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On the Feeding of the 5000 · Reformed Thinking

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Usually when you think about a courtroom you you expect a very
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specific rigid sort of dynamic. Right, very formal.
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Yeah, very formal. A judge sits elevated behind a
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heavy wooden bench. A defendant stands trial.
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Physical evidence sits on tables in little plastic bags.
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Witnesses take the stand. One by one they get sworn in and
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they answer questions. It is orderly, it is sequential,
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and the rules are strictly defined.
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Absolutely. But, you know, imagine walking
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into a courtroom where the person on trial is actually the
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judge. That is a wild thought.
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Right, and the defendant is the one who wrote the very law they
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are being accused of breaking. Yeah, and the people hurling the
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accusations are using his own legal code to trump convict him.
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It is a completely upside down, dizzying scenario.
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It really is. That is the precise paradox we
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are looking at today. Welcome to reformed thinking.
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I am thrilled you are joining us.
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Yes, glad you are here with us. If you are listening to this
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right now, you are likely someone who wants to grasp the
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massive theological weight of scripture without getting lost
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in a confusing maze of academic jargon.
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Right, keeping it clear. You want to understand what the
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text says, and you want to do that with absolute clarity.
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So today our mission is to unpack Daryl L Bach's commentary
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on John, chapters 5 and 6. It's a fantastic commentary, by
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the way. It really is.
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We are framing this entire discussion around a single
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massive question. How does someone prove they are
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the author of reality? That is the big one.
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We are going to watch how Jesus defends his divine authority in
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that figurative courtroom, and then how he practically
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demonstrates that same authority over physical lack and the very
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laws of nature. Framing it around that question
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of proving authorship over reality is brilliant because
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that is the core tension of these two chapters.
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But before we look at the specific verses, we should
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establish the theological lens through which we are viewing
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this text as a show rooted in Protestant Reformed theology.
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We hold to the doctrines outline in the Westminster Confession.
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When you read John Five and Six through that lens, 3 massive
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realities just, you know, jump off the page first.
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You see the absolute, unquestionable sovereignty of
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God over all things. Meaning God is in total control
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of both salvation and the physical universe.
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Spot on. Second, you see the singular
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authority of scripture. The Bible is not like a self
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help manual. It is an instrument pointing
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exclusively to Christ. Yes, exclusively.
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And 3rd we see a stark depiction of human inability in
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theological circles. This is called total depravity.
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Which can sound like like a really harsh term.
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It can. Yeah.
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That term can sound intimidating or like we are saying humans are
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as bad as they could possibly be.
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But it actually means that our internal compass is broken,
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right? Apart from divine intervention,
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our natural inclination is to reject God.
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We are going to see that total inability on full display in the
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crowds and the religious leaders Jesus interacts with today.
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That broken compass analogy is perfect.
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It helps us understand why the people in these chapters act the
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way they do. Well, absolutely.
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Oh, and before we jump in, let me stayed a ground rule for this
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deep dive. Right, the rule.
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We're going to let each other finish our thoughts completely
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today, avoiding any interruptions to ensure a clear,
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systematic unpacking of the text.
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I am fully on board with that. It helps keep things organized.
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Perfect. OK, let's unpack this by
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stepping into the tense scene of John chapter 5.
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Jesus is facing severe opposition from the religious
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leaders regarding his authority over the Sabbath.
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Right, the Sabbath healing. Yeah, he has just healed A
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paralyzed man by the the pool of Bethesda on the Fabeth, which
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the religious leaders view as a blatant violation of their laws.
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A. Huge issue for them.
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Huge. And instead of apologizing or
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claiming it was, you know, an emergency exception, Jesus
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responds by claiming an unbreakable unity between his
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work and the Father's work. He double s down.
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He does, he says. My father is working until now,
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and I'm working. He places himself on the same
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level as God the Father, claiming authority over life
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itself. Which was just shocking to hear.
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Totally shocking. He tells them that the rules
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governing humanity do not constrain him because he offered
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those rules. He is the Lord of the Sabbath.
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This claim is what initiates the trial.
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This is the figurative courtroom scene.
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Jesus is standing before the religious establishment and he
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knows they need proof. He knows their legal system
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inside and out. So he decides to play by their
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rules. He really leans directly into
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their legal system to dismantle their accusations.
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In the Old Testament, the legal standard required to establish
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truth in any matter was quite high.
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Very high. Deuteronomy 19.15 demands two or
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three witnesses to confirm any charge.
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You could not just accuse someone and have it stand on
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your word alone. Right, it had to be verified.
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The testimony had to be corroborated.
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Jesus accepts this premise, but utterly overwhelms the
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requirement. Yeah, he is above and beyond.
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He brings not 2, not 3, but 4 distinct, unassailable witnesses
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to the table to testify to His divine connection and authority.
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OK, let's list those out. The first witness he calls is
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John the Baptist. This is a human witness.
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The religious leaders had initially celebrated and sent
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priests to investigate. The second witness is the
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Father's works. These are the miraculous signs
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Jesus is performing, which could only happen by divine approval.
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The physical evidence, basically.
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Absolutely. The third witness is the
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Scripture itself, the very texts these leaders have dedicated
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their lives to studying. Yes.
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And the fourth witness is Moses, the supreme human figure in
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their religious hierarchy. Jesus stacks the deck with the
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highest possible authorities in the Jewish legal and religious
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mind. He builds a case that is legally
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airtight according to their own standards.
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That third witness, he brings up the scripture that creates A
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fascinating contrast in the text.
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It really does. There is a massive divide
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between how Jesus reads Scripture and how his audience
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reads it. The religious leaders think that
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obsessively searching the text will grant them eternal life.
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Think about it like a map. It is as if they are holding a
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map to a hidden treasure and they become obsessed with the
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parchment it is printed on. Oh, that is a great way to put
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it. They study the ink, they
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memorize the folds of the paper, they debate the font used on the
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map, and they believe that simply possessing and analyzing
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this piece of paper makes them rich.
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Right, they miss the point completely.
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They absolutely refuse to look up from the map and travel to
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the destination it is pointing toward.
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They search the Torah, believing the text itself contains eternal
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life. Jesus, however, reads Scripture
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entirely differently. He views it as the revelation of
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a promise, a promise that culminates in Him.
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The map is pointing to a person. The historical context provided
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in box commentary shows how accurate your map analogy is.
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Really. Yeah, the footnote shed
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incredible light on the rabbinic thought of that era.
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For example, Rabbi Hillel, he was a massive figure whose
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teachings are recorded in the Mishnah.
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OK. He taught that if a man has
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gained for himself the words of the law, he has gained for
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himself life in the world to come.
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Wow, just possessing the words yes.
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We see the same mindset in the apocryphal Book of Baruch, which
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states that all who hold fast to the law are appointed to life.
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Interesting. The prevailing belief was that
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the Torah was an end in itself. Jesus flips this entirely on its
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head. He sure does.
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He states that Scriptures true function is to bear witness to
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him. By refusing Jesus, the religious
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leaders are refusing the life the scriptures promise.
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Which is just tragic. It is this brings us to the root
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of their unbelief, Jesus diagnosis their rejection not as
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a lack of sufficient evidence. They had plenty of that.
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Right. They had the miracles.
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They had John the Baptist, they had the texts Jesus diagnosis,
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their own belief as a fundamental lack of love for
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God. In their hearts they seek human
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approval and glory from one another rather than the glory
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that comes from the only God. This is the Westminster
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Confessions view of human depravity in action.
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Broken compass again. Absolutely.
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The mind is darkened, the will is in bondage and without a
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heart supernaturally oriented toward God.
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No amount of logical or miraculous evidence will ever
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convince a person they cannot believe because their desires
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are entirely captive to human praise.
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Here's where it gets really interesting and, frankly, a bit
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shocking. Oh yeah, Jesus concludes his
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defense with A twist ending that must have felt like a physical
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blow to his audience. A total gut punch.
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The religious leaders view Moses as their absolute hero.
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Moses is the Lawgiver. Moses is their advocate.
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Their entire religious identity and their hope for standing
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before God is wrapped up in their allegiance to Moses, and
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Jesus looks right at them and reveals that Moses will actually
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be their accuser before the Father.
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It is a stunning reversal the. Defense attorney they thought
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they had hired is actually the lead prosecutor for the state.
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Great analogy. Jesus explains why because Moses
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wrote about him. He is likely alluding to
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Deuteronomy 18.18 where God promises to raise up a prophet
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like Moses from among the people and demands that the people
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listen to him. Jesus is telling them that
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because they are rejecting the one Moses wrote about, Moses
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himself will stand and condemn their unbelief.
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The way this is written in ancient Greek carries a hidden
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punch too. Oh.
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Really. Tell me about that.
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The commentary analyzes the structure of John 5.46 as a
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second class conditional clause. OK.
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It translates roughly as if you believed Moses you would have
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believed in me. But the grammatical implication
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of this specific Greek structure is heavily sarcastic away.
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Yes, it actually implies if you believed Moses, which we both
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know you do not, then you would have believed in me.
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Oh wow. It is a total exposure of their
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hypocrisy and the text notes that this functions as a classic
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literary open ending. Jesus delivers.
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This devastating critique states that failure to believe Moses
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leads to failure to leave Jesus, and then the discourse simply
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stops. Just dead silence.
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The narrative offers no immediate reaction from the
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Pharisees. The question is left hanging in
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the air. If you are listening to this,
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think about what you would do with that silence.
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Jesus just stops talking. He leaves the reality of their
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condemnation and the identity of their true accuser suspended in
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the silent air of that courtyard.
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So heavy. It forces the original audience
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and it forces you, reading it today, to ponder the truth of
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his words. You have to decide what you are
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going to do with the fact that the entire Old Testament points
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forward to this single man standing before the religious
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elite. Absolutely.
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And with that heavy silence, the text forces us to turn the page.
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We move from this incredibly tense intellectual legal debate
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in Jerusalem to a very different scene in John chapter 6.
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A huge shift geographically and temporally.
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We're going to go a massive shift.
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We move up another to the region of Galilee.
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The text specifically mentions the Sea of Galilee, noting that
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is also known as the Sea of Tiberias.
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That is an interesting historical marker because
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Tiberias was a city founded on the shores of the lake in 8026
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by Herod Antipas, named after the Roman emperor.
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Yes, it grounds the narrative in actual, verifiable history, and
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it also subtly highlights the looming presence of the Roman
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occupation over the Jewish people.
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The timing of this shift is just as critical as the geography.
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John explicitly points out that it is Passover.
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OK, unpack that. In John's Gospel, these temporal
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markers are never accidental. Passover is the defining
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national memory for the Jewish people, right?
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It is not just a holiday, it is their entire identity.
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It commemorates their liberation from slavery in Egypt, the
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leadership of Moses, and the supernatural provision of manna
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in the wilderness. So all those themes are coming
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back up. Absolutely.
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By setting the events of Chapter 6 against the backdrop of
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Passover, John is prepping the reader's theological palette.
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All of those historical themes, Liberation.
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Moses, bread from heaven are about to be activated.
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Wow. This historical backdrop sets
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the stage for everything Jesus is about to do, and it explains
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the fever pitch of the crowd crowding around him.
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Right, because the text tells us a massive crowd is following
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Jesus and we know why. Oh yeah, they are following him
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because of the miraculous healing signs He has been
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performing both back in Jerusalem and here in Galilee.
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The signs were drawing huge numbers.
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They have seen him heal the sick, they've seen him restore
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bodies, and they are drawn to that spectacle.
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They want a front row seat to the supernatural.
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Who wouldn't? So Jesus goes up on a mountain,
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sits down with his disciples, looks up and sees this massive
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throng of humanity coming toward him.
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He decides to initiate a miracle, but he does it in a
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very specific, almost strange way.
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He turns to Philip and asks him a question.
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Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?
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No, wait, hold on. If Philip is just a regular guy,
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why is Jesus putting this massive, impossible logistical
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nightmare on his shoulders? That is a great question.
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Jesus has Peter, He has John, He has these prominent leaders
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among the disciples. Why is 0 in on Philip for this
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particular problem? The text provides a very
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practical geographical reason alongside A deeper theological
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one. OK, practically Philip was a
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local. We know from John 1.44 that
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Philip was from nearby Bethsaida.
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Oh, that makes sense. He would know the local markets,
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the bakeries, and the sheer logistics of acquiring food in
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that specific region. If anyone knew where to buy
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bread, it was Phillip right? However, the text explicitly
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notes that Jesus is asking this to test Phillips faith and his
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understanding. Jesus already knew what he was
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going to do. So it was a setup.
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Well, yes, absolutely a setup. This entire situation is an
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active instruction for the disciples.
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He is pushing Philip to the absolute limit of his human
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resources so that Philip can realize his total inadequacy.
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Jesus is teaching the disciples about who He is by first showing
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them who they are not. Philip's response reveals sheer
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unadulterated panic regarding the financial reality of the
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situation. Complete panic.
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You can almost see him mentally checking his ancient Judean bank
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account. He does the math in his head,
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looks at Jesus and says 200 denarii's worth of bread would
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not be enough for each of them to get a little.
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Let's break down that financial reality so we can feel the
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weight of Phillips panic. A denarius was the standard wage
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for a single day of manual labor. 200 denarii means 200
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days of back breaking work. If we account for a standard 6
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day work week observing the Sabbath, we are talking about
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roughly 33 weeks of Labor. That is massive.
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That is well over half a year salary just to buy enough bread
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so that everyone gets a tiny crumb.
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And this crowd is staggering in size.
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The text mentions 5000 men. In that cultural context, women
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and children were counted separately, meaning the total
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crowd could have easily been up to 20,000 people.
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Which is a whole town, basically the.
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Logistics are entirely impossible.
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Into this impossible situation steps Andrew, who brings forward
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a young man. The details surrounding this
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young man and what he brings are highly significant.
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Tell me more about that. The Greek term used for young
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man is paid. Darian Bach's notes point out
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that this does not necessarily mean a small child, which is
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often how it is depicted in classic Sunday school lessons.
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Right, I always pictured a little kid.
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Most people do, but the Septuagint, the Greek
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translation of the Old Testament, uses the same word
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for Joseph when he was 17 years old and for men of marriageable
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age in the apocryphal literature.
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Oh wow. So this is likely a teenager or
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a young adult and the offering he brings is incredibly meager.
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5 barley loaves and two fish. We really need to highlight the
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specific detail about those barley loaves.
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It is not just about the small amount of food, it is about the
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quality. Yes, the quality is key.
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The commentary brings in a quote from the Jewish philosopher
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Philo, who lived around the same time.
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Philo wrote that barley bread was strictly the bread of the
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poor. He actually described it as food
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fit for irrational animals and needy men.
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It was essentially animal feed. Wheat was the bread of the
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wealthy. Barley was the dirt cheap,
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absolute lowest quality grain you could consume.
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So not only is the quantity pathetic, 5 small lows for
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20,000 people, but the quality is the absolute bottom tier.
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Bringing 5 barley loaves to feed this massive crowd is like
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showing up to a Super Bowl party with 20,000 guests and you
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brought a single half empty bag of generic potato chips.
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It is a visceral image of absolute physical lack.
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It is the perfect canvas for a display of divine sovereignty.
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Yes, it is. The text tells us that Jesus has
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the crowd sit down. He takes the barley loaves, and
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he gives thanks. OK, now this blessing was likely
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the standard Jewish blessing offered before a meal.
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A faithful Jew would say, Blessed are you, O Lord God,
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King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.
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After giving thanks, Jesus distributes as much as the
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people want of both the bread and the fish.
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Notice the contrast. The panic versus the provision.
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Precisely. Philip panicked that 200 days
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wages would only give everyone a tiny crumb.
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Jesus provides until everyone has as much as they desire.
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Wow. There is no lack in the economy
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of God. He takes the animal feet of the
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poor and turns it into a royal feast.
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And then he instructs the disciples to gather up the
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remainder so that nothing is lost.
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They gather the leftovers and they fill exactly 12 baskets
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with the broken pieces of the five barley loaves.
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Right. When we look at this detail, we
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have to ask about the symbols. 12 baskets of leftovers for 12
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disciples. It seems too specific to be a
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coincidence. The commentary suggests that
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this likely points to the 12 tribes of Israel.
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And that makes a lot of sense. It is a symbolic demonstration
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that Jesus is the true provider for the entire nation.
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Just as God provided manna for the 12 tribes in the wilderness
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under Moses, Jesus is providing supernatural sustenance here.
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The Passover connection again. Absolutely.
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But he is not just repeating the miracle of the manna, He is
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surpassing it. How so?
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The manna in the Old Testament rotted if the Israelites trying
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to keep it overnight. Here there is a super abundance
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that remains gathered by the new leadership of the 12 disciples.
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It also strongly connects to Old Testament precedent.
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We see echoes of the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings chapter 4,
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where Elijah miraculously feeds 100 men with 20 loaves of barley
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and they have some leftover. Jesus is doing what Elijah did,
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but on an exponentially larger scale.
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We also see echoes of the Messianic promises in the Psalms
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and the Prophets. Which the crowds would have
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known. Psalm 22 speaks of the afflicted
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eating and being satisfied. Isaiah 55 issues a divine
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invitation. Come everyone who thirsts come
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to the waters, and he who has no money come buy and eat.
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Jesus is visibly, practically fulfilling these massive Old
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Testament promises right in front of them.
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The crowd sees the sign. They eat the bread and they
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reach a conclusion. OK, what do they decide?
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They say this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the
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world. They are referencing that
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precise promise from Deuteronomy 18 about a prophet like Moses.
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They correctly identify Jesus as the coming prophet.
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But then they take a very dangerous turn.
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They completely misunderstand his mission.
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This misunderstanding is rooted in their fleshly desires.
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They experience the supernatural provision and their immediate
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reaction is to seize him by force and make him a political
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king. We have to remember the
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geopolitical tension, the Roman occupation.
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The Jewish people were subjugated, heavily taxed and
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desperate for liberation. They want it out.
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They see a man who can create food out of thin air and they
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immediately calculate his military value.
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That is so true. They want a Messiah who will
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guarantee endless free bread. Fund an army without a supply
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chain problem and overthrow Rome.
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They want physical comfort and political victory.
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But Jesus rejects that. Completely.
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Jesus completely rejects this fleshly political goal.
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He views his kingship through a spiritual lens.
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This moment heavily foreshadows his later trial before Pilate in
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John 18, where Jesus will explicitly state my Kingdom is
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not of this world. Because he refuses to be the
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kind of king they want. He withdraws to the mountain by
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himself. He will not be drafted into
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their political revolution. It is a stunning rejection of
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worldly power by Jesus. The crowd wants to hand him a
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crown and he walks away from it. And that withdrawal sets up the
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5th sign, which takes place later that evening.
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The scene shifts from the mountain to the water.
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The disciples get into a boat and start rowing back toward
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Capernaum. Right.
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The text gives us precise measurements again.
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It says they had rode about 25 or 30 stadia when the winds
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started blowing fiercely. Let's do the math on this storm
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for a second, because it illustrates their total
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helplessness. A stadium is roughly 600 feet.
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The Sea of Galilee is about 12 1/2 miles long and seven miles
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wide at its broadest point. If they have rode 25 to 30
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stadia, that translates to roughly 2 3/4 to 3 1/2 miles out
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onto the water. They're literally right in the
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dead center of the lake. Absolutely trapped.
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They cannot swim to the western shore and they cannot swim to
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the Eastern Shore. They are exhausted, it is pitch
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dark, the sea is raging, and they are trapped.
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And right in the middle of this terrifying isolation, they see
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Jesus walking on the water, approaching the boat.
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It is a display of absolute authority over the forces of
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creation. But this raises an interesting
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issue among theologians. Is this event truly considered
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one of the Johannian signs? OK, unpack that.
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The Gospel of John is structured around these specific public
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signs that point to Jesus's identity.
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But this miracle happened privately, in the dark, with
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only the frightened disciples present as witnesses.
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That is a fascinating point of tension.
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If the goal of a sign in John's Gospel is to publicly testify to
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his authority and validate his claims, how does a private walk
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on a dark lake qualify? That seems to break the pattern.
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The commentary explains a divide among scholars on this issue.
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OK, a scholar named Kostenberger argues that it actually does not
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qualify as a formal sign specifically because of its
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private nature. He views it as an internal
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lesson for the disciples meant to bolster their faith, rather
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than a public declaration to the world.
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I can see that. However, DA Carson offers a
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different perspective that resolves the tension
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beautifully. Parson points out what happens
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the very next day. The crowd on the other side of
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the lake does some deductive reasoning.
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They realized that only one boat had left the shore the night
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before, and they saw the disciples leaving it without
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Jesus. OK, so they do the math.
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Yes, yet when they find Jesus on the other side of the lake the
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next morning, they are baffled. They ask him, Rabbi, when did
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you get here? The private miracle becomes
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public knowledge through their logical deduction.
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The fact that he crossed the sea without a boat validates his
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divine authority over the physical constraints of nature
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to the crowds as well. I love how the logical deduction
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of the crowd turns a private moment into a public validation
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of His sovereignty. It is brilliant.
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When we synthesize all of this, what we see across John 5 and
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John 6 is a brilliant, cohesive progression.
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It answers our central question about how the author of reality
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proves his identity. In chapter 5, Jesus provides A
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rigorous, legally structured verbal defense of his authority.
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He calls 4 distinct witnesses to prove he is equal with the
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Father. Then, in chapter 6, he moves
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from verbal defense to physical demonstration.
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He shows absolute, unquestionable sovereignty over
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physical lack by multiplying the animal feet of the poor into a
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feast, and he shows absolute sovereignty over natural lies by
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walking on top of a raging sea. He is the judge, He is the
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provider, and He is the Lord of creation.
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Looking at this through our reformed theological lens, we
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see a consistent picture of human nature that is frankly
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quite sobering. It really is.
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The crowd in chapter 6 desires A Messiah who acts as a cosmic
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vending machine. They want someone who provides
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physical comfort, economic stability and political victory.
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Right, all the benefits. They want the gifts, but they do
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not want the giver. When Jesus demands spiritual
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submission, when he points to the glory of the Father rather
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than their own temporal satisfaction, they resist him.
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The religious leaders in Chapter 5 resist him because he
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threatens their theological pride and their status.
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The crowds in Chapter 6 resist him because he refuses to cater
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to their physical appetites and their political ambitions.
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Both groups demonstrate a heart that is hostile to the true
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Sovereign Lord. It is a perfect illustration of
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how our internal compass is broken.
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That brings us to a final thought, a question I want to
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leave with you today. In John 5, Jesus looked at the
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most religiously educated people in the country and told them
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that if they truly understood Moses, if they truly understood
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the scriptures they spent their lives memorizing, they would
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recognize him, right? But they missed it because they
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were looking for the wrong thing.
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So the question is, when you open the scriptures today, what
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are you looking for? That is the big question.
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Are you just searching for a life hack?
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A formula for a better life? Much like the crowd wanting an
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endless supply of free bread. Or are you allowing the text to
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do its real work, to confront you, to dismantle your
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expectations, and to bring you face to face with the absolute
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sovereign authority of the Son of God?
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Amen. It is something to think about
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the next time you find yourself standing in that courtroom.
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Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into reformed
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thinking. We will see you next time.