Are You Hungry? How About Some Fish and Bread?

Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, "Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?" He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, "Even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them!" Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. "There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?" "Tell everyone to sit down," Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, "Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted." So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, "Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!" When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.  John 6:5-15 NLT

 

They ate as much as they wanted—all from just two fish and five little rolls of bread. Jesus was amazingly generous. What amazes you most about this story? That this happened right before the Passover—celebrating the feast of unleavened bread? That Jesus fed 5,000 men, plus their wives and children? Or that the twelve disciples gathered up twelve baskets of leftovers? Twelve baskets! One for each apostle. That is a lot of food. I imagine that those were not little baskets. Jesus later declares Himself to be the Bread of Life. "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” John 6:35.  Jesus uses bread…and declares Himself to be The Bread of Life. There can be so much significance associated with these barley loaves—including new life. Think about it.

 

Look at another place in the Bible—in the Old Testament—where barley loaves were served. Elisha went to Gilgal when there was a famine. Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God (Elisha) bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, "Give them to the people that they may eat." His attendant said, "What, will I set this before a hundred men?" But he said, "Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left over.'" So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD. 2 Kings 4:42-44. There were only twenty barley loaves served to 100 men and left overs were gathered! Twelve baskets? That is not mentioned, just that there were leftovers.  Are you hungry—spiritually or just in your tummy?

 

Prayer ~ Holy Spirit, I am amazed that Jesus fed five thousand men and their families with only two fish and a few barley rolls. That is a lot of people—and they were very hungry. They ate until they were full—no longer hungry. Kids can be pretty hungry—so it was very generous of Jesus to feed them until they were full. I want to be as generous as Jesus and feed families as much as they need…not just what I can give. Multiply the food and gifts I give so that more people can have as much as they want to eat—physically and spiritually!

 

Friday’s Feast at the Lord’s Table

Fish or Bread? I looked for recipes for barley loaves and found that during Jesus’ time barley grain was primarily used to make bread by poorer people and fed to livestock. The rich folks baked their breads with more expensive wheat flour. Barley is not a common flour now, but the grain is used in soups and stews and made into an alcoholic beverage—beer.  Try serving this bread for some loaves and fishes fun.

 

Quick Barley Bread

1 cup milk

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

1 cup barley flour

1 tablespoon butter, melted

 

Prepare 9 inch cake pan by spraying with cooking spray that contains flour, you can also butter and flour the pans.  Don't use regular cooking spray that doesn't contain flour, the loaf will stick!

 

Mix milk, salt, sugar and flour until smooth. It will be about the consistency of pancake batter. Stir in 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake on bottom rack of 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes.

 

Turn out onto a plate and cut into five sections, representing the five loaves that were blessed by Jesus and served to the 5,000 men. For an authentic Fish and Loaves meal, serve with tilapia fish and hummus.

 

Double all of the ingredients to make two loaves.

 

© 2015 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.

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