In the Gospel of John, Jesus performs seven signs which give hints about who he is and the needs he’s addressing. Note that they’re not called “miracles,” but “signs.” Beyond being extraordinary acts, they’re also messages to us about Jesus, and we’ll visit a different sign each Wednesday in Lent. This week, we’ll take a look at…

Feeding the 5000 (John 6:5-14)

As Passover looms closer, Jesus journeys across the Sea of Galilee with his disciples, and as they travel along the other side, Jesus amasses quite a following. In fact, when Jesus and the disciples sit to rest on a mountainside, they see that 5,000 men (and who knows how many women and children) have followed them.

I love how Jesus immediately shows an impulse to feed the crowd. He doesn’t chide them. “Oh, you didn’t bring a brown bag lunch?” He doesn’t insist they pay for their own meals or go catch an absurd number of fish (which is a miracle in a different gospel anyway). He turns to Philip and issues the challenge of locating bread for the people.

While Philip laments the cost of such a massive meal, Andrew provides the famous five loaves and two fish with the help of a young boy, and in John’s telling, Jesus himself begins to distribute the food among the massive crowd after giving thanks. Seeing Jesus feed the entire crowd with twelve baskets left over, the people begin to speculate about his identity. At this point, Jesus flees before the crowd can declare him a king.

Again, this miracle tells us a lot about Jesus and his relationship with the world. While he displays impressive power in multiplying the meal, he also displays humility in being the one to serve it. I imagine Jesus (having just traveled a great distance himself) going from person to person in the crowd and offering every single one of them fish and bread. This is a savior who is concerned about people’s hunger and gets very personal in addressing it.

This story reminds me of the classic proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Two important things to note here: (1) this is not a biblical saying. While there’s some dispute, it’s usually attributed to Lao Tzu, the founding teacher of Taoism. (2) There’s nothing in the proverb that says you can’t give the man a fish and teach him how to fish. After all, people tend to learn better when they’re not hungry. Growing up, I often heard this proverb used to discourage charity in favor of moral teaching, but not only is this not the proverb’s original context; Jesus’s actions here demonstrate a pretty strong rebuke of that reading.

Here, Jesus gives everyone fish (and bread) with no questions asked. In fact, there’s nothing in the passage to indicate Jesus does any verbal teaching at all here; there is only this sign of bountiful generosity. Jesus is moved by the people’s hunger and acts quickly, kindly, and indiscriminately to ensure everyone in his presence is nourished. That’s the kind of savior Jesus is— one who is moved by people’s hunger and will always act.

Of course, Jesus seeks to satisfy material hunger and spiritual hunger. He wants to address our hunger for food but also our hunger for compassion and connection. Later in this very same chapter, he states, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” This savior seeks to satisfy all.

Next week, as we continue through the seven signs in John, we’ll look at one of the most famous miracles stories: Jesus walking on water…