
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like just a nice descriptive detail.
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Like, oh, it was a pretty spring day for a picnic.
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It sets a nice calm scene. It is a historical reminiscence
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of spring. Yes, because grass was not
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always abundant in the rocky wilderness regions of Galilee,
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right? But John includes it to set the
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entire event in the specific theological context of the
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Pascal lamb and the Passion narrative.
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Oh, that is heavy. The Passover is the festival of
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the slain. Lamb is the festival of the
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Exodus, the covering of blood that saves from death.
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By mentioning the nearness of Passover, John is deliberately
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placing the shadow of the cross over the seemingly triumphant
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gathering on the green grass. That completely changes the mood
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of the scene. You have thousands of people
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expecting a carnival, expecting free healthcare and bread, and
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Jesus knows he is walking toward a slaughter.
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He is the true Passover lamb and they just want a free meal.
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Wow. In John chapter 4, Lord Jesus
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lifts his eyes and tells his disciples to look at the fields,
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that they are ready for harvest. Here he lifts his eyes and sees
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the crowds coming. Right, the parallel is there.
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But I have to ask, what do you do with a massive harvest of
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followers when you know with absolute certainty that their
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motives are completely self-centered and entirely
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inadequate? That is the dilemma, and it
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forces a test. Jesus knows the crowds flawed
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motives. He knows the flesh is entirely
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incapable of generating genuine spiritual life.
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As the text will explicitly state later, the flesh
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accomplishes nothing. Only the Spirit gives life.
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This is a core reality. The flesh accomplishes nothing.
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Human effort, human enthusiasm, human consumerism, it all equals
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0 in the economy of grace. So before he addresses the
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physical hunger of the 5000, he decides to test the disciples
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understanding of his identity. He targets Philip.
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He looks right at Philip and asks where are we to buy bread
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so these people may eat right? And I find this fascinating
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because Judas is the one who hold the money bag for the
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group. If this were a legitimate
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logistical question, you go to the treasure.
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You would think so. You ask the guy with the Ledger,
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but Jesus singles out Philip. He does.
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Ancient teachers frequently tested their disciples resolve
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and understanding, but in the grander biblical framework, this
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deliberately echoes God testing Israel in the wilderness during
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the Exodus. Like the manna?
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Yes, God would bring Israel to a place of complete resource
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depletion, no water, no food to expose their hearts and test
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their reliance on Him. Wow.
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God does this to demonstrate that man does not live on bread
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alone. Jesus is doing the same thing to
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Philip. He is putting Philip in a
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situation of absolute, undeniable scarcity.
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It is like a corporate stress test.
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Stress test? Yeah, like management walks up
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to an employee, hands them an impossibly massive project,
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provides absolutely zero budget, and just stands back to watch
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their methodology fail. That is a brilliant way to put
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it. Because the math here is
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literally staggering. You have thousands of hungry
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people and no infrastructure to feed them.
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Let us run the numbers, because the historical research breaks
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this down wonderfully. Philip responds by saying that
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200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them
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to get even a little. Right, 200 denarii.
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In the 1st century agrarian economy, 200 denari equals
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roughly 200 days wages for an average laborer.
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That is more than half a year's salary just sitting there in the
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dust. Correct.
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And during times of food shortages, which were common
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under Roman taxation and the unpredictable agricultural
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cycles, a single day's wage barely fed a poor family.
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Who's a subsistence living? Exactly so 200 days wages is
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laughably, hopelessly inadequate for 5000 men, not even counting
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the women and children who were undoubtedly present.
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So the math is just impossible. Philip looks at the spreadsheet
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and the spreadsheet says they are entirely bankrupt.
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So the financial resources are a dead end.
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Philip fails the test of faith because he only looks at the
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material reality. Right then Andrew chimes in and
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he offers a solution that almost seems like a joke.
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He finds a lad with five barley loaves and two dried fish.
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The text points out a detail here that is so easily missed
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the barley. Barley was the food of the
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absolute poorest classes. It was cheaper, rougher, and
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much less desirable than wheat. It was peasant food.
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In the social hierarchy of food, wheat was for the wealthy and
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the comfortable. Barley was for the destitute.
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The fact that this boy had barley loaves indicates his low
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socioeconomic status. He is at the absolute bottom of
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the social. Ladder and this boy is a
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completely silent protagonist. He represents the people without
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any social influence or leverage.
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He has no voice in the narrative, none at all.
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He just hands over his poor man's lunch.
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But I'm still stuck on the test itself.
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I want to look at the motive behind the question.
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Why does Jesus demand a human solution when he knows with
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absolute divine certainty that the physical resources are
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entirely, completely insufficient?
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It is a fair question. What is the theological point of
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making Philip and Andrew squirm in front of thousands of people?
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To thoroughly expose human inability, it is a core
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principle in understanding our relationship with the divine.
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Until the disciples, and by extension you as the reader,
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realize that natural means are completely bankrupt in the face
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of this magnitude of need, they will not properly attribute the
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coming provision to Jesus's sovereign grace.
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I see. The human solutions had to be
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exhausted and proven absurd so that the divine solution could
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be recognized for what it was. If they had 200 denarii, they
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might have tried to buy the bread and take the credit for
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the logistics. It would be the heroes.
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Jesus removes all possibility of human boasting.
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That hits hard. We always want to bring our own
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resume to the table. You want to bring your own 200
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denarii? We really do.
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You want to offer your good works, your intellectual
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arguments, your moral track record, and Jesus says, well, it
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is not enough. Your flesh accomplices nothing.
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Nothing at all. So the disciples inability is
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thoroughly exposed on the green grass.
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The deficit is established beyond any doubt, and this is
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the moment Jesus steps in to demonstrate His absolute,
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unmitigated authority over the material world.
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He issues a command. He orders the vast crowd to
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recline. Which the cultural research
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notes is a specific posture. Yes, for normal everyday meals.
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People in that era SAT, but they reclined at banquets and major
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festivals. This was a Greek custom that had
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been widely adopted across the Mediterranean, especially for
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celebrations like the Passover. So it changes the whole vibe.
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By having them replying, Jesus is signaling that this is not a
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hurried snack in the dirt. This is a banquet.
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He is the host of a massive formal feast in the middle of
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nowhere. A feast in the wilderness.
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He is setting a table in the wilderness, fulfilling the Old
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Testament imagery of God, providing A feast for his
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people. He takes the loaves and he gives
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thanks. Which was the traditional Jewish
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blessing? The standard prayer was Blessed
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are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth
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bread from the earth. This is beautiful.
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It is a profound well. It is a staggering
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acknowledgement of God as the ultimate provider of sustenance.
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It directs all the glory to the Father, and then he distributes
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the food. Now we need to address something
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here regarding modern skepticism, because you read
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this and the modern rational mind immediately tries to find a
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loophole. They always do.
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Maybe people had food hidden in their cloaks and the boys
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sharing inspired everyone to share.
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You hear these psychological explanations all the time from
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people trying to strip the supernatural elements out of the
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text. We do.
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Skepticism often arvises purely from anti supernatural
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assumptions. If you start with the premise
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that miracles cannot happen, you will force the text into a
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naturalistic box, no matter how awkward the fit.
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You will invent theories about hidden food and spontaneous
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communal sharing. Just to make it make sense to a
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modern mind. But historically speaking, the
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evidence points firmly to a massive, inexplicable event.
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This miracle is attested across multiple independent gospel
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traditions. It is one of the most widely
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verified events in the entire narrative of Jesus life.
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And John's account has a very specific detail that completely
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ruins the everyone shared their lunch theory.
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Exactly. In the Synoptic Gospels,
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Matthew, Mark and Luke, the massive crowd seems somewhat
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oblivious to the actual source of the food.
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They're just eating. They just eat and are satisfied.
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But in John's account, the crowd is fully aware that a
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supernatural multiplication has taken place.
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How? Do we know that?
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We know they are aware because of their immediate aggressive
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political reaction right after the meal.
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They saw the miracle happen. They saw the physical matter
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multiply in His hands. You cannot build a violent
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political draft around a guy who just successfully convinced
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people to share their trail mix. No, you.
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Cannot. That does not spark a
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revolution. They saw a suspension of the
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laws of physics. They did.
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Let us look at the leftovers. 12 baskets full.
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Why so much? Why not just provide exactly
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enough for everyone to have a single piece?
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There is a fascinating intersection of cultures here in
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the Grico Roman world. A truly good, honorable host was
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culturally obligated to provide such an abundant feast that
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there were substantial. Leftovers.
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It's expected. It proved his wealth and his
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generosity. A host who only provided enough
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to scrape by was considered shameful.
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It is a flex of hospitality. Jesus is showing that the
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resources of heaven are not strained by human need.
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Precisely. But contrast this with the Old
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Testament manna in the wilderness.
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When God provided manna for the Israelites, they were strictly
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commanded not to leave any over for the next day, except on the
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Sabbath. If they tried to hoard it, it
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bred worms and rotted. Right, the manna would spoil.
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The manna was a daily test of dependence.
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They had to trust God for tomorrow's bread.
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But Jesus commands the fragments to be gathered here.
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It does not rot, it is preserved.
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Right Jesus provision is superior.
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It is abundant and lasting, but the command to gather the
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fragrance also reflects ancient moral teachings.
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Like what? Throughout the Mediterranean,
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and specifically within Jewish thought, squandering food was
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viewed as highly immoral. The moral ideal was massive
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generosity combined with strict frugality.
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That is an interesting combo. You provide abundantly, but you
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waste nothing. God's grace is lavish, but it is
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never reckless. It is never meant to be
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discarded. What about the number 1212
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baskets? I've heard people preach entire
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sermons allegorizing the 12 baskets, one for each disciple
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or one for each tribe of Israel. You do see that a lot.
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Yeah, you see commentators bending over backwards to find a
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hidden numerical code. The best historical research
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advises against forcing an allegory there.
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The simplest, most historically grounded explanation is that 12
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was the maximum number of baskets the 12 disciples could
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physically carry. Just logistics.
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Each man grabbed a basket. It highlights the sheer volume
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of the physical abundance, the undeniable reality of the
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miracle, rather than a secret numeric code.
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I love that the text points out a specific phrasing in John's
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account. In the other gospels, Jesus
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gives the bread to the disciples and the disciples distributed to
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the crowd, but John specifically portrays Jesus distributing the
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bread himself. The text says Jesus took the
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loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to
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those who were seated. That is a very deliberate
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authorial choice by John. I want to know why that matters.
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How does that specific framing, cutting out the middleman, alter
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our understanding of who is truly in control of the
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situation? John wants to highlight Jesus
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absolute sovereignty and control over the entire event.
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He is not a distant manager delegating tasks to his
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subordinates. He is the direct, unmediated
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source of life and provision. He is hands on.
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It keeps the theological focus relentlessly on the person of
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Christ rather than the agency of the disciples.
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The disciples are entirely passive in the distribution
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process. In John's account, Jesus is the
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true bread, and he gives himself.
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He requires no human assistance to accomplish his will.
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OK, so the crowd is eaten. They are completely full.
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They have witnessed this undeniable physics defying
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multiplication of bread, and the sheer abundance of this miracle
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triggers A radical aggressive response.
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We hit a massive crisis of kingship in verses 14 and 15.
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The mood shifts from a peaceful picnic to a volatile political
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situation. The crowd looks at what Jesus
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just did and they correctly identify him as the prophet, the
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text says. When the people saw the sign
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that he had done, they said this is indeed the prophet who is to
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come into the world. Which goes back to Moses.
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This is a direct call back to Deuteronomy 18, The prophet,
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like Moses who was promised to come, They get the title right.
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They recognize the category. But they get the job description
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entirely wrong. Entirely.
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Because their immediate reaction is to try and making king by
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absolute force. They want to kidnap him and
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crown him. The text literally says they
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were about to come and take him by force to make him king.
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And Jesus reaction is instantaneous.
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He withdraws to the mountain alone.
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Just leaves them there. If we connect this to the bigger
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picture, we can clearly see the lethal danger of their
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misunderstanding. Think about the historical
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context. The crowd in Galilee is
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suffering under Roman occupation.
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They are heavily taxed, marginalized, and dreaming of
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the days of King David when they see a man who can feed an army
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of 5000 men in the wilderness out of thin air.
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They do not see a savior from sin.
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What do they see? They see the ultimate military
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quartermaster. Wow, they see a logistical cheat
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code for a violent revolution. That is it.
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If you have a general who can feed an army without supply
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lines, you can March on Rome tomorrow.
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Exactly. 1st century Palestine was a powder keg wilderness.
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Prophets who promised massive signs regularly sparked violent,
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bloody revolts. The Zealots.
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Groups like the Zealots were always looking for a spark to
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ignite a war against the Romans, and those revolts always drew
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the immediate lethal attention of rulers like Herod Antipas and
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the Roman legions. It was incredibly dangerous.
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The crowd wants a political and military Liberator.
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They want Jesus to March on Jerusalem, overthrow the Romans
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and establish an earthly Kingdom of endless bread and autonomy.
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It is a hostile political draft. A draft, Yes.
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It is like a mob trying to force a candidate to run for office on
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a platform the candidate fundamentally opposes.
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They want hijack his authority for their own fleshly agenda.
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They want to use him. And this reveals the fatal flaw
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in their science faith. They do not want to submit to a
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sovereign God. They want a sovereign God to
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submit to their political and physical desires.
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They want to be in charge. Their hearts are completely
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unregenerate, but Jesus's Kingdom is not of this world.
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He refuses to receive his kingship from human acclimation
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or mob support. He will secure his kingship by
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proclaiming the truth and in the end by being lifted up on a
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Roman cross, bleeding and dying to save a rebellious people.
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That is not the king the crowd wants.
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They want a king of glory, not a king of suffering.
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Since Jesus, as John constantly points out to us, knows the
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human heart, he knows exactly what this mom is planning.
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He knows their motives are corrupt.
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How does he dismantle their expectations without triggering
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the very riot they want? It is a tense moment.
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Because if you stand up and say no to a mob of 5000 men, things
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get violent quickly. He simply removes himself.
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He refuses to engage on their terms.
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He withdraws again to the mountain by himself ascending
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alone, leaving them without their figurehead.
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He just vanishes. It is a severe rejection of
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their fleshly desires. He will not be used by them.
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He will not allow His divine mission to be Co opted by human
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political agendas. Which leaves the disciples in a
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very weird spot. Fleeing this frenzied political
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mob, Jesus sends his disciples onto the sea.
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He puts them in a boat and sends them away into the night.
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Which leads to a terrifying private revelation.
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It is a massive contrast to the public misunderstanding we just
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saw on the shore. The disciples are rowing across
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the Sea of Galilee in the dark and a violent storm arises.
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The sea is historically known for these sudden, violent
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squalls due to the surrounding geography.
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The winds just dropped down. The text notes they had rode a
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massive distance, about 3 or 4 miles, putting them in the very
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deep part of the lake. They're completely isolated,
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battling the wind and the waves. And then Jesus walks to them on
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the water. The academic research notes that
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this account stems from a very early, highly reliable
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tradition, and the scholars sharply refute the rationalistic
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attempts to explain this away. Right, the sandbar theory.
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Yes. If you read some of the older,
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more liberal commentators, they suggest Jesus was just waiting
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in the shallows on a hidden sandbar and the disciples were
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confused by the fog and their own exhaustion.
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Which is an insult to the intelligence of the disciples.
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Remember who is in that boat. Yeah, they were fishermen.
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Peter, Andrew, James and John are seasoned professional
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fishermen. They have spent their entire
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lives on this specific body of water.
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They know the depths, they know the shallows, and the text
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explicitly states they were miles out into the deep water.
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They would not be fooled. Seasoned fishermen fighting for
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their lives in a squaw would never be fooled by a man waiting
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in ankle deep water near the shore.
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They know where they are. It is a terrifying image.
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Imagine you are in that boat. You are battling the waves,
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completely exhausted. Your muscles are burning from
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rowing against a Gale force wind and suddenly a figure is
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striding across the chaos of the sea.
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It is terrifying. Well, the massive crowd on the
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land saw a physical sign, the bread, and misunderstood it
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completely. The disciples out on the water
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received this terrifying private sign.
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I will look at the timing of this.
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Why does Jesus choose this specific moment?
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Why reveal his absolute command over the chaotic forces of
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nature in the dark, in the middle of a storm, immediately
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after refusing a golden crown from a loving mob?
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It is a declaration of his true nature, specifically reserved
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for his own. The crowd wanted a king who
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could manipulate the earthly system, feed armies, fight
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Romans. Jesus, by walking on the chaotic
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waters, is aligning himself with the creator God of the Old
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Testament. In Joe Chapter 9 verse 8 it says
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God alone stretches out the heavens and tramples the waves
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of the sea. Trampling the waves.
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Trampling the waves is a divine prerogative.
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When Jesus approaches the terrified disciples, he speaks
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to them over the roar of the wind.
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He says it is I do not be afraid.
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Wow, in the original Greek text that phrases ego, I me, I am the
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divine name revealed to Moses at the burning Bush.
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He is showing them that his authority is not a political
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one, it is cosmological. He is the Sovereign Lord.
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He is the sovereign Lord of creation.
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He refused the earthly crown from the crowd because he
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already wears the crown of the universe.
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He does not need their endorsement.
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He does not need human votes to establish his throne.
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He does not and notice the outcome.
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As soon as they willingly receive Him into the boat, they
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immediately were their destination.
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Just like that, the fleshly crowd on the shore wanted to
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capture Jesus, to use him for their own ends.
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The disciples, tested and terrified, simply receive him
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and He brings them to safety. It is a stunning picture of
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divine rescue. The contrast is brilliant.
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It exposes 2 entirely different ways of approaching God.
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One way demands that God validate our desires.
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The consumer way. Yeah, it demands that God fix
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our temporary problems and establish our preferred
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political order. The other way submits to God's
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terrifying, awe inspiring sovereignty.
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The disciples realize they are in the presence of the Holy, and
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they receive Him. They do.
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So what does this all mean? Bringing all of this together,
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what do we actually have here? In these chapters, we have seen
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the absolute inadequacy of Sign's faith, a faith that only
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wants physical benefits and refuses to see the spiritual
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reality. It falls short every time.
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It is a consumer religion that ends in disappointment.
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We have seen the undeniable historical reality of Jesus's
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sovereign provision in the wilderness, exposing the total
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inability of human resources. Phillips spreadsheet failed.
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Right. Andrew's meager offering failed.
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Only the sovereign host could provide the feast, and we have
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seen the severe danger of trying to force a divine king into our
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own tiny human political molds. Jesus will not be our mascot.
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He will not be our political quartermaster.
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No, he will not. If you are listening to this
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right now, I want to address you directly.
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Why does the feeding of the 5000 matter for your life today?
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It matters because it is a mirror held up to your own
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motives. A tough mirror to look into.
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It forces you to ask a very difficult question.
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Are you looking for a cosmic vending machine?
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Are you following Jesus simply because you want him to fix your
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health, balance your bank account, or validate your
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cultural views? Or are you looking for the true
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Bread of Heaven? Are you willing to receive a
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king whose Kingdom is completely outside your control?
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That is the real question. Think about the silent lad with
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the barley loaves. We spent a lot of time talking
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about the crowds, the Pharisees, and the disciples.
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But think about that boy. He is easy to overlook.
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He is the only human in this entire narrative who actually
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gets it right. He handed over his entire
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livelihood for the day, his poor man's lunch, without demanding
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an explanation, without trying to start a political revolution,
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and without knowing what would happen.
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He just gave it. And then he completely
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disappeared from the historical record He sought 0 Glory.
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The massive crowd wanted to violently draft Jesus into their
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own selfish agenda, but the boy simply surrendered what little
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he had to the Sovereign Lord. A.
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Beautiful picture. What might happen if you stop
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trying to crown Jesus on your own terms and instead hand over
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your vastly insufficient resources to a king who insists
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on doing the impossible?