Jesus feeds the five thousand
As we begin chapter 6 with our reading today (John 6:1-15), we are alerted to the fact that the Passover is near. Throughout this chapter this Passover theme will be dominant – John wants the readers to connect what we're reading here with the time God liberated the Israelites from Egypt and led them through the wilderness to the promised land. There are obvious connections with the bread in this story and the manna from heaven in Exodus 16.
The gathered crowd are hungry and the disciples, Philip and Andrew, don't know what to do about it.
'Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?'
John 6:8-9 [NIV]
There's lots we can take from this famous story told in all four gospels, but today perhaps we can think about what Andrew does. How often are we in a situation where we don't know what to do? The starting point is always to bring what we have to Jesus. We won't know what he's going to do with it, but part of being a Christian means we expect that he will do something we hadn't thought of, something new and creative!
The Collect of the day:
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit;
and, as you know our weakness,
so may we know your power to save;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Emma Higgins
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