When He Rolls Up His Sleeves

          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. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near. 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?”  He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

         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?”

         Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 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.

         After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (John 6:1-15)

         
          In my imagination (with Jesus in modern clothes) I see Him smirking as He asks Philip about the bread. Then, as Andrew brings the boy over, He rolls up His sleeves. I wonder if the reason John knows that Jesus already knew what He was going to do is because Jesus leaned toward him before all this started, and said, “Watch this.” Or maybe John had just learned to recognize that look in Jesus’ eye.
         Jesus uses a classic teaching method. He gives His students a problem. I can imagine Philip pulling out his purse and finding a few mites. As he explains how much it will cost, he looks at Judas Iscariot, the group treasurer. Judas shakes his head. They don’t have 190 denarii.
          I wonder what Philip’s answer tells us about Philip. He quickly comes up with the estimate of the cost. Was it accurate, or was it an idiom meaning a lot of money? Did you notice that his answer doesn’t solve the problem? He doesn’t come up with what would feed the people. He comes up with what would allow them to have “a bite.” He looks at what he would need to begin to solve the problem. He should be commended for thinking this far, but suppose they had 200 denarii not ear-marked for some other expense. It seems likely that this took place toward the end of the day. If Philip ran into the nearest town, would a local bakery, or even several local bakeries, have enough bread to feed five thousand men, plus women and children? Were there bakeries, or would Philip have to arrange with the women of the village? With the Passover near, would the bakers or women have cleaned the yeast out of their businesses and homes? How long would it take to make bread with yeast? How long without yeast? I don’t think Philip thought enough about the problem, but he thought far enough to recognize that it was a problem.
          How often does God put us in a situation involving a problem in this same way? How often do we check our wallet or our other resources and say, “Uh, Lord, Mother Hubbard’s cupboard is bare”? Do we really think that God didn’t know that already? There were more than five thousand reasons why He didn’t let Philip run to town to find out just how impossible it would have been to get the bread even if they’d had the money.
          How often are our problems a chance for God to reveal Himself? I suspect the answer is 100% of the time. Sometimes, He solves them immediately. Sometimes, I think He sends us to town to find out just how big a problem the problem really is. Sometimes, He backs us up between the Red Sea and the Egyptians.
          Remember this song?  When He Rolls Up His Sleeves...