A study of John 6:5–9

“Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?””

John 6:5–9 (ESV)

Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:

-Lifting Up: “ἐπάρας”, “eparas”; verb, aorist, active, participle, singular, nominative, masculine | contemporaneous participle — lift up, raise up.

-A Crowd: “ὄχλος”, “ochlos”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine | subject of the dependent clause — crowd, a collection of people.

-Jesus: “Ἰησοῦς”, “Iēsous”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine | proper name — Jesus, Jehoshua; Jesus = “Yahweh is salvation”; Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind, God incarnate.

-Philip: “Φίλιππον”, “Philippon”; noun, accusative, singular, masculine | proper name — Phillipos, Phillip; Philip = “lover of horses”, an apostle of Christ.

-Bread: “ἄρτους”, “artous”; noun, accusative, plural, masculine | direct object of the dependent clause — bread, loaf; food composed of flour mixed with water and baked.

-To Test: “πειράζων”, “peirazōn”; verb, present, active, participle, singular, nominative, masculine | adverbial participle — in a good sense: to try, make trial of, test: for the purpose of ascertaining his quality, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself.

-He Knew: “ᾔδει”, “ēdei” (a form of “ēido”); verb, pluperfect, active, indicative, third person, singular | finite verb — to know, understand.

-Denarii Worth Of: “δηναρίων”, “dēnariōn”; noun, genitive, plural, neuter | genitive of price — dēnarion, denarius; denarius = “containing ten”, A Roman silver coin in NT time. It took its name from it being equal to ten “asses”, a number after 217 B.C. increased to sixteen (about 3.898 grams or.1375 oz.). It was the principal silver coin of the Roman empire. From the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, it would seem that a denarius was then the ordinary pay for a day’s wages (Mt. 20:2–13).

-Little: “βραχύ”, “brachy”; adjective, accusative, singular, neuter | attributive adjective — little, small.

-Disciples: “μαθητῶν”, “mathētōn”; noun, genitive, plural, masculine | prepositional object — disciple, learner, pupil.

-Andrew: “Ἀνδρέας”, “Andreas”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine | proper name — Andrew = “manly”, A native of Bethsaida in Galilee, brother of Simon Peter, a disciple of John the Baptist, and afterwards an apostle of Christ. He is said to have been crucified at Patrae in Archaia.

-Simon: “Σίμωνος”, “Simōnos”; noun, genitive, singular, masculine | proper name — Simon = Peter.

-Peter: “Πέτρου”, “Petrou” (a form of “Petros”) ; noun, genitive, singular, masculine | proper name — Peter = “a rock or stone”, Peter was one of the apostles.

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

After spending a period of time performing miraculous healings and teaching about the Kingdom of God, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee by boat with His disciples to go away for a short time of rest and reflection together (See Mark 6:30 passage for these extra details). However, the crowds followed Jesus and His disciples on foot around the Sea of Galilee. And when Jesus had sat down with His disciples on a bit of high ground, He looked up and saw the crowds coming. Then He asked Phillip where they could get enough food to feed so many people. Jesus already knew what He was going to do, but He asked Philip this question to test him. Philip then says that even “200 denarii” worth of bread could not feed so many people. At this point, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, informed them that there was a small boy there who had five barley loaves and two fish, but Andrew also lamented saying, “but what are they for so many?”.

Implication (what does this mean to us):

At this point in the passage Jesus lifts up His eyes and sees that the crowd of people He and His disciples had left on the far shore had followed them around the Sea of Galilee on foot. The crowd had seen Him perform many miraculous healings, in addition to hearing His teaching, and they wanted more. Jesus had crossed the sea with His disciples after what was undoubtedly a tiring period of time where they ministered to the crowds, but instead of attaining their desired time to rest up for a bit, the crowds followed them. However, Jesus’ reaction to this isn’t what we might expect. As He sits down wearied from the hard work of recent days, and lifts up His eyes to see the multitude flocking to Him, He does not respond with exasperation. Instead, Mark 6:33–35 tells us that when He saw the crowds He had compassion on them and taught them many things. After Jesus finished teaching them, He immediately thought about how to feed them all, because He knew they had been following Him around all day and they would be in need of food.

At this point Jesus asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”. If you read Mark’s gospel account you may notice that John tells of this event with some extra details. Mark more vaguely refers to the “disciples” while John specifies Philip and Andrew as the ones spoken to by Jesus. Mark’s omission of these names and John’s inclusion of these names simply exhibits the two authors’ different literary focus. John wrote this gospel some years after the first 3 were written, at least in part, to correct certain heresies that were circulating. So John’s primary focus is on the deity of Christ. And he records certain details of this event, to which he was an eyewitness, to communicate that the initiative in these actions always lay with Jesus; the Son of God. And John’s added detail that Jesus asked Philip makes perfect sense. Philip was one of the first disciples Jesus called in John’s gospel (John 1:43), and he was from Bethsaida in Galilee. For this reason it makes sense that Jesus posed this question to Philip, because they were in Galilee, near Bethsaida at this time. These kinds of details that John provides are yet more evidence that this is a true eyewitness account.

In verse 6, after Jesus questions Philip, John adds an extra detail about Jesus when he says, “He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.” This is another example of John’s focus on communicating the divine initiative and authority of Jesus. Jesus did not ask Philip this question because He was wracking His brain, trying to figure out how to feed the crowd. He knew exactly what He was going to do, but He asked Philip this question to test him. The ancient Greek word John uses for “test” in this verse is a form of the word “peirazō.” Oftentimes John uses this word in the negative sense, so it is translated as “tempt”, but in this instance it has no connotations of tempting to evil. It is used in a neutral sense. So, John is telling us Jesus tested Philip in the way a teacher tests their student to gauge growth and facilitate learning.

Even in the middle of this huge crowd, and in trying to manage the teaching, healing, and now the feeding, Jesus was also concerned with teaching and developing His disciples. This is one of many lessons we can learn from Jesus about how to lead. We should always prioritize instructing and raising up the next generation of believers right alongside current ministry tasks. In other words, we should always prioritize discipleship, in terms of being “discipled” ourselves and discipling others, right alongside life and ministry. It should be a regular pattern and rhythm of our lives as followers of Jesus.

Next, Philip responds to Jesus by saying, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 200 denarii was a lot of money. In fact, it is well understood that at this time a single denarius was a day’s wages. This means, 200 denarii would have been about 8 month’s wages for the average worker. This tells us there were a lot of people (5,000 men plus women and children according to verse 10), but also tells us Philip was thinking in purely naturalistic terms in spite of all the miracles he had witnessed Jesus perform. As Philip surveyed the crowd and considered if it could be possible to feed them all, he did not factor in the supernatural power of Jesus in his calculations. So, he surmised that it would be impossible to pay for, or even obtain the amount of food needed given their current resources and location.

Then, in the face of Philip’s assessment, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, adds, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”. This was obviously an insignificant amount of food in regards to their problem, and it would likely have only been enough for a single meal for 1 or 2 people. Interestingly, it is only John’s gospel that identifies the loaves as being made of barley. Barley was the most inexpensive grain at this time, and was considered to be far inferior to wheat. For this reason, barley bread was the food of the poor. Some commentators think John included this detail to draw the mind of his readers to the miracle in 2 Kings 4:42–44 where Elisha commanded a man to distribute his barley loaves amongst a group of people too large to be fed by such a small amount. When the man protested that he did not have enough barley loaves for everyone, Elisha told him that Yahweh had commanded that he do so, and that Yahweh would make it enough for the people gathered there. And so, the man distributed the barley loaves and everyone ate and was satisfied.

The possible allusion to this miracle should remind us that our lack of resources is never a limitation to God. We are only called to be faithful with what we have, and God will be faithful to accomplish His good purposes through our faithfulness. This allusion should also cause us to think of the life and ministry of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, because someone far greater than them had come. Jesus the Christ, the one and only unique Son of God, certainly is a prophet, but He is also so much more. He is God; Yahweh incarnate in the flesh as both fully God and fully human. While Jesus is about to perform a miracle and feed this multitude of people, He came down from heaven to provide us all with the bread of life. This meal He gave would fill the people’s stomachs for a single day. But the bread of the Life that Jesus offers to all will provide eternal life and lasting satisfaction for everyone who believes in Him for eternity. Jesus is the bread of Life. He alone has conquered sin and death; and deliverance from slavery to sin and death unto new life and freedom in Jesus Christ is obtained by grace alone through faith alone. Nothing we do saves us or keeps us saved. We are all rightly condemned for our sin, and only the blood of Jesus Christ can pay the penalty we deserve to face.

If you do not know Jesus as your one and only Lord and Savior, you can. Simply confess with your mouth that He is Lord; the eternally existent, one and only God of all creation, and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead and you will be saved (Romans 10:9–10). It is that simple. Jesus paid it all (Ephesians 2:8–10; 1 John 2:2). All we have to do is accept His free gift, and surrender our lives to Him; our Lord from whom we received life in the first place.

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should cause us to think about the insurmountable situations we face in our own lives, and our lack of resources to face those situations. But as we consider these circumstances we need to remember who our God is. Jesus is not limited by what we lack. He is the God of the universe and He does not call us to give what we don’t have, or to do what we are incapable of doing. He does call us into situations that are beyond us, but He does so in order to give us the opportunity to grow in reliance on Him. He asks us to be faithful with what we have, and to trust Him to accomplish His good purposes with His infinite power and might.

This should cause us to boldly and faithfully serve Him out of love and adoration, knowing that success or numbers are not what matter. What matters is living as a faithful follower of Jesus. We are called to faithfulness; not success from a worldly perspective. We may experience what looks like success even from a worldly perspective at times, but God is no less glorified when we are faithful in the middle of circumstances that people who don’t know Jesus might see as pointless or even pathetic. We live for and serve an audience of one: the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

And perhaps most of all, the lack we experience in any part of life is a gift to lead us to pray. The needs we have are blessed opportunities to see more clearly that self-reliance is a delusion. The truth is we rely on God for even the next breath we take. We do not have anything that we have not received from Him by His good grace. So as we assess our needs, we should come to Him in prayer, making our requests known as we also praise Him for all He has done and all He will do. Lack of resources is a gift to help us see reality; we need Jesus every single moment of the day and night. He is our very life.

Self Reflection:

1. What is the “large crowd that needs feeding” in my life? What am I facing that is way too big for me to overcome?
2. What would true success look like in this scenario? How is Jesus calling me to be faithful to Him in my current circumstances?
3. What practical steps can I take to grow in reliance and intimacy with my Lord Jesus who loves me and cares for me? How and when can I fix my heart and mind on Him throughout the day?