The miracle of Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand is well known. What is less well known is the meaning of what Jesus was teaching the disciples. Jesus had already done miracles and so Philip and Andrew should have known that Jesus could provide food for the people.

This miracle is recorded by all 4 of the gospel writers. Jesus transformed the situation because He is sovereign. Believing in what Jesus can do comes from knowing who Jesus is.  The disciples needed to start looking at problems as those who believe. This is one of the lessons of this passage.

There is, however, another lesson to be learned. We must not go from believing what Jesus ‘can’ do to insisting that Jesus ‘must’ do things.  After people saw the miracle they wanted to make Jesus king by force. Jesus withdrew from them because they needed to yield themselves to his terms. Jesus would become king and in a way that would be best for them. This could only be accomplished through his death on the cross.