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The Feeding of 5,000 According to John

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Why did Jesus feed the 5,000?

Each Gospel writer gives a different answer. In this post, I’ll unpack John’s account. I’ll start wide before zooming in on the passage.

The Book

John leaves no doubt about why he wrote his Gospel:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31, ESV)

John’s Gospel records numerous signs and their explanations. Many more signs could have been included, but John chose to report those that best fit his intentions: to show Jesus to be the Messiah (Hebrew for “Christ”), the Son of God, and to help people believe in Jesus and have life.

The Signs

John often refers to the signs generally. “These signs” catalogue a series of events that should lead people to consider Jesus’ identity:

  • “Many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing” (John 2:23).
  • “No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (John 3:2).
  • “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?” (John 7:31)
  • “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true” (John 10:41). [Remember, John spoke of Jesus’ identity as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).]

A few particular events are explicitly called “signs”:

  1. Turning water into wine: “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory” (John 2:11).
  2. Healing an official’s son: “This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee” (John 4:54).
  3. Feeding the 5,000: “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, ‘This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!'” (John 6:14)
  4. Healing a man born blind: “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” (John 9:16)
  5. Raising Lazarus from the dead: “The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign” (John 12:18).

Since these five miracles are labeled as “signs,” we can infer what other “signs” are included in John’s summary statement (John 20:31):

  • Making a lame man walk (John 5:1-9)
  • Walking on water (John 6:16-21)
  • Dying on the cross (John 3:14-15, 10:11, 12:23-36, 19:30-37)
  • Rising from the dead (John 2:18-22, 10:17-18, 20:26-29)

The Gospel of John focuses on these nine signposts and the discussions they generate about Jesus’ identity as God’s Messiah, his only beloved Son. Those who trust in Jesus find the life they’ve been looking for.

The Feeding

So when we read John 6, we should expect the text to explain Jesus’ role as Messiah. Like the other signs, the feeding of the 5,000 shows the way to eternal life. Let’s observe the text and make some connections.

James Cridland (2007), Creative Commons

James Cridland (2007), Creative Commons

A large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick (John 6:2). Passover—the great feast celebrating God’s mighty redemption of his people by substituting a spotless lamb (Ex 12:43-13:10)—was at hand (John 6:4). Salvation was in the air, and Jesus took advantage of the fact.

Jesus tested his disciples but knew exactly what he would do (John 6:5-7), just like God did with the Israelites in the wilderness (Deut 8:1-10).

Of the Gospels, only John mentions the little boy who provided the first five loaves and two fish (John 6:8-9). Many preachers today focus on the boy’s willingness to share his lunch, but the text focuses on Andrew’s disbelief that such scarcity of barley loaves could provide for a multitude. “What are they for so many?” Through Andrew’s words, the narrator sets the scene for an impossible promise to come true (Deut 8:8-9). Jesus is Jehovah-Jireh, the God who will provide.

Jesus directs the people to sit down in green pastures. He makes it so they will not want for food (John 6:10-11). The table has been prepared; goodness and mercy have followed them (Psalm 23:1-6).

Jesus tells his disciples to gather the remaining fragments so nothing may be lost, and the meal’s remnant fills twelve baskets (John 6:12-13). Could this be an echo of the OT prophetic books, where God promises to save a remnant of the twelve tribes of Israel through the hand of his ruler from Bethlehem (for example, Micah 5:1-9)?

Finally, when the people see the sign, they draw conclusions about Jesus’ identity as the Prophet foretold by Moses (John 6:14, Deut 18:15-22).

The Main Point

John goes on to draw further connections between Jesus and Moses, the giver of bread from heaven (John 6:32-33). And he explains the miracle in great detail. Just as Jesus distributes loaves for the life of the hungry crowd, so he will give his flesh for the life of the world (John 6:51).

The point is simple: Jesus is the very Messiah Israel has waited for.

He gives life. He saves. He blesses. He nourishes and comforts. He provides.

But most of all, he dies. For God’s precious people, life comes only when the Passover lamb dies. And of that butchered lamb, the innumerable crowds of the world can eat their fill, as much as they want.

Will you join the feast?

3 Skills to Help You Find the Main Point

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You’re swirling in details. You tried the OIA method of Bible study, and it yielded more observations and more questions than you could handle. You thought you’d dabble in the magic of Bible study, but the spell has taken over, and the water line has exceeded flood stage. You’re tempted to cue “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and drown your exhaustion in a bucket of popcorn.

Don’t lose hope. You’re almost there; you just need to pull it all together and integrate the details into a coherent main point.

Such integration matters because ancient authors didn’t waste space with meaningless details. Every word had a purpose. Every sentence captured an idea. Every paragraph advanced the agenda. And every section had a main point. The accumulation of these points promoted the goal of bringing the audience closer to the Lord. These main points are the ones worth fighting for.

So how do we figure out the main point? I’ll give 3 tips and illustrate them from my recent posts on Proverbs 5.

1. Always ask “why?”

The challenge of interpretation is to move past the “what” to discover the “why” of the passage. Why is this text here? What was the author’s agenda?

Though most Bibles have headings at the beginning of each section (Proverbs 5 in ESV: “Warning Against Adultery”), these headings are usually observation summaries and not interpretive main points. These summaries help when you’re flipping through and trying to find a specific verse, but they don’t always comprise the passage’s meaning. To convert these summary headings to main points, sometimes you only have to ask “why.” For example, “Why does this passage warn us against adultery?”

Similarly, you can take any or all of your observations, ask “why,” and move closer to the main point.

2. Account for the context.

We’ve seen how the book overview places the work in history. This historical context influences our reading of the text and helps us to see the main point. In the case of Proverbs 5, we see Solomon training a new generation of nobility to lead Israel with purity and integrity.

In addition to the historical, two further types of context should guide us.

First, examine the literary context. What was the main point of the previous section of text? How does the author move from that section into this section? What issues lingered at the end of that section, and how does this section address those issues? Because Genesis 1 is the beginning, we have no prior literary context. Instead, this chapter will establish the context for everything that follows. Thus, we should read Genesis 2:4-25 (and following passages) in light of Genesis 1:1-2:3.

Second, examine any intertextual context. That is, use a search engine, cross-references, or list of Old Testament quotations to find other parts of the Bible that quote this section (or are quoted by it), and figure out the connection between them. When God inspired authors to quote other passages, he was showing us how to interpret those passages.

3. Track the author’s flow of thought.

putting_it_all_togetherAsk: How did the author get from the first verse to the last verse? Break the chapter into paragraphs or stanzas, and figure out each paragraph’s/stanza’s main point, which is a sub-point on the author’s agenda. String those points together to see how one paragraph/stanza moves to the next. If you’re still stumped, you can break each paragraph/stanza down into sentences and track the flow from sentence to sentence. Don’t give up; this challenging skill gets easier with practice.

For Proverbs 5, I outlined the flow of thought in my first post:

  • verses 1-6: not all sexual temptation is as good as it seems
  • verses 7-14: the wrong choices have dire consequences
  • verses 15-20: utter unselfishness in the context of marital love is surprisingly intoxicating
  • verses 21-23: those who think they know satisfaction better than God does have sprung their own trap

So, compiling all my observation and interpretation, my final post on Proverbs 5 reached this main point: The wise can see through the culture’s illusion of sexual “freedom.” This main point took me right to Jesus and on to application.

Sexual freedom is truly an illusion. Jesus submitted to the cross and the grave so we could be free of both forever; he proved it by his glorious resurrection. Now we get to image him to the world. Find your freedom in self-denial. Obtain life through your death. Secure satisfaction by serving and satisfying others, especially your spouse.

The wise person sees the culture’s illusions, blasts them with Bible dynamite, and wins others to radically selfless, Christ-like joy, far more exciting than either religious prudishness or enslaving immorality.

Each text has a point. These three skills will help you get there so you can see Jesus and find eternal life in him.

Fight for the Main Point

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The main points of the Bible are the ones worth fighting for. Often, however, Christians disagree over things other than the main points. And while we’re not wrong to draw conclusions about secondary, debatable, or implied points, such conclusions must never drown out the Bible’s main points.

Alex Indigo (2008), Creative Commons

Alex Indigo (2008), Creative Commons

The Pharisees demonstrate the problem. As the fundamentalists of their day, they cared about God’s truth. They wanted to glorify God and live lives pleasing to him. They passionately protected important doctrines, and they went to great lengths to win converts and change the world.

But in the process of remembering good things, they forgot the best things.

They attended Bible studies to improve their lives, but they didn’t embrace Life when God sent him (John 5:39-40).

They promoted God’s moral standards to a degenerate, fallen world, but they plotted harm on the day designed for doing good (Mark 3:1-6).

They put God first over every relationship, but they neglected God’s own wishes for human relationships (Matthew 15:3-6).

Sometimes Jesus condemns them for doing the wrong things, but sometimes he condemns them for neglecting the best things. Consider this judgement in Matthew 23:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! (Matt 23:23-24, ESV)

Notice that they should have continued tithing. They weren’t expected to exercise justice, mercy, or faithfulness instead of giving 10%. They were expected to exercise justice, mercy, and faithfulness in addition to it. They always drank skim milk, but then got caught eating too much ice cream.

Today, we likewise can get distracted from the Bible’s main points. The worst distractions are not bad things but good things. They’re not false teaching but true teaching. They’re not opposed to God’s kingdom but in favor of God’s kingdom. These distractions consist of things that should concern us, but they’re not the only things that should concern us. Nor are they the main things that should concern us. We should reserve plenty of bandwidth for the weightier matters.

For example, we study Genesis 1 and focus our discussion on the length or literalness of the days of creation. We spend so much time on the “what” that we forget to seek the “why,” and we mistakenly believe we know the “why” because we’ve discovered the “what.” We might get the “what” (“What is the length of each day?”), and we should try hard to get the “what.” But we must press on to get the “why” (“Why does the author tell the story of creation as a sequence of 7 days?”). We must not neglect the fact that God’s creative process sets the pattern for our lives on earth (Mark 10:6-9, 2 Cor 4:5-6, Heb 4:1-5). And we must not ignore Jesus—the creator, light, life, word, sustainer, ruler, subduer, multiplier, author of faith, image of the invisible God, and firstborn of all creation.

For another example, we study Hebrews 11 and trumpet the heroes of faith. And rightly so, as the text recounts their lives with much fanfare. But we must not miss the main point. It’s a faith hall of fame and not a works hall of fame. The point is not so much to show the greatness of these heroes as it is to show their smallness. We should fix our gaze on these heroes, but only as long as we keep Jesus in our field of vision. The heroes huddle around us, bearing witness to the real Hero, Jesus (Heb 12:1-2).

Finding a passage’s main point is hard work, but we must fight to get it. And once we’ve got it, we must fight to keep it.

Why Study a Book like Genesis?

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genesis-bibleThe elders of our church just finished a year-and-a-half-long sermon series through the book of Genesis, and I had the privilege of preaching the last sermon.

I titled this final sermon “Why Did We Preach Through Genesis?” and I gave 3 answers:

  1. To build your confidence in the Bible
  2. To build your confidence in the Basics (how to love God, love your neighbor, and make disciples)
  3. To build your confidence in Jesus

Have you doubted whether old books like Genesis are useful to us?  Have you wondered what is the main point of Genesis?  Would you like to understand better how Genesis teaches us about Jesus?

You might enjoy the sermon.  Check it out!

The Greatest Enemy of Application is Insight

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Application happens when we understand the meaning of a Bible passage (i.e. we see Jesus and our need for him) and conform our lives to it.  This conformity to Christ is the great purpose of God from the foundation of the world (Rom 8:29).

But the chief obstacle to vigorous application is insight.  As we gain more insight into the Bible, we become more prone to revel in the insight itself and not in the life-change that ought to result from that insight.

"Debate Sobre" by Secom Bahia (2010), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution License

“Debate Sobre” by Secom Bahia (2010), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution License

For example, have you ever read a verse like Romans 8:29 (which I referenced above) and turned it into a theological debate?  What does this verse mean about the predestination/free will controversy?  Which side is right?  Who has the best insight into what Paul meant by the word “foreknew”?

I’m prone to feel good about myself if I can answer these questions.  I really want to win such debates.  I’ve invested much time fighting my way through them.

But the chief question shouldn’t be whether predestination or free will is right.  The chief question is: How is my life becoming more and more conformed to Christ?  It doesn’t matter which side of the debate I fall on; God’s purpose in my life remains the same.  What must change in order for me to be more like Jesus, so he can have pre-eminence as the first-born?

Insight can get in the way of application in other ways too.  Have you ever felt disappointed after reading the Bible because nothing new and fantastic had occurred to you?

In contrast, have you ever felt the warmth splash over your heart when you see something you’ve never seen before in God’s Word?  Maybe you found an allusion to another Bible passage that wasn’t immediately obvious.  Perhaps a repeated word or idea became clear.  Maybe you felt like you could relate to a Bible character due to some recent experience of your own.  Perhaps you just started to get the hang of this OIA stuff, and you’re amazed at the beauty and joy that results when you can find an author’s main point.

Such insight into the Bible can be invigorating, but don’t let it distract you.  The task isn’t complete until you change.  Keep moving forward into Application.

Jesus warned us of the danger of insight when he used the image of architecture (Matt 7:24-27).  The one who hears the Word, and stops there (possibly rejoicing in his keen insight), is like a foolish builder constructing a beach hut in a hurricane zone.  The wise builder is the one who hears the Word and does it.

What other hindrances to Application can you think of?

The Difference between a Main Point and a Summary

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A main point is not the same thing as a summary.

In Bible study, it’s important to find the author’s main point.  If you miss the main point, you’ve missed the main point.  You’ll get caught up in secondary issues, questionable interpretations, or divisive doctrines.

One of the most difficult struggles for people in learning to study the Bible is to figure out the author’s main point.  It requires them to learn how to think.  They must learn how to ask good questions, and how to get the answers they need.

In addition, it requires them to learn how to figure out why the passage is there.

The most common counterfeit of the main point is the summary.  It’s not all that difficult to read a passage and summarize it.  We do it all the time.  We summarize news articles, blog posts, novels, and movies.

Note, however, that a summary is not a main point.

A summary may be the climax of observation, but it is not the same as interpretation.

A summary captures what was said, but not why it was said.

A summary restates a passage; a main point explains the passage.

Let me give an example.

In Hebrews 7:1-28, the author writes a profound theology of Jesus’ high priesthood.  There’s your summary: “Jesus is a high priest like Melchizedek.”  He contrasts Melchizedek with Aaron.  He engages with a few obscure Old Testament texts.  He provides fodder for our debates on Bible interpretation, the relationship between old and new covenants, and the relevance of the law.

However, he is crystal clear about his main point.  Look at Heb 8:1, ESV:

“Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest…”

The theology serves a purpose.  It ought to inspire hope and confidence.  Those who fear God’s displeasure ought to rest assured in Christ.  Those who presume on God’s graces ought to tremble at their indifference.

The author desires to move his audience to action.  He doesn’t seek to inform their thinking (and then stop there).  He wants to inspire them to set their hope on the only one who can give what he promises.

What does he say?  Jesus is a great high priest, greater even than the Levitical priests.

Why does he say it?  So you might trust him more confidently and draw near to God through him.

Do you see the difference?  Do you see why it’s important to understand the main point (and not just the summary)?  Unless we really hit the main point in Bible study, application remains far off and obscure or disconnected from the text.

The good news is that, once you have a summary of the passage, it’s not complicated to get to the main point.  Just take your summary and ask “Why?”

How to Interpret: Determine the Main Point

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This week I’ll explain the third of 3 steps for interpreting the Bible.

Step three was Determine the Author’s Main Point:

As you answer all your questions, pull them together into a big picture.  Your job is to understand the main thing the author is communicating through the passage (2 Pet 3:15-18).

Most theological disagreements among Christians take place when people focus on things other than the main points of passages.  I’m not saying that theology is bad (in fact, it’s very important).  I’m simply saying that it’s important to focus on the main points of the Bible and not on secondary, questionable, or implied points (Matt 23:23-24).

Here are a few ideas to help you get to the author’s main point:

  • Take note of the author’s flow of thought.  How did he get from the first verse to the last verse?  One way to do this is to break the chapter into paragraphs.  Then determine the main point for each paragraph.  String them together to see what might be the main point of the whole chapter.  If you’re still not sure, you could break it down further into sentences before putting it back together.
  • Outline the essential grammar.  This requires careful observation of the passage.  You can distill narratives to their basic plot structure.  You can outline instructional texts by writing out just the subjects and verbs of each sentence.  Often, noticing the shape of this skeleton helps with identifying the main point.
  • Consider what the passage says about Jesus.  We know he’s the main point of the Bible (John 5:39), so we should expect each section to say something about him.  I believe Luke 24:46-47 provides a helpful template.  Every passage of Scripture reveals Jesus by explaining at least one of the following truths:
    1. The Messiah would suffer (die).
    2. The Messiah would rise from the dead.
    3. We must repent of our sin and be forgiven.
    4. This message (that the Messiah’s death and resurrection make forgiveness possible) must be preached to all nations.
  • Always ask “Why?”  We’re after more than a summary of what the author wrote.  We want to do our best to figure out why he wrote it.

Your analysis of the main point of Luke 2:1-21 might look something like this:

  • verses 1-7: in contrast to the might of Rome, Jesus, the heir of King David, is born into great obscurity.
  • verses 8-14: heavenly soldiers herald his birth to the lowly, not the powerful.  Jesus is not presented as a conquering king, but as a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
  • verses 15-21: the lowly serve the true King by racing, viewing, and testifying.

So far, so good.  We could summarize the passage by calling it “The Birth of Jesus Christ.”  But we must move beyond summarizing to ask why it is here.  What does Luke want to teach us?

I’d suggest something like: God sent Jesus to be born so he might save the lowly and rule them graciously.  This brings him highest glory.

3 Steps for Interpreting the Bible

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Misunderstandings stink. I once got cussed out on the phone because of one.

The guy who did the cussing thought I’d scheduled an event on a certain date in order to purposely exclude him from attending.  Well, he had misunderstood, and I wish he’d asked more questions before jumping to conclusions.

If he’d asked, I could have given more information (for example, I had no idea this fellow was unavailable on the proposed date, and I primarily chose the date to avoid conflicts with other events).

It is possible to misunderstand the Bible, but with careful interpretation it’s also possible to rightly understand it.  God’s Word is a Knowable Word.

Interpretation is the second of three steps in the Bible study process.  We’ve seen why we should interpret the Bible.  We’ve seen two things that will hinder interpretation.  But how do we interpret?

These three steps will help you to interpret any passage of the Bible.

1.  Ask Questions of Your Observations

If you’ve observed well, you’re ready to interpret.

Take your observations and ask questions of them.  Lots of questions.  Tackle those observations from every direction.

Be as inquisitive as possible.  Get better at asking questions, and you’ll get better at interpreting the Bible.

Note that your questions should be about your observations of the text.  Don’t ask just any old questions.  Don’t feel the need to be particularly clever.  Your job is not to innovate, but to uncover.  (Note how the disciples didn’t observe well, and so asked the wrong questions in John 21:22-23.)

2.  Answer the Questions from the Text

Once you’ve asked your questions, answer them.  There’s one critical rule, though: answer questions only if they are answered (explicitly or implicitly) in the text (Prov 30:5-6).

Don’t go on rabbit trails.  Don’t use minor details to make the text say what you want it to say.  Don’t build a whole theology from one verse.  Instead, answer only those questions that are either assumed or addressed in the text.  Let the rest go.

3.  Determine the Author’s Main Point

As you answer all your questions, pull them together into a big picture.  Your job is to understand the main thing the author is communicating through the passage (2 Pet 3:15-18).

Most theological disagreements among Christians take place when people focus on things other than the main points of passages.  I’m not saying that theology is bad (in fact, it’s very important).  I’m simply saying that it’s important to focus on the main points of the Bible and not on secondary, questionable, or implied points (Matt 23:23-24).

Missing the main point means misunderstanding the text.  And misunderstandings stink.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll unpack each of these steps in greater detail.

Which of these steps seems most obvious to you?  Which one is most difficult?

Sometimes the Point is Clear

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Some Biblical authors are very clear about why they wrote their books.  When you study these books, don’t feel the need to be particularly profound.  If you don’t get to the stated point, you’re probably missing something.

  1. Proverbs – to know wisdom, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction, to give prudence, to understand a proverb (Prov 1:1-6).
  2. Luke – to give an orderly account, that we might have certainty concerning the things we have been taught (Luke 1:1-4).
  3. John – so you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and have life in his name (John 20:30-31).
  4. 1 John – so you may know you have life (1 John 5:13).
  5. Jude – to encourage us to contend for the faith (Jude 3).
  6. Revelation – to reveal Jesus Christ and show his servants the things that must soon take place (Rev 1:1).

Please feel free to comment if I missed any.