In this text we again find Jesus seeking solitude in the wilderness. But the crowds follow. Jesus is moved with compassion because the people, " were like sheep without a shepherd" (vs.34). This same text appears in Numbers 27 and is a foreshadow of Messiah and His ministry. "Joshua" is the English version of Jesus' Hebrew name, "Yeshua'" יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēšūă‘): Then Moses said to the Lord, 16 “O Lord, you are the God who gives breath to all creatures. Please appoint a new man as leader for the community. 17 Give them someone who will guide them wherever they go and will lead them into battle, so the community of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” 18 The Lord replied, “Take Joshua son of Nun, who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him. 19 Present him to Eleazar the priest before the whole community, and publicly commission him to lead the people.
Now Messiah has come. Jesus is indeed the Good Shepherd, and teaches us here to minister to physical needs while we are ministering the deeper spiritual need. In John's report of this miracle Jesus gives His Bread of Life discourse to the crowd that was fed. Jesus says three times that He indeed is the Bread of Life.
"Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty... “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him." John 6:35, 53-56
We must feast on Christ if we are to be a blessing to others. Time spent with Jesus is prayer, Bible study, worship, taking communion with the people of God, awareness of walking with Jesus throughout the day... are all ways of feasting on Christ for our life and joy, and that we also may be a source of life and joy to others.
With this miracle, Jesus demonstrates the laws of multiplication that he preached about in Mark 4 where a seed planted in faith produces thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was planted. In the Gospel of John we learn there was a young boy nearby who gave his lunch to the disciples. Perhaps he heard the discussion between Jesus and the disciples when Jesus told them, "you feed the crowd". Contrast the faith of the disciples to that of the little boy who offered the five barley loaves and two fish. The child offered what he had in faith, while the disciples gave nothing because they couldn't find a human solution to the problem. God wants us to come to Him in child-like faith, offering what we have. There is never a gift too small or too meager, given in faith, for Jesus to take and bless in miraculous ways. With the boy's offering of the five loaves and two fish, all the people were fed with an abundance left over. We can only give what we have, it is God that blesses and multiplies. Our simple acts of love, generosity, and faith-sharing can produce an abundant harvest in some one's heart through the work of the Holy Spirit.
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