This story seems to be all about what people can see. It starts with a large crowd following Jesus because they had seen him healing people. “After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.” (John 6: 1-2)
Jesus saw not just the crowd, but their need. “Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?'” (John 6:3-5) And in that need, Jesus saw something else, an opportunity for further training of his disciples. “He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.” (John 6:6)
That in a nutshell captures the heart of this crazy relationship that God wants to have with us. He can do anything at any time. He certainly doesn’t need us, at all. But He not only chooses to love us, He wants to give us life in all its fulness. That means being sons and daughters in His family. Which in turn means that we have a role to play in the family business. God wants to include and involve us in what He is doing. But that is going to involve some training.
In order for us to grow into maturity in serving His purposes, we need to be taught to move from our natural spiritual blindness, bound by unbelief and hardness of heart into the marvellous light of God’s inexhaustible riches and limitless power. Jesus is always looking for opportunities to help His disciples along this journey as it is key, not just for their effectiveness in ministry, but also for their joy in life. It would appear that Jesus has a difficult task ahead of Him and not just with these disciples. Thankfully He is always up to the challenge.
This story is included in all four gospels. John uniquely makes it personal, telling us the names of the disciples that Jesus interacts with, Philip and Andrew, “Simon Peter’s brother”. John also tells us that Jesus turned this into a learning opportunity for His close followers, “He said this to test him.” (John 6:6). This is all part of their training in learning how to access the life Jesus is offering them and John wants us to understand what Jesus is doing and learn from the training opportunity ourselves. And so John carefully recorded what Jesus said to first Philip and then Andrew, so that we can get an insiders view into discipleship with Jesus and what we can expect from Him in our life journeys too.
Jesus brings Philip into the God conversation around what to do next. Jesus already knew what He was going to do, which means that He had already received some sort direction from His Father and the Holy Spirit. He could have just passed that information on to the disciples and worked His miracle. But we also know, from the ending, that Jesus wasn’t doing this to draw attention to Himself. So He asks Philip a question to draw Him out. He frames the question in a way that seems to be leading to the answer that Philip gives Him, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” (John 6:5). Philip, simply answers the question, but in so doing he reveals that he is not seeing what Jesus wants to teach him to see.
Philip saw what Jesus saw, the crowds and even their need. But what He didn’t see was the Jesus that was standing right next to Him. As a result, all He could see was the overwhelming challenge and the impossibility of the situation. “Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.'” (John 6: 7) Philip was concentrating on the details. He had calculated an approximate cost, because he thought that was the question Jesus was asking. But Jesus hadn’t asked “how are we going to pay for all this bread?” He asked “Where are we going to get all this bread from?”. Philip was thinking about the cost. They would need the right amount of money to buy the right amount of food. If one denarii was the usual wage for one day’s labour then he was thinking this would be well over half of a year’s salary. With 5000 men plus women and children, he was probably calculating too low. The only answer he could come up with was a practical, honest but ultimately faithless one. It was reality, if it all comes down to what we can see and experience with our natural senses, but it didn’t factor in the Person who had asked him the question.
Andrew, however, saw something. It was far too little to do anything to solve the problem, but he did see something. We have already understood that John doesn’t introduce us to all the disciples. If he identifies people in his gospel, it is for specific reasons. So far we have learnt that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist who left that ministry, at the Baptist’s encouragement, to find and follow Jesus. His excitement at what he saw when he met Jesus immediately spilled into his family and particularly his brother: “He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means Christ).” (John 1:41) Long before his more famous brother spoke out his own revelation of who Jesus was “you are the Christ the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), which drew a strong word of affirmation from the Saviour, Andrew had already told him the truth.
Andrew now has appeared twice in the gospel and, on both occasions, he has been called “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother” (John 1: 40 & John 6: 8). John the gospel writer obviously feels the need to keep explaining who he is, because the readers probably wouldn’t know, even though he assumes they know who Simon Peter is. John wants us to know Andrew. He did not have the profile, leadership or maybe even grace and anointing of his famous brother, but he was important to God and to the outworking of the gospel story. John wants us to know that long before Simon Peter saw, Andrew knew. He certainly isn’t putting down Peter, he is just letting us know that the less well known people are still vitally important and have key roles to play.
So John lets us know that Andrew could see something beyond the huge challenges of thousands of mouths to feed. He saw a few loaves and fish, even though he had little to no faith that anything could be done with them “but what are they for so many?” (John 6: 9). Why could Andrew see something more hopeful than Philip? Maybe because John the Baptist had begun to teach him to see.
“Behold the lamb of God,” (John 1:29) John had proclaimed to his followers and anyone who had ears to hear. No one else could see the Kingdom of God coming, but John the Baptist did. That particular day was just coming and going like every other day. No one else could see the coming King, but John the Baptist did. The people were just coming and going like every other day.
Jesus just looked like anyone else, but not to those whose eyes were being opened by the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not have the sort of looks that attracted attention: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2b, ESV) But the Holy Spirit opened John the Baptist’s spiritual eyes to see beyond the ordinary appearance, the unnoticeable man, God’s provision for all the wrongs of all mankind everywhere and in every time “who takes away the sin of the world.”
John the Baptist explained that it was the arrival of the Holy Spirit that helped him to see Jesus for who He really is. “I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” (John 1:33).
But then John understood that it was his job to take up what the Holy Spirit had done for him and help open the eyes of others. “And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:34)
Andrew would have been standing by John’s side when he said these things. Andrew was one of those whose eyes had begun to be opened. It was Andrew who helped his brother Simon through the same process, telling him: “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41). Now it is Andrew who can at least see something that this Jesus can work with.
Once we have seen Jesus for who He is, we may still have all sorts of doubts and fears but, by the Holy Spirit and maybe also by the faithful witness of others, we can begin to see small glimmers of hope in the most daunting of circumstances. The presence of Jesus transforms every situation.
The point is, that seeing Jesus’ transformative reality in the problems and stresses of our world is a matter of training. The Holy Spirit trained John the Baptist. John the Baptist trained his disciples. One of those disciples, Andrew, helped Simon Peter to see. Here, Jesus is training His disciples again, but discovering in the process that just as soon as their eyes have been opened, they can quickly stop seeing again. Maybe it is harsh to say that they had stopped seeing, more likely seeing Jesus do miracles and wonders in one situation of their lives wasn’t enough to transfer that new found faith and belief into the next difficult situation they faced.
Both Philip and Andrew had almost certainly seen the incredible miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. The best that came out last, in abundance, in fact probably more than enough. John recorded that, as a result of what they had seen, his disciples “believed in Him” (John 2:11). Yes, they did believe, their eyes had been opened but apparently only as far as the next impossible situation.
It is a strange fact of how we are wired that we can have great faith for certain parts of our lives and ministries and be in doubt and fear about others. We can see Jesus do a great miracle one moment and live the next moment as if He doesn’t do any miracles at all. We lost a lot in the Fall through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, not least of which was that firm, unshakable assurance that not only is God able to do all things and everything to look after us at all times, but that He wants to. We end up concentrating on what we can see, the realities of our world around us rather than focussing on what we cannot see. We have lost our spiritual sight and it leaves us vulnerable to every wind of fear and even despair that blows our way.
Their earthly unbelief and earth-bound view of the world stopped them from seeing the reality of the unseen realm. Jesus wanted to teach them to see beyond. But it appears their unwavering commitment to living within the limitations of the physical world was so deep that it was going to take more than one amazing miracle to crack not just the limited thinking of their minds but what Jesus was to identify as the hardness of their hearts. And so God the Father prepares them another miracle to help them on that journey. To say that God is patient with us is an incredible understatement. To merely say that He is kind is to admit that we are bound by the limitations of our vocabulary as well as our earthly experience from being able to both grasp and articulate how amazing and awesome He is towards us. When Paul says that it His kindness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4), he is using a few words to describe the indescribable; thousands of years of incredible patience and grace with galaxies full of wonderful signs of His love, culminating in the unspeakably generous gift of His own beloved Son, all to break the hardness of our hearts and the smallness of our thinking so that we can learn to know, love and trust Him. Wow! Just WOW!!!!
Why don’t we take a little time to ask the Holy Spirit where we need help in this area. Which parts of our life do we have great faith for and where do we quickly lose faith and fall into fear, unbelief or worse?
“Lord, help us to see Jesus, present and powerful in every situation and circumstance of our lives. Help us to learn to trust You with a steadfast and unshakeable faith. Help us to see You above all the challenges we are faced with, for Your glory and our lasting joy. Amen.”
What do we see? That is an important question. What does Jesus see? That is the real question.
