Q1. Involving Disciples

[Paula Price]

Jesus is teaching His disciples what they will need to do and know once He is returned to the Father.  They will be responsible for feeding the needs of the people then, and this was their introduction into how to do it.  Everything they see and hear Jesus do, they in turn will be able to do, but they have to listen and learn and trust and accept Jesus what He is saying and doing first.  They are being trained for discipleship.  Jesus wanted to see how they would handle the task of feeding the crowd.  He wanted to see if they have been paying attention to Him and would they follow His example in what He had been doing and teaching them. The story of the boy's five loaves and two little fish is to show the glory of God and what He will do for those who will trust and obey.  It taught the disciples to depend on God rather than themselves to provide every need.  It confirmed that Jesus is the Savior, the one sent from heaven.  The crowds only wanted to see miracles, but once they witness them, they still did not believe that Jesus was the one they were expecting!!  Even when Jesus told them point blank who He was, they rejected Him and refused to believe.

[Robin46]

Jesus wanted them to realize the impossibility of the task by the disciples own strength. He wanted them to ask and trust in God to help them in their need. 

[Gail McGee]

He asked them to even tho they didn't have enough to feed the 5,000 so that they would have to turn to him for a solution.

[Jonathan Edwards]

Learning on the job.   Christ wanted the Apostles to get involved actually doing ministry.   No fancy school, no long esoteric discourses.   During this miracle,  the Apostles must have been humbled deeply during this.    Five thousand people fed with just five barley loaves and two fish; man's extremity is God's opportunity to a miracle.

The significance of the five loaves and two fish reminds me of an old Gospel hymn "My God can anything and everything!   My God can do everything; He can heal the sick, raise the dead!   My God Can everything!".  We are reminded of Elisha's miracle of the feeding of our hundred men with twenty loaves.   God's word is sure (2 Kings 4:44).  In Christ, we have superabundant graces.  ST Paul dwells on this theme so much in his epistles.  The Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians describe eloquently the power of the Lord Jesus Christ; He is more than a man.   

 

 

 

[Irmela]

John 6:5-9) Why does Jesus try to get the disciples to own the task of feeding the crowds? What is the significance to the story of the boy's five loaves and two little fish?

The crowds had followed them and had listened to His teaching and were possibly hungry by this time. It was as if the crowds were "visiting" Jesus and His disciples, so they were the hosts responsible for feeding them. 

Jesus already knew how the problem would be solved but He 'threw it into the disciples court'. 

I feel that Jesus wants us to realize the importance of making use of that which we have (not always want more or the best) and give that into His hands to use. It might seem so insignificant in man's hands but in God's Hands it is worthy of making a miracle happen. 

The five barley loaves and two fish, were not from a rich man's table, but were the lunch of poor people. In this instance the lunch a mother had probably provided for her boy. In man's eyes enough for a boy but in God's eyes enough to FEED THE CROWD OF THOUSANDS and have some left over. 

Lord help me to give the little I have to You to use to 'feed spiritually' whoever You bring across my path. That they may go home 'filled with spiritual food'.