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.
