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JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE
TUESDAY, JUNE 10
John 6:3-14

Psalm 23

 

“And they did all eat,

and were filled.”

 

JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE
 
The feeding of the 5,000 is perhaps the best known miracle of Jesus. It is found in all the four Gospels.
 
The miracle of feeding the 5,000 with just five loaves of bread and two fishes reveals Jesus as the Moses-like Prophet of Deutoronomy 18:15. After Jesus performed that miracle, His disciples declared, “This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.” How did they come to this conclusion? The similarity obviously lies in the bread. Israel ate manna under Moses. Jesus then fed the people with miracle bread. It was thus not difficult to link Jesus to Moses. Jesus is really the greater Moses. He is the true Manna from heaven (cf. John 6:22-59).
 
This miracle of mass feeding cannot be explained away naturally or rationally. It was supernatural. Modernists say that the miracle was not in the feeding of so many with so few, but in selfish hearts turned generous because of the sacrificial giving of the little boy. Such an explanation seems clever but comes from a faithless heart. The text clearly tells us that all the people ate as much as they wanted from the same five loaves and two fishes which Jesus kept breaking and distributing. From just five loaves and two fishes, more than 5,000 were satiated. Besides, there were 12 baskets full of leftovers from the original loaves and fishes.
 
This account also teaches us at least two important practical lessons. First, it teaches us to pray before we eat. Jesus clearly taught this by example. He looked up to heaven and gave thanks for the food. We pray for God to give us each day our daily bread, and when He graciously provides we must not forget to thank Him. One secret to good health is to eat worshipfully with a grateful and thankful heart. God blesses the food when we thank Him for it, and sustains our physical health for His service.
 
Second, it teaches us not to waste food. Gather whatever food is left over so that nothing be lost. Frugality is a virtue God Himself practises. “It is a sin to waste. Every grain of rice on your plate should be eaten! God is an Economist. And economy is the mother of prosperity.”
 
THOUGHT: God is an Economist. Am I?

PRAYER: Father, help me to be thrifty, not stingy.

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