41. Bread of Life: Jesus and John's Gospel Part 10

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[00:00:23] Good day Dave, welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids. Do you ever get grumpy when someone

[00:00:31] doesn't give you what you want? Maybe you get grumpy with your grown-ups? Maybe your grown-ups

[00:00:37] are grumpy with each other for not giving each other what they want? Maybe at your birthday,

[00:00:42] you really wanted the S-17 Laser Force Action weapon with GPS guided rockets, superscope

[00:00:48] for looking through walls and 38 settings for attacking aliens. But because they wanted to save

[00:00:54] money, someone just got you the S-16 Laser Force Action weapon with GPS guided rockets, superscope

[00:01:00] looking through walls and only 32 settings for attacking aliens. Maybe you wanted a pony and

[00:01:07] instead you were given a stuffed toy pony. Maybe you just wanted to watch TV and you were told

[00:01:13] to put your cling cloves away first. Whatever it is, almost everyone at some stage gets grumpy

[00:01:21] because someone doesn't give them what they want. And do you know what? We can even do that with

[00:01:28] God. We can expect God to give us something that we really, really want and we know he can do anything

[00:01:35] and then he doesn't give it to us. That can make us grumpy. In today's story, a whole crowd of people

[00:01:44] get really grumpy with Jesus for not giving them what they want. Get ready for our next episode

[00:01:50] of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids. At the end of our last episode, the leaders in

[00:02:24] Jerusalem would grumpy with Jesus. They thought he was breaking God's law and doing and saying evil

[00:02:30] things. Jesus showed them though that he wasn't being evil. He was actually doing what was

[00:02:36] really really good. He was doing the work that God his father had given him to do. They didn't

[00:02:43] understand that because they didn't know God. Now Jesus has gone back up north to Galilee.

[00:02:51] He goes in a boat with his disciples and they cross the lake. Just like last time Jesus was in Galilee,

[00:02:57] people are really excited he's back because they've seen all the miracles he's done healing people.

[00:03:04] That right there is a warning sign because we've already seen the people who just follow Jesus

[00:03:09] for miracles. And always the best followers. Anyway, Jesus goes up on a hill and sits down with his

[00:03:17] disciples. It's almost the Passover feast. He looks up and he sees this huge crowd coming up

[00:03:24] the hill towards him. And then he turns to one of his disciples, Philip. And he asks him what

[00:03:29] those strange questions we've been hearing so often from Jesus. In John, chapter 6, verse 5, Jesus asks,

[00:03:37] where can we buy bread for all these people to eat? There are thousands of people. How much money

[00:03:46] does he think they have? Don't worry though, just like every other time, Jesus asks his strange

[00:03:53] question for a very good reason. And this time John actually tells us the reason. He says it's a test.

[00:04:01] Verse 6 says, Jesus asked Philip this question to test him. Jesus already knew what he planned to do.

[00:04:10] Hmm. What's the test? Tests ask you questions to find out if you know the answer.

[00:04:17] Jesus knows the answer but does Philip? It seems like he doesn't. In fact, he's freaking out a bit,

[00:04:25] like, buy food for all these people. What kind of a crazy idea is that? In verse 7 he says,

[00:04:32] someone would have to work almost a year to buy enough bread for each person here to only have

[00:04:37] a little piece. And you know what that says? It says that Philip has failed the test.

[00:04:45] Don't worry, he's not in trouble or anything. He just has an understood the question.

[00:04:50] He's thinking that the solution must be in having enough money, which they don't have.

[00:04:55] What they do have is Jesus. And he is all they need. One of the other disciples, Andrew,

[00:05:03] he doesn't get it either. In verse 9 he says to Jesus,

[00:05:07] he's a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish. But that's not enough for so many people.

[00:05:14] And in normal life he'd be right. But again, they've got Jesus with them and Jesus is powerful

[00:05:22] enough to deal with the problem. Jesus is gently trying to help his disciples trust him more,

[00:05:29] to realize that he's the best solution in the world. He gets the disciples to tell the crowd to

[00:05:34] sit down. There's lots of grass there. It's a nice comfortable field and there are thousands

[00:05:40] of people. Five thousand men, and that's not even counting the women and children.

[00:05:45] Once everyone's sitting down, Jesus does something rather strange. Verse 11 says,

[00:05:54] then Jesus took the loaves of bread. He thanked God for the bread and gave it to the people who are

[00:06:00] sitting there. He did the same with the fish. He gave them as much as they wanted.

[00:06:07] Um, hang on a second. How much bread and fish were there? Five loaves and two little fish.

[00:06:15] Five loaves and two little fish for five thousand men, not counting women and children. Maybe

[00:06:22] ten to twenty thousand people. Five loaves and two little fish. Something doesn't add up here.

[00:06:29] Maybe maybe Jesus gave them all a tiny, tiny piece and miraculously made them feel full,

[00:06:37] like he was kind of pretending that they're full. Let's see, verse 12 says,

[00:06:42] they all had enough to eat. When they'd finished, Jesus said to his followers,

[00:06:47] gather the pieces of fish and bread that were not eaten. Don't waste anything. So they gathered

[00:06:53] up the pieces that were left. They filled 12 large baskets with the pieces that were left

[00:06:59] of the five barley loaves. Okay. 12 large baskets of leftovers. Jesus hasn't given them all a

[00:07:08] tiny piece. He's actually made the amount of bread and fish get bigger. Multiply it,

[00:07:15] made five loaves and two small fish into so much food that thousands of people can have a feast.

[00:07:22] This is amazing. Do you see why the disciples didn't have to worry about how much money or

[00:07:30] food they had? It's because they had Jesus and he's able to fix the problem.

[00:07:36] The crowd, they're amazed. They're really excited. So excited, in fact, that they want to make

[00:07:44] Jesus their king. Jesus is the king, but not the sort of king they want. They think we'll make

[00:07:51] him the king. He'll go and fight off the Romans who took over our country and make everything good.

[00:07:57] But Jesus actually came to fix our friendship with God and fight and defeat sin.

[00:08:02] He doesn't want to be a part of their war plans, so he leaves and goes back up into the hills,

[00:08:10] alone.

[00:08:24] Night falls. The disciples get into a boat and row back across the lake heading for

[00:08:31] pernium. Jesus isn't with them. A wind starts blowing. It gets stronger and stronger.

[00:08:42] The men are rowing their small wooden boat, but as the waves get bigger and bigger, it gets harder

[00:08:48] and harder. They have to strain just to move forward a little bit. They get about halfway across

[00:08:54] the lake. They must be getting really tired. Just then they see something in the distance. Remember

[00:09:01] it's the middle of the night. But as this thing gets closer, they realise it isn't something.

[00:09:07] It's someone and this person isn't swimming. They aren't rowing a boat. They're walking on

[00:09:13] the water. It's Jesus actually walking on the water. Not calm, peaceful water, but wavey, windy water.

[00:09:22] This is not normal, right? The disciples are freaking out. They have no idea what's happening here.

[00:09:29] But Jesus kindly says to them, verse 21, don't be afraid. It is I.

[00:09:37] Hearing Jesus voice, hearing His words, calms them down. It really is him. It isn't some weird

[00:09:44] monster or ghost. This is the Jesus they know and love. And so they invite him into the boat.

[00:09:51] The boat there have been rowing so hard. The boat that they've only managed to get halfway across

[00:09:56] the lake. And immediately, immediately, the boat arrives at the place they've been trying to get to.

[00:10:08] Imagine the disciples looking around. One moment there in the middle of the lake,

[00:10:13] struggling with the ears fighting the waves. The next, they're safe at land.

[00:10:19] Who has the power to do something like that? To walk on water, to zap a boat full of people

[00:10:26] from one place to another in an instant. For that matter, who has the power to feed thousands of

[00:10:32] people starting with only a tiny amount of food? There's only one person with that sort of power,

[00:10:39] the God who made the world.

[00:10:51] The next morning arrives and the crowd who Jesus fed start to wake up. They look around

[00:10:57] and they can't find Jesus or the disciples anywhere. A bunch of them decide to jump in some

[00:11:03] boats and cross the lake to cappernium. When they get there, they're shocked to find that Jesus

[00:11:09] has arrived before them. In verse 25 they say, teacher, when did you come here? They don't know

[00:11:18] about the whole walking on water thing. Jesus doesn't waste time. He starts teaching them. But what

[00:11:25] he has to say isn't very easy to hear. He tells them the real reason they've come looking for him.

[00:11:32] Basically, they want another free feed. It was really great not having to buy your own lunch

[00:11:38] and they want that again. In verse 26 he says, are you looking for me because you saw me do miracles?

[00:11:45] No, I tell you the truth. You are looking for me because you ate the bread and were satisfied.

[00:11:53] Now, do you remember when Jesus was talking to the woman at the well and he started using

[00:11:59] picture language to talk about eternal life? He told her that the water in the world would help you

[00:12:05] for a little bit. But the water he gives will bring you eternal life. It's not that he's giving

[00:12:11] actual water. It's just a picture to help us think about life. Well now he does exactly the same thing.

[00:12:19] But this time he uses the picture language of bread. Yesterday they ate normal bread, but

[00:12:26] that could get old and moldy. The real bread you want is what Jesus gives you. It turn life bread.

[00:12:33] Again, he doesn't actually give bread to eat. It's picture language to help us think about

[00:12:38] eternal life. He says to them in verse 27, earthly foods, spoils and ruins. So don't work to get

[00:12:46] that kind of food, but work to get the food that stays good always and gives you eternal life.

[00:12:53] The son of man will give you that food. Food that gives you eternal life sounds interesting.

[00:13:02] So they ask in verse 28, what are the things God wants us to do? In other words, how do we get

[00:13:08] eternal life food? The answer is the same one we've been seeing all through John. Believe in Jesus.

[00:13:17] So he tells them in verse 29, the work God wants you to do is this to believe in the one that God sent.

[00:13:26] And he can almost hear their minds ticking. Hmm, he wants us to believe in him. How will that get us

[00:13:33] free food? It doesn't sound like free food. I'm not believing him if I can't get free food.

[00:13:39] Oh, maybe we can get him to give us the free food. Then we'll say we believe in him.

[00:13:45] They must think they're very clever. They ask him in verse 30,

[00:13:50] what miracle will you do? If we can see a miracle then we will believe in you. What will you do?

[00:13:58] Our ancestors ate the manner in the desert. This is written in the scriptures, God gave them bread

[00:14:04] from heaven to eat. Whoa there! Hold your horses! Did you hear what they just said?

[00:14:15] They said they'll only believe in him if he does a miracle. A miracle like God did in the past.

[00:14:22] A miracle where God had miraculously given his people something called manner,

[00:14:27] which they made into bread. If he miraculously gives them bread, then they'll believe in him.

[00:14:35] What? That's exactly what he did the day before. They've already seen that miracle. They have

[00:14:42] enough information to believe in Jesus. He's already done what only God can do.

[00:14:50] They don't want to believe in Jesus. They just want another free feed.

[00:14:56] When they don't get it, they become grumpier and grumpier.

[00:15:01] Jesus keeps talking to them, but in the end, when they realize there's no more bread on its way,

[00:15:07] they give up on Jesus. Verse 66 says, after Jesus said this, many of his followers left him.

[00:15:15] They stopped following him. Isn't that sad? Jesus is offering eternal life, but all they want

[00:15:24] is some free bread. And so they walk away from Jesus. They're choosing death over life forever.

[00:15:35] Jesus always gives what's best. He doesn't always give us what we want, but he always gives

[00:15:42] us what's best, like eternal life. When we become grumpy with Jesus for not giving what we want,

[00:15:49] we're being just like these people. Instead of being grumpy, we should trust that Jesus has the

[00:15:56] best plan in mind. Thankfully, even though heaps of people are leaving Jesus, they don't all leave.

[00:16:05] Jesus turns to the 12 disciples and asks them if they want to leave as well.

[00:16:09] Peter answers with one of the best answers we've seen in all of John's Gospel. He says in verse 68,

[00:16:18] Lord, who would we go to? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe in you.

[00:16:26] We know that you are the Holy One from God. Once you know who Jesus is, once you realize that

[00:16:36] He gives what's best, that he's the only one who can give you eternal life. Then going in

[00:16:42] he where else or to any one else is silly. It doesn't get better than best. Jesus is the best,

[00:16:50] and he gives what's best. He gives eternal life, and we can trust him to always look after us

[00:16:58] in our life. Back in Jesus Day, the more people watch him, the more they become divided. Some people

[00:17:07] believe in him more and more, but others are getting angrier and angrier. But that's a story.

[00:17:15] For next time. Thanks for listening everyone. I always love hearing from people so hit the

[00:17:31] tech button in the show notes and say good-bye. If you're grown up like looking at Instagram,

[00:17:37] I've finally got around to putting worthwhile stuff on there. So make sure to check it out.

[00:17:42] Keep trusting Jesus. Bye for now. Thanks for listening to this episode. If you think this podcast

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