WEBVTT 00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:20.539 You've heard it all your life. Jesus fed 5 ,000 00:00:20.539 --> 00:00:23.699 with a boy's lunch. Sweet story for Sunday school, 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:25.839 a miracle about food, but what if I told you 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:29.199 this sign was never about the bread? John tells 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:31.640 us the crowd ate until they were full, but then 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:34.820 Jesus turned around and said, Unless you eat 00:00:34.820 --> 00:00:38.159 my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:42.479 in you. That's not potluck talk. That's a scandal. 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:45.640 It's the kind of sermon that clears a sanctuary. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:49.659 So here's the rub. Jesus doesn't come to be your 00:00:49.659 --> 00:00:53.000 bread king. Handing out happy meals on demand. 00:00:53.140 --> 00:00:56.640 He comes to break the math of scarcity. To wreck 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:59.759 the way we count what's enough. To offer not 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:02.799 crumbs, but his very life. This is not about 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:06.219 bread. It's about the lamb of Passover. The bread 00:01:06.219 --> 00:01:10.280 of heaven. And why your hunger runs deeper than 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.200 your stomach. I'll see you on the other side. 00:01:19.790 --> 00:01:22.510 We're looking at the signs of John, and today 00:01:22.510 --> 00:01:25.709 is no exception. Again, really quickly in the 00:01:25.709 --> 00:01:29.989 book of John, we find within it what scholars 00:01:29.989 --> 00:01:31.969 call the book of signs. There are these seven 00:01:31.969 --> 00:01:34.849 things that John lays out that are evidence that 00:01:34.849 --> 00:01:38.230 is supernatural in John's opinion and in mine, 00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:42.549 that John presents to you, the reader, that proves 00:01:42.549 --> 00:01:45.769 that Jesus is who he says he was, the Messiah, 00:01:46.090 --> 00:01:50.379 the coming of God in the flesh. And so he puts 00:01:50.379 --> 00:01:53.060 these things together that in his life, as his 00:01:53.060 --> 00:01:56.760 white eyewitness account might attest to, these 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:59.560 are things I saw and witnessed with my own eyes 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:02.939 that should prove to you that Jesus is who he 00:02:02.939 --> 00:02:05.040 says he is because it certainly proves it to 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:07.739 me. And we're going to look at one of these. 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:09.879 Today we're going to look at the feeding of the 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:14.340 5 ,000 and let us set the scene. We're going 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:18.460 to try to put ourselves there on that. hillside 00:02:18.460 --> 00:02:22.939 when Jesus performs this miracle and try to put 00:02:22.939 --> 00:02:27.319 in our minds what exactly is going on in the 00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:33.659 story. So, you've been walking all day. The heat 00:02:33.659 --> 00:02:37.439 sits on your shoulders like a sleeping dog. Road 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:39.780 dust clings to your ankles and sneaks between 00:02:39.780 --> 00:02:43.389 your toes. Your tongue sticks to the roof of 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:46.250 your mouth. Across the slope, you can smell the 00:02:46.250 --> 00:02:50.189 lake, a faint, cool note. And on the wind, you 00:02:50.189 --> 00:02:54.389 catch the smell of the salt of dried fish, the 00:02:54.389 --> 00:02:59.050 warm, nutty scent of barley, the sweat of people 00:02:59.050 --> 00:03:01.610 who've walked a lot farther than they had planned 00:03:01.610 --> 00:03:06.710 because hope somehow pulled them along. You didn't 00:03:06.710 --> 00:03:10.509 pack a lunch. You weren't even thinking about 00:03:10.509 --> 00:03:14.349 lunch. Somebody said he was healing the sick. 00:03:15.389 --> 00:03:18.389 Somebody said he spoke to a storm and the water 00:03:18.389 --> 00:03:21.270 flattened out like a sheet on a clothesline. 00:03:23.409 --> 00:03:26.110 Somebody said a little girl is dead and isn't 00:03:26.110 --> 00:03:31.750 dead anymore. So you came. You came because your 00:03:31.750 --> 00:03:35.990 body aches and your mind won't rest. Because 00:03:35.990 --> 00:03:39.009 your boy needs a future that you can't buy him. 00:03:40.009 --> 00:03:43.129 You came because there is a hunger deeper than 00:03:43.129 --> 00:03:47.150 bread. And you want to know if that man can touch 00:03:47.150 --> 00:03:53.849 that place. The hillside keeps filling. Fishermen 00:03:53.849 --> 00:03:57.830 with hands like ropes. Women with babies bound 00:03:57.830 --> 00:04:00.590 tight to their chests. Boys chasing each other 00:04:00.590 --> 00:04:02.849 through the grass. Fathers counting coins they 00:04:02.849 --> 00:04:06.689 don't have. Widows in rough shawls, older men 00:04:06.689 --> 00:04:09.990 leaning on walking sticks as polished as river 00:04:09.990 --> 00:04:14.710 stones. Some look curious. Some look desperate. 00:04:15.990 --> 00:04:19.269 Some look like they're trying not to hope too 00:04:19.269 --> 00:04:24.730 hard because disappointment is expensive. And 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:28.129 up the hill a little ways, the rabbi sits with 00:04:28.129 --> 00:04:31.600 his disciples encircling him. He scans the crowd, 00:04:31.740 --> 00:04:34.100 not like a shepherd counting sheep, but like 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:39.060 a father memorizing faces. He doesn't see a mob. 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:43.220 He sees names. He doesn't see numbers. He hears 00:04:43.220 --> 00:04:49.860 stories. He looks at the sun, at the hour, and 00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:54.319 he looks at your empty hands. Then he turns to 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:57.620 one of his men, Philip, and asks a question. 00:04:58.300 --> 00:05:01.139 that hangs thick in the afternoon where are we 00:05:01.139 --> 00:05:06.399 to buy bread so that these people may eat philip's 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:10.680 eyes go wide like he's been asked to lasso the 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:14.620 moon you can almost hear the math clacking in 00:05:14.620 --> 00:05:22.300 his head 200 denarii eight months wages 200 wouldn't 00:05:22.300 --> 00:05:26.740 be enough to give everybody even a little The 00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:31.939 scarcity is loud. Scarcity always is. It knows 00:05:31.939 --> 00:05:35.620 the price of everything and the value of very 00:05:35.620 --> 00:05:39.240 little. Andrew clears his throat. There's a boy 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:43.639 here, he says, with five barley loaves, two fish. 00:05:44.540 --> 00:05:47.639 He shrugs at his own words like he's embarrassed 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:54.519 by them. But what are they, he says, for so many? 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:00.319 And there it is, the human sentence, the one 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:04.399 that follows us from garden to grave. What are 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:09.860 they for so many? What is my little against the 00:06:09.860 --> 00:06:14.079 world's need? What is one small lunch against 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:18.560 5 ,000 growling stomachs? What is one small life 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:22.889 against the ache of a thousand sorrows? The boy 00:06:22.889 --> 00:06:25.790 looks down at his bundle, rough barley rounds, 00:06:26.050 --> 00:06:29.189 the bread of the poor, two little fish, probably 00:06:29.189 --> 00:06:32.550 dried and salted. They're really more like garnish 00:06:32.550 --> 00:06:36.110 than they are an entree. And he looks up at Jesus, 00:06:36.129 --> 00:06:40.490 and Jesus smiles, the kind of smile that says, 00:06:40.750 --> 00:06:45.910 I already know what I'm going to do. Before we 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:48.689 read, tune your ears like you're tuning a guitar 00:06:48.689 --> 00:06:52.459 in a quiet room. Don't just hear bread, hear 00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:57.480 Exodus bread. Don't just see a crowd, see Israel 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:02.740 in the wilderness. Don't just see a rabbi, see 00:07:02.740 --> 00:07:06.120 the lamb at Passover and the bread of life in 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:10.480 his hands. John tells you this season on purpose. 00:07:11.899 --> 00:07:17.579 So listen hungry, because you are. John chapter 00:07:17.579 --> 00:07:21.360 6, beginning with verse 1. After this, Jesus 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:23.560 went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:27.720 which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:30.100 was following him because they saw the signs 00:07:30.100 --> 00:07:33.279 that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:35.480 on the mountain, and there he sat down with his 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:39.379 disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the 00:07:39.379 --> 00:07:43.339 Jews, was at hand. Put a pin in that. Lifting 00:07:43.339 --> 00:07:46.420 up his eyes then, and seeing that large crowd 00:07:46.420 --> 00:07:49.279 was coming, Toward him, Jesus said to Philip, 00:07:49.379 --> 00:07:52.019 Where are we to buy bread so that these people 00:07:52.019 --> 00:07:56.480 may eat? He said this to test them, for he himself 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:00.279 knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:03.259 hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough 00:08:03.259 --> 00:08:07.120 for each of them to get even a little. One of 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:09.800 his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, 00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:12.420 said to him, There's a boy here who has five 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:15.199 barley loaves and two fish, but what are they 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:20.199 for so many? So the men sat down, about 5 ,000 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:23.819 in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when 00:08:23.819 --> 00:08:27.899 he had given thanks, he distributed them, put 00:08:27.899 --> 00:08:32.679 a pin in that, to those who were seated. So also 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:38.179 the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:40.360 had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:43.080 gather up the leftover fragments that nothing 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:46.580 may be lost. So they gathered them up and filled 00:08:46.580 --> 00:08:51.379 12 baskets with the fragments from the five barley 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:54.600 loaves left by those who had eaten. When the 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:57.960 people saw the sign that had been done, they 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:01.019 said, this is indeed the prophet who's coming 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:06.639 to the world. And thus ends. Reading of the word, 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:13.299 my friends. Passover, but in Galilee. John is 00:09:13.299 --> 00:09:16.860 not giving you a date stamp here. He's giving 00:09:16.860 --> 00:09:21.299 you a decoder ring. John 6 and 4 in our story 00:09:21.299 --> 00:09:27.000 says, now the Passover was at hand. Passover 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:31.840 means Exodus. Passover means lamb's blood on 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.090 doorposts. The angel of death. Passing over. 00:09:35.269 --> 00:09:38.509 Passover means the Red Sea split like a curtain. 00:09:38.629 --> 00:09:42.230 The slaves walking out as free people. Passover 00:09:42.230 --> 00:09:47.350 means wilderness hunger and heaven's bread. But 00:09:47.350 --> 00:09:51.590 we're not in Jerusalem. There's no temple smoke 00:09:51.590 --> 00:09:55.690 curling in the sky. No lambs bleeding in the 00:09:55.690 --> 00:09:58.830 courtyards. No crowded upper rooms smelling of 00:09:58.830 --> 00:10:02.850 bitter herbs and roasted meat. This is Galilee. 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:08.179 This is out in the sticks where fishermen mend 00:10:08.179 --> 00:10:11.679 nets and children run barefoot. Mamas carry babies 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:16.019 on their hips. This is in every way the old maps 00:10:16.019 --> 00:10:21.799 could possibly tell it outside. And that's actually 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:27.259 the point. John wants you to know deliverance 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:31.940 is on the loose. The things that used to require 00:10:31.940 --> 00:10:37.169 a trip. To the holy city. And the sacrifice at 00:10:37.169 --> 00:10:40.590 that altar are walking around the countryside 00:10:40.590 --> 00:10:46.970 in dusty sandals. The lamb is not waiting politely 00:10:46.970 --> 00:10:51.990 in Jerusalem. The lamb is setting a table in 00:10:51.990 --> 00:10:57.309 the wild. The exodus is happening on grass, not 00:10:57.309 --> 00:11:02.149 marble. The feast is spreading. On a hillside, 00:11:02.149 --> 00:11:07.730 not a palace floor. So hold that Passover frame 00:11:07.730 --> 00:11:12.289 in your hands and watch this story unfold. Lamb, 00:11:12.429 --> 00:11:15.509 liberation, wilderness, bread. John mentions 00:11:15.509 --> 00:11:19.669 it here so that every bite taken on the hillside 00:11:19.669 --> 00:11:24.909 will taste to you like Exodus. The disciples 00:11:24.909 --> 00:11:29.549 carry clipboards in their heads. Philip counting 00:11:29.549 --> 00:11:33.210 calories and cost, 200 denarii wouldn't be enough. 00:11:33.470 --> 00:11:36.970 And you know what? He isn't wrong. He's just 00:11:36.970 --> 00:11:39.470 stuck in the world where you only get what you 00:11:39.470 --> 00:11:43.029 pay for. Andrew notices a boy. There's a boy 00:11:43.029 --> 00:11:46.809 here. Bless him for that line, right? The boy's 00:11:46.809 --> 00:11:49.490 not a metaphor. He is not a sermon illustration 00:11:49.490 --> 00:11:53.830 in sandals. He is a human child whose mama packed 00:11:53.830 --> 00:11:56.629 his lunch because mamas do that kind of holy, 00:11:56.769 --> 00:12:00.759 ordinary thing. Five barley loaves, the poor 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:05.399 man's bread, coarse and humble. Two fish, likely 00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:10.059 small, dried, salted, not much. But it is what 00:12:10.059 --> 00:12:15.019 the boy has. Andrew keeps talking, but what are 00:12:15.019 --> 00:12:19.940 they for so many? And you can almost see the 00:12:19.940 --> 00:12:23.960 boy's fingers tighten on the bundle. Not because 00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:26.200 he doesn't want to share, but because he's learned 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:30.000 the math of the world. Small things don't matter, 00:12:30.139 --> 00:12:35.919 except in the kingdom of God, small is the doorway. 00:12:36.580 --> 00:12:41.500 Little becomes large. Not enough becomes more 00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:46.179 than enough. The kingdom always starts as a mustard 00:12:46.179 --> 00:12:50.799 seed, a pinch of yeast, a widow's mite, a lunch 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:54.980 pail in a child's hand. That's gospel arithmetic. 00:12:57.149 --> 00:13:02.429 In Jesus' hands, scarcity loosens, sufficiency 00:13:02.429 --> 00:13:07.029 rises, and abundancy spills over the sides of 00:13:07.029 --> 00:13:10.009 the baskets that we could never believe could 00:13:10.009 --> 00:13:13.850 have been full in the first place. Let me say 00:13:13.850 --> 00:13:16.269 it plain for the folks in the back. There is 00:13:16.269 --> 00:13:19.730 a world of difference between what we've got 00:13:19.730 --> 00:13:25.740 and what God can do with what we've got. The 00:13:25.740 --> 00:13:27.820 first is a budget. The second is a blessing. 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:32.879 The first is a ledger. The second is life. So 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:37.000 Jesus says, have the people sit down. Soft command. 00:13:37.139 --> 00:13:40.799 Sit down in the grass. Stop hustling. Stop counting. 00:13:40.940 --> 00:13:43.759 Stop trying to solve what grace intends to give 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:48.519 you. Sit down, saints and sinners alike, because 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:51.860 the kingdom is not a drive -thru. It's a table. 00:13:53.450 --> 00:13:58.990 John wants our ears to be tuned to that old wilderness 00:13:58.990 --> 00:14:03.750 song. In a few verses, the crowd themselves will 00:14:03.750 --> 00:14:09.370 quote it. Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness 00:14:09.370 --> 00:14:13.610 as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven 00:14:13.610 --> 00:14:18.590 to eat. People of Israel remembered manna, that 00:14:18.590 --> 00:14:23.340 morning bread, like pearls. Exodus 16 and 4 says, 00:14:23.460 --> 00:14:25.720 Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven 00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:29.720 for you. A few verses later, Exodus says, They 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:32.840 said to one another, What is it? They did not 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:36.720 know what it was. The 78th Psalm says, He commanded 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.600 the skies above. He rained down on them manna 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:44.379 to eat. Man ate the bread of angels. Keep that 00:14:44.379 --> 00:14:47.740 music playing beneath this hillside scene because 00:14:47.740 --> 00:14:51.980 John says Passover and your heart, again, should 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:57.279 always answer Exodus. Here they are again, a 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:01.539 people far from the city walls, hands open, stomachs 00:15:01.539 --> 00:15:05.419 empty, a wilderness of need stretching out into 00:15:05.419 --> 00:15:09.720 the horizon. And here he is again, the God who 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:14.690 feeds people where they are. But remember the 00:15:14.690 --> 00:15:19.250 old truth. The manna was enough for the day. 00:15:20.149 --> 00:15:24.590 If you tried to hoard it, it turned sour. The 00:15:24.590 --> 00:15:28.730 Israelites ate and lived, but they died in the 00:15:28.730 --> 00:15:34.250 wilderness too. So Jesus will say later in this 00:15:34.250 --> 00:15:38.490 very chapter, laying the old and new bread side 00:15:38.490 --> 00:15:43.870 by side. Jesus says, your fathers ate the manna 00:15:43.870 --> 00:15:47.470 in the wilderness and they died. Then he points 00:15:47.470 --> 00:15:53.769 to himself. He says, this is the bread that comes 00:15:53.769 --> 00:15:57.070 down from heaven so that one may eat of it and 00:15:57.070 --> 00:16:03.429 not die. I, he says, I am the living bread that 00:16:03.429 --> 00:16:07.149 came down from heaven. Anyone eats of this bread, 00:16:07.370 --> 00:16:13.039 he will live forever. Can you hear perhaps what 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:17.340 John is doing? He's not just talking about a 00:16:17.340 --> 00:16:23.039 miracle meal. He's actually declaring a new exodus. 00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:28.019 The old bread was real, but that was a rehearsal. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:34.179 The real show is Jesus. The old bread could hold 00:16:34.179 --> 00:16:39.159 off hunger until sundown. This bread holds off 00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:48.090 death. Verse 11 is a four -beat drum. Took, gave 00:16:48.090 --> 00:16:52.250 thanks, distributed. We know from the synoptics, 00:16:52.309 --> 00:16:56.929 broke that bread. That's the same shape of the 00:16:56.929 --> 00:17:03.730 supper. Matthew, Mark, Luke, I always say, is 00:17:03.730 --> 00:17:06.230 told in the first three Gospels, as well as the 00:17:06.230 --> 00:17:07.829 Apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthian 00:17:07.829 --> 00:17:10.690 church when I do the words of institution. Matthew, 00:17:10.710 --> 00:17:13.990 Mark, Luke talk about what happens in that upper 00:17:13.990 --> 00:17:15.990 room. John does too. I'm going to get to this 00:17:15.990 --> 00:17:17.849 in a minute, but he doesn't talk about the communion 00:17:17.849 --> 00:17:22.549 part. It's interesting. But I think he does. 00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:26.089 Stick with me. John leaves the table silent. 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:30.089 And instead, in his version of what happens in 00:17:30.089 --> 00:17:33.250 the upper room, John leans into Jesus kneeling 00:17:33.250 --> 00:17:37.119 to wash the disciples' feet. It's not because 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.940 John had forgotten what took place at the meal 00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:44.720 and its importance. It's because John places 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:50.920 the meal here in this story. Listen to the verbs 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:54.319 again from our passage today. See if they don't 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:59.220 sound familiar. Jesus then took the loaves, and 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:03.380 when he had given thanks, he distributed or broke 00:18:03.380 --> 00:18:10.049 them. Same language as the upper room. That's 00:18:10.049 --> 00:18:14.309 not by accident. That is on purpose. John is 00:18:14.309 --> 00:18:17.089 written in the 90s, the first century, not the 00:18:17.089 --> 00:18:22.289 1990s, the 90s, right? John knows about these 00:18:22.289 --> 00:18:25.470 other gospel accounts. John knows that they all 00:18:25.470 --> 00:18:27.470 talk about the upper room and about the bread 00:18:27.470 --> 00:18:30.869 and the cup. And it's not like John doesn't believe 00:18:30.869 --> 00:18:33.769 in it. John says, you already got that covered. 00:18:33.849 --> 00:18:36.329 Let me tell you something else that is important 00:18:36.329 --> 00:18:38.630 about what happened that night. And he explains 00:18:38.630 --> 00:18:42.250 the washing of the feet. But Jesus establishing 00:18:42.250 --> 00:18:46.130 the new Exodus covenant where he becomes the 00:18:46.130 --> 00:18:49.410 new sacrifice, the bread and the cup. This isn't 00:18:49.410 --> 00:18:52.430 lost on John. John wants to tell you that story 00:18:52.430 --> 00:18:55.150 as well. But when he tells it, he's actually 00:18:55.150 --> 00:18:59.269 telling it in this way, calling back to the wilderness 00:18:59.269 --> 00:19:04.200 in the Exodus. See how he's doing it? I hope. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:06.140 We'll see how we get there when we get there. 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.180 In John's upper room, it preaches a different 00:19:10.180 --> 00:19:13.180 key, the basin and the towel, dirty heels, clean 00:19:13.180 --> 00:19:17.000 hearts, the master on his knees. If you will 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:20.819 eat me, you must also embody me, though, he says. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:25.980 The meal serves as servanthood. The table means 00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:28.880 towel. The bread of life means the way of love. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:33.740 Now, after they've eaten the feast, there is 00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:36.759 a line in scripture that I wish we could tattoo 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:42.660 on our hearts. Gather up the leftover fragments 00:19:42.660 --> 00:19:49.279 that nothing may be lost. If you or I multiplied 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:54.180 bread out of thin air, we might tell the disciples, 00:19:54.339 --> 00:19:57.039 kick the crumbs into the grass. We can always 00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:02.279 make more. I just did it. Not Jesus. He insists 00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:05.839 that they gather the fragments. The Greek word 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:10.519 for fragments is the same word used for the pieces 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:13.960 of bread after the breaking at the table. He 00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:16.779 gave the pieces, the fragments. Same word here 00:20:16.779 --> 00:20:20.680 is used. Again, John is tying these two things 00:20:20.680 --> 00:20:26.460 together. Because the pieces matter to him. The 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:30.930 leftovers to Jesus matter. The things that the 00:20:30.930 --> 00:20:36.769 world calls waste are to Jesus' witness. And 00:20:36.769 --> 00:20:41.630 they gather 12 baskets full. Bring that truth 00:20:41.630 --> 00:20:45.849 near your own story. There are seasons in your 00:20:45.849 --> 00:20:49.450 life you wish you could forget. Chapters that 00:20:49.450 --> 00:20:53.930 feel like burnt edges. Ears that look like crumbs 00:20:53.930 --> 00:20:57.869 on the floor. Jesus says, gather them up because 00:20:57.869 --> 00:21:01.509 your fragments are not garbage in my kingdom. 00:21:02.470 --> 00:21:09.869 Your fragments are material for miracles. Your 00:21:09.869 --> 00:21:13.950 fragments are how I will tell the story of abundance 00:21:13.950 --> 00:21:19.470 to the next hungry soul. So let's go back to 00:21:19.470 --> 00:21:22.230 the little boy for a second. He's nameless in 00:21:22.230 --> 00:21:25.359 the text and famous in heaven. I would imagine. 00:21:25.900 --> 00:21:30.019 And he's not a prince or a priest. He's just 00:21:30.019 --> 00:21:35.480 a kid with a sack. He does what many of us are 00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:42.640 simply afraid to do. He gives what he has. And 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:45.240 this miracle does not begin with thunder. It 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:48.859 begins with permission. Permission to be small 00:21:48.859 --> 00:21:53.180 and still be a part of the story. The boy is 00:21:53.180 --> 00:21:57.380 not solving hunger. He's offering what he has 00:21:57.380 --> 00:22:01.819 to the one who can. This is the difference between 00:22:01.819 --> 00:22:07.579 religion as anxiety and gospel as grace. Anxiety 00:22:07.579 --> 00:22:11.420 says, you have to fix it. The gospel says, give 00:22:11.420 --> 00:22:14.859 it to Jesus and let him do his work. Imagine 00:22:14.859 --> 00:22:17.900 his eyes as the loaves go out and they don't 00:22:17.900 --> 00:22:24.789 run out. As fish keep finding plates. As the 00:22:24.789 --> 00:22:28.210 people's faces softened from tight and tired 00:22:28.210 --> 00:22:32.470 to full and laughing. Imagine him clutching the 00:22:32.470 --> 00:22:35.190 rim of one of those baskets while the disciples 00:22:35.190 --> 00:22:38.150 loop through the crowd and the bread multiplies 00:22:38.150 --> 00:22:42.630 in hands he can't see. Imagine the moment Jesus 00:22:42.630 --> 00:22:46.250 catches his eye and nods like, you and me, kid, 00:22:46.390 --> 00:22:51.390 we did this together. Not because Jesus needed 00:22:51.390 --> 00:22:54.990 his lunch. Because Jesus loves to let children 00:22:54.990 --> 00:22:59.670 carry the corner of his miracles. That's still 00:22:59.670 --> 00:23:02.369 the way of it. He lets us carry the corners. 00:23:03.390 --> 00:23:06.869 Prayer, whispered in a pantry line, casserole 00:23:06.869 --> 00:23:10.250 left on someone's porch. Tithing check that doesn't 00:23:10.250 --> 00:23:14.210 look like much until grace multiplies it. A sermon 00:23:14.210 --> 00:23:16.970 preached with a trembling voice. A hand on a 00:23:16.970 --> 00:23:20.529 shoulder at a hospital bed. We all carry corners 00:23:20.529 --> 00:23:24.430 and he feeds the crowds. Our little in his hands 00:23:24.430 --> 00:23:29.509 is never little again. And let me talk to the 00:23:29.509 --> 00:23:33.609 weary ones for one minute. The ones who have 00:23:33.609 --> 00:23:36.630 been living on spiritual crackers, rationing 00:23:36.630 --> 00:23:40.069 their hope. Some of you are surviving on the 00:23:40.069 --> 00:23:42.250 memory of a miracle that happened years ago. 00:23:42.970 --> 00:23:47.970 Hear me. Memory is holy ground. Sought the whole 00:23:47.970 --> 00:23:52.089 meal, but it is like a warm stove. Gather your 00:23:52.089 --> 00:23:55.450 fragments of remembered grace. Take them into 00:23:55.450 --> 00:23:57.970 your hands and say, this happened. And when this 00:23:57.970 --> 00:24:02.569 happened to me, he met me there. And ask the 00:24:02.569 --> 00:24:05.470 bread of life to multiply the old mercies into 00:24:05.470 --> 00:24:10.849 fresh courage. Some of us carry our shame like 00:24:10.849 --> 00:24:15.440 backpacks full of rocks. Some of us think our 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:19.019 fragments disqualify us from the table. Jesus 00:24:19.019 --> 00:24:22.759 has bring them forward. I am the one who gathers 00:24:22.759 --> 00:24:25.980 the fragments. I am the one who loses nothing. 00:24:26.500 --> 00:24:30.319 If a crumb matters to me, it should matter to 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:37.119 you because you matter to me. Some of you have 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:40.160 a boy's lunch in your hands and a voice in your 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:42.759 head that says it isn't much. And you're right. 00:24:42.819 --> 00:24:48.609 It isn't. until it's placed in his hands. Do 00:24:48.609 --> 00:24:52.089 not insult the giver by hiding the gift. Bring 00:24:52.089 --> 00:24:57.849 it and watch what he does. So here's the invitation. 00:24:59.150 --> 00:25:03.549 Simple as a front porch call at suppertime. Come 00:25:03.549 --> 00:25:08.089 hungry. Don't bring your resume. Don't bring 00:25:08.089 --> 00:25:12.490 your price list. Don't bring your excuses. Bring 00:25:12.490 --> 00:25:16.880 your hunger. Come if you are Philip with a calculator 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:20.220 that keeps up coming short. Come if you're Andrew, 00:25:20.359 --> 00:25:22.599 nervous and honest, whispering, but what is this 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:26.319 for so many? Come if you are the boy with the 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.660 lunch and a good mama who taught you to share. 00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:32.700 Come if you are the one who got here late and 00:25:32.700 --> 00:25:34.279 stood in the back and hoped there'd be enough 00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:38.200 left for you. Come if you're a skeptic who still 00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:42.500 needs to see. Come if you are broken and you 00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:46.099 need to be gathered. Come, if you are proud, 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:49.559 you need to just sit for a while in the grass. 00:25:50.220 --> 00:25:53.980 Come hungry to the Christ who takes what we have 00:25:53.980 --> 00:25:56.160 and thanks the Father and breaks it open and 00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:59.480 gives it away until fear loosens and gratitude 00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:05.119 sings. Come hungry to the lamb who sets the table 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:08.380 outside the city for people the city keeps forgetting. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:12.539 Come hungry to the bread who promises not just 00:26:12.539 --> 00:26:18.240 enough. but life, and who will not lose a single 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:23.900 fragment along the way. And when he has fed you, 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:30.299 because he will, gather the leftovers, tell the 00:26:30.299 --> 00:26:33.799 story, pack the baskets of memory, and carry 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:36.559 them to the ones who couldn't make it up the 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:41.200 hill today. Let your kitchen be a chapel. Let 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:45.200 your porch steps be a pulpit. Let your Tuesday 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:48.779 look like loaves in Jesus' hands, taken, blessed, 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:55.700 broken, given. Five loaves, two fish, one Savior, 00:26:55.940 --> 00:27:04.980 twelve baskets. Come hungry. Amen? Amen. Five 00:27:04.980 --> 00:27:15.640 loaves, two fish, one Savior. 12 baskets. And 00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:18.740 here's the line you can hang your hat on. Gather 00:27:18.740 --> 00:27:21.880 the fragments that nothing may be lost. That's 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:24.839 Jesus' way of saying you're not garbage. And 00:27:24.839 --> 00:27:28.359 you know what? Nothing in you is wasted. The 00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:30.920 world teaches us to measure scarcity, not enough 00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:34.440 money, not enough time, not enough faith. But 00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:37.720 in the kingdom, Jesus gathers the crumbs. He 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:40.829 gathers you. your fractured seasons, your burnt 00:27:40.829 --> 00:27:44.750 edges, your tired soul. Every fragment matters. 00:27:46.609 --> 00:27:49.130 That's the comfort of John 6. You don't have 00:27:49.130 --> 00:27:52.650 to perform. You don't have to pay. Just come 00:27:52.650 --> 00:27:58.049 hungry. Sit in the grass. Let the shepherd feed 00:27:58.049 --> 00:28:01.609 you. And when you rise, you carry baskets of 00:28:01.609 --> 00:28:04.289 memory enough to share with the ones who couldn't 00:28:04.289 --> 00:28:08.619 make it up the hill. So if this spoke to you, 00:28:08.660 --> 00:28:12.039 don't just scroll on. Gather the fragments. Share 00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:15.200 this with a friend. Subscribe so you don't miss 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:19.579 the next meal of mercy. This is the Semi -Seminarian 00:28:19.579 --> 00:28:22.740 Revival for your ears. I'll see you next time. 00:28:37.099 --> 00:28:39.660 Therefore, leading the principles and the doctrines 00:28:39.660 --> 00:28:41.319 of Christ, let us go on.