Day 18-Saturday, March 2nd
John 6:1-15
Jesus sees us

Having stood His ground with the Jewish leaders, Jesus leaves Jerusalem and crosses over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. At this point, Jesus has reached near celebrity status due to word spreading throughout Israel about the different miracles He has worked.

Due to this new popularity, large crowds were following Him everywhere He went. It seems that the crowds even followed Him all the way from Jerusalem.

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed Him because they saw the signs He had performed by healing the sick. John 6:1-2 NIV

This area was open country and Jesus attempted to withdraw from the crowds by going up on the mountain with His disciples. The crowds pursued them up the mountain as well.

Jesus, knowing in their poverty the crowds would be hungry physically as well as spiritually, has compassion on the crowds and decided to feed them before He teaches them.

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” John 6:5 NIV
There is no surprise that the disciples don’t believe that they alone can feed a crowd of such size. They find a young boy with a few fish and loaves of bread, but they are convinced this won’t be nearly enough.

Philip answered Him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

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 6:7-9 NIV

How quickly these disciples have forgotten the changing of water to wine at the wedding, the healing of the official’s son, and the healing of the man by the pool! They should have learned already that Jesus is capable of tremendous miracles and would be able to feed this crowd as well.
Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. John 6:11-13 NIV

This miracle would catapult the fame of Jesus to new heights-fame which we will soon see will be short-lived.

I believe there are several points of encouragement for us here in this passage.

First, Jesus truly sees us in our times of need. Just as He lifts up His eyes to see the crowd coming up the mountain, Jesus sees our hearts and can respond to our needs as He desires.

Second, when Jesus responds to our needs, He responds with power beyond our wildest expectations. Not only did Jesus feed this huge crowd, but there were also twelve baskets of leftovers after everyone had their fill. As we learned with the wine at the wedding at Cana, when Jesus provides, He does so in great abundance!

Finally, Jesus knows what we need far more than we know ourselves. Knowing that the crowds could not attentively listen to His teaching if they were hungry, He met this need completely first. Jesus works in similar ways in our everyday lives, meeting different needs to prepare us for even greater opportunities by His leading.

Questions to consider:
Take a few moments to consider what is your greatest need today. What is this need? Do you believe that Jesus can truly meet this need?
Write out a prayer asking Jesus to provide for this need. Specifically tell Jesus why you believe He can meet this need in your life.

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