Wednesday 15th February
Read John 6:5-7
“When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”” (NIVUK)
John, like his ancestors, is a master of the art of narrative. With spare language he manages to craft a scene for us that can be understood easily but also resonates with much that has gone before. Take the question Jesus asks Philip. “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” (v5). Jesus takes the initiative in this looming crisis by asking Philip, the local boy, where ‘we’ are going to get the bread to feed them. He includes the disciples in His question and invites them to consider the solutions. Knowing full well what He intended to do.
This shared burden and seemingly hopeless situation is expressed eloquently by Philip. He can see no way anyone would get more than a bite to eat – the expense alone precludes it. He has failed the test Jesus set him. Could he think outside the square and consider who he was with? He had witnessed miracle after miracle, sign after sign, yet it still did not occur to him to consider Jesus could deliver.
The question echoes another great prophet, and this is where John’s writing is masterful, in Moses. When wandering in the wilderness, and having already consumed manna provided from heaven miraculously, the people grumble about the high carb diet and lack of variety. They complain to Moses, who in turn complains to Yahweh and begs Yahweh to kill him now – there was no escape from this situation. In complaining to Yahweh Moses says “Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’” (Numbers 11:13) (NIVUK). Like Philip, Moses also fails the test, not remembering the prior provision from Yahweh.
John describes an escalating crisis succinctly and clearly and realistically. We can read the narrative and easily grasp what is happening. But underneath, John is simultaneously preparing us for what Jesus ‘was going to do’ (v6). In asking a question so similar to that of Moses stuck in the wilderness providing sustenance for God’s people, He is preparing to reveal to Israel that He is that great provider Himself. He is the manna from heaven.
We may be too quick to accept that Jesus routinely did miracles and that Philip should have known better – without realising that we live our lives all too frequently in ‘earthly’ mode – expecting nothing from God.
