2/07/23 - John 6:1-13

 John 6:1-13

Observation:

Jesus travelled to the shores of the Sea of Galilee and was followed by a great number of people who sought out Jesus to heal them. Jesus went up the mountain and met with his disciples. As the Passover festival was near Jesus brought up and asked Philip on where they could buy bread to feed the people. Even though Jesus already knew the answer to this question, Philip's response was pessimistic as Philip brought up the fact that it would take a half a year's wage in order to buy enough bread for mass. Andrew informed Jesus and the group that a boy has five small loaves of bread and two small fish. Jesus would then instruct his disciples to tell the mass to sit down. Jesus took the loaves of bread, gave thanks (prayed) and started handing out the bread and fish to the people who were seated without any restrictions. Once everyones' stomachs were full, Jesus instructed his disciples to not let anything go to waste and gather all the leftover pieces. The disciples gathered twelve baskets full of the leftover loaves that were eaten. 

Interpretation:

One great thing about this miraculous passage is that all 4 gospels recorded this in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Each had their own testimony while witnessing everything taking place. One side note that I realized is that only Mark was the one who did not state that Jesus healed the sick; instead Mark said Jesus taught the people. Jesus and the disciples attempted to travel to a location to be more in a solitude state however word got around of their location and the people flocked in the thousands to them. John mentions that the Passover was near which very well may explain the mass as there were five thousand people according to what was written. Jesus then used this moment to test and teach his disciples on how they viewed Jesus and where their faith lied. Philip's response would be a similar response majority of us would give as our hindsight would only be seeing what's in front of us. Philip's response only broke down the situation further as opposed to helping provide a solution for it. Andrew then offers some help by stating a boy has some loaves of bread along with two fish. Even though it was a small solution, regardless how small or large the solution is, it does not matter when it comes to God or Jesus in this case. Imagine trying to feed five thousand people and picture yourself as the lone person to come up with the solution and ultimately responsible on feeding five thousand people. Majority of us would panic but here Jesus did not panic in fact he wanted the entire mass to sit down. Jesus was not in any hurry, and he even gave thanks to the loaves of bread and the fish before handing them out to the multitude of people. While feeding the entire mass, Jesus not only made sure they were fed but he also made sure they were full in reference to "as much as they wanted." This showed Jesus's generosity towards the people and at the end Jesus did not want anything to go to waste and made sure the disciples picked up all the remaining fragments so that nothing was lost. This volume about Jesus as He never leaves behind his sheep for instance, if one sheep got lost out of a thousand, Jesus would make sure to go find that 1 sheep.

Personal Reflection:

I can honestly say I'm the same way Philip is when I'm presented certain problems, issues, worries, etc. I can easily break down the problem and further exacerbate them by presenting even more problems to the already existing one. For instance, if someone presented to me that we need to open up a new restaurant, I would be able to list out all the materials that we would need eventually calculating on how much we would need to have in order for us to successfully open up a restaurant and survive. It's a good analytic tool to have but it lacks faith because questions like "how much do we have" or "how are we going to be able to fund this" typically will arise leaving little to no hope on doing what we need or want. Even right now, Jiyoon and I are trying to buy a bigger home for our kids but we're stuck because of lack of funds. We're trying to stay faithful but it's been tough especially for Jiyoon. Due to Jiyoon being a young Christian or even a baby Christian, she tends to lose sight on God and will fall into the trap of losing faith eventually leading to her contemplating on how are "we" going to buy a home instead of having faith and trust God. Here is this passage, I'm quite confident Philip was asking "how on earth is God going to feed five thousand people when we don't have enough?" Philip was being short sighted and limited God's power. Right now, as much as I'm trying my best to trust God, I admittingly am doing the same thing Philip did. I don't have enough in savings but how are we going to be able to afford a home in this state of economy in one of the most expensive places to live in the United States? It just shows where my faith is and I honestly need to do a better job on it.

Application:

Continuing where I left off, not only do I need to do a better job on being faithful but I need to really sit down and commit myself to God by consistently doing the quiet time and committing that time to God no matter what. God was able to show calmness throughout the entire problem that was presented to him and I need to do the same. Not saying that I will be able to nor am I stating that I am God but I want to strive to be like Him so that I can be a prime example to Jiyoon that no matter the situation, through my faith and trust in God, we will be able to overcome it. One other note that I need to remember is that when God provides, He provides with generosity. There are times when God provided more than what I actually needed. Like in the passage, God not only gave enough food but also gave them as much as they wanted. That is incredibly reassuring and I need to remember that when God provides, He truly provides and then some.