Trinity Church of Tri-Cities

Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, unless you are old enough to have experienced the great shortage of food in Europe following the Second World War, you probably have never given much thought to where your next loaf of bread was coming from. Although many of us remember the vast oversupply of wheat this country had at one time, the rising price of wheat today is beginning to gain our attention, and the possibility of a shortage of b read is not so remote as it once seemed.

Throughout history bread meant the most basic commodity, the essential food for life. When famine and death stared Jacob and his sons in the face in Canaan, Jacob told his sons to go to Egypt, for he heard there was bread in Egypt.

Israel’s deliverance from Egypt 400 years later was commemorated by the feast of Passover, unleavened bread and the blood of the Lamb. And now in our passage this morning, Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Now, says verse 4, the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. “Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat? But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.”

For my theme this morning, I have rephrased the question of Jesus this way, Is there enough bread in Bethlehem? I have used the name Bethlehem because that word means “House of bread,” and because Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Or, to repeat the question the children of Israel had in the desert, “Can God set a table for us in the wilderness? Can He provide bread here?”

Let me remind you again that we in this land, under the great blessing of our God, under the great reign of our King Jesus Christ, have never known a shortage of food; there has never been a day when we had no bread to put on our tables. It is good for us to realize that that may not always continue. We live in precarious times, times when the old certainties are tipping, when an inexhaustible supply of wheat to grind into flour to make bread, is simply not there any more. Is our Lord bringing us, or will He bring our children into a time where the prayer He taught us will take on new and pressing urgency: Give us this day our daily bread.

“Give us bread and circuses?” “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Jesus asked this question knowing the answer, but asked it to test His disciples. And the first thing the disciples thought about was money. That’s a natural reaction, isn’t it? For if you have enough money, the question of bread is answered, isn’t it?

Philip said, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” For Philip the question was not whether money could provide bread or not, but the question was whether they had enough money. But, does money answer the question, really? Does money make bread? Come with me to a place where perhaps most of the money in the world seems to be concentrated right now. Where is that? Let’s just say that it is concentrated in Saudi Arabia and in the United Arab Emirates. Have you ever seen the money being spent in Dubai? How much bread is that money producing? Nothing. Those countries are completely non-productive. If the great wheat producing countries of the world, the United States, Canada, Australia, and perhaps the Ukraine, did not grow a surplus of wheat, the Middle East, those rich Arab countries would starve, for all their money.

Is there enough bread in Bethlehem? Let’s go back to our father Adam in the Garden of Eden and ask the question, is there enough food here? What answer did Adam give? His answer was “No,” there is not enough food here, we need to eat of the tree that God has forbidden us to eat of. Because Adam gave that answer, God pronounced a curse upon him and said, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground.” Man would gain bread, his daily bread, by painful toil, living under curse. Yet the promise of God was that the curse would be lifted. Bread would come by promise not by labor. Bread would come by grace and not by earning. Bread would come by the Word of God, not by the word and power of man.

A lesson long in learning. Esau came in from hunting and needed bread. How would he get it? How would God provide for Esau? Esau was the first-born, and as the first-born he inherited the promises. What promises? The promises God made to Abraham and Isaac, the promises that He would be his God and the God of his children. The promise that he would inherit the land. The promise that God would multiply his seed as the stars of heaven. The promise of life. Esau weighed those promises over against his need, or what he perceived was his need, and sold those promises for bread.

Israel in the wilderness. No bread. What shall we do for bread in the wilderness? We are hungry. Why did you bring us out here to kill us with hunger? We remember that in Egypt we ate bread to the full, we could eat as much as we wanted. (Ex. 16:3)

Of course, they forgot that they were slaves, people under the curse, slaving away to earn their bread. But here they were in the wilderness, there was no bread, and they were hungry. Why did God let them become hungry? God told them why. “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” (De. 8:3 NKJV)

“Man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” For the mouth of the Lord had spoken, “I will give you manna from heaven, your daily bread.” So Psalm 78 commemorates that by saying, “Yes, they spoke against God: They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?” therefore the LORD heard this and was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation. Yet He had given them of the bread of heaven. Men at angels’ food; He sent them food to the full.” (Ps 78:19-25 NKJV)

We, the children of God, are to live by promise, by grace, by the Word of the Lord. And when the Lord sees that we need to understand that more vividly, when He sees that we only have an abstract theoretical knowledge of what it means to live by grace, to live by faith in the Word of God, He may indeed send us a famine of bread. Are you prepared for that? Have you prepared your children for that? Is there enough bread in Bethlehem?

What is the answer to a shortage of bread? More money? What was the answer in the time of Elijah when God sent a famine upon Israel? Do you remember the story of Elijah and the widow? Elijah had marched into the throne room of Ahab and declared that there would be no rain or dew these years until Elijah said so. He then marched out. God struck the land with a famine. No bread. What could Elijah do? God told him to go to the brook Cherith where the ravens would feed him. So he went there, drank water from the brook, and the ravens brought him his bread every day.

When the brook dried up, God told Elijah to go to Sidon, for God had prepared a widow there to give him his bread. So he went there, and when he came to Zarepath, a little village in the region of Sidon, he met the widow. Not a rich widow. Not a widow with lands and fields, with houses and banquets. No. . .a poor widow with one little son, gathering sticks. “Give me some water to drink,” said Elijah, “and while you’re at it, give me some bread.”

“Alas,” said the woman, “I have but enough flour to make one loaf of bread. I am gathering enough sticks to make a fire to bake that one loaf for me and my son, and then we shall die.” “But,” said Elijah, “give me bread first. For here is the word of the Lord, your flour shall not fail until God brings rain on the land again.”

And so it was, that the flour did not fail. It was always there for the next loaf of bread. But, life is more than bread, for life is by the Word of the Lord. So the little lad became sick, and finally died. The poor widow, in her anguish, said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to bring my sins upon me?” So Elijah went up to the little dead boy, raised him to life again, and presented him to his mother, who then said, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And this, beloved is the answer, isn’t it? This is the foolishness of God that is wiser than man. This is the great promise of the Gospel that says, “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which does not profit.”

Jesus had lived out that promise, hadn’t He? You remember that following His baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And after forty days without food, the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” Could Jesus have done that? Of course He could, He was the Son of God. By Him all things were created, and without Him was not anything made that was made.

But Jesus answered the devil by quoting from Deuteronomy 8:13, “It is written,” said Jesus, “Man shall not live by bread only, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus came to fulfill the Word of the Lord. Jesus came to offer Himself as the bread of life for His people. Jesus came to say, “Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you will die.”

“Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” said Philip. Andrew said, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.”“Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” said Philip. Andrew said, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.”

It’s good to remember that the total number was much larger, for other gospel writers say that there were five thousand men, besides women and children. How many would that be altogether? One might say at least fifteen thousand.

Well, there was one lad anyway. But what were five loaves and two small fish going to do for them all? Nothing. What would have been better, at least in our thinking, that someone would stand up and say, “Lord, I have 156,000 denarii, and that will buy more than enough bread for everybody.” But, just as with Elijah, the Lord would choose one with the least, one whose supply in the eyes of man would provide nothing except a joke. Five loaves and two small fish for 15,000 people? Get real.

What could a poor widow offer? How could God use the gift of this poor widow? Well, she had faith, didn’t she? For instead of saying that Elijah could eat after she had finished, she first gave to him. What could this lad offer? Not much. But what he did have, Jesus used, Jesus multiplied.

Now I think there is much we can learn here. We can certainly learn that it is not the size of what we offer to the Lord that counts, but our willingness to give the all that we have, even if that all is so small. Sometimes we moan and groan that we have so little to offer to the Lord. We can’t put that much in the offering for missions. We don’t have much ability. We’re not very good at visiting people. We’re kind of shy when it comes to talking about the gospel to others. There’s not much we can do to help others.

What God wants you to do is to place the little that you have in the hands of Jesus your Lord and Savior, and let Him use it. For really, the Lord is not that much interested for you to wait until you have gained enough money to make what you would consider a great impact. The Lord is not interested for you to wait until you have developed your skills to the point where you are recognized as a great leader or speaker. The Lord wants the little you have right now, for it is His great delight to create strength out of weakness, to make much out of little.

And so it was with these five loaves and two small fish. “And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to the disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.” Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.” Yes, did they truly believe that? The prophet? The one who brought the Word of the Lord? Later, as we read from verse 26, Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who come to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” And that, beloved, is the point of this miracle, isn’t it? That Jesus came into the world to labor by the sweat of His face, to labor until His sweat was like great drops of blood, to labor under the curse that said, “Adam, in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the dust. For dust you are and unto dust you shall return.” But Jesus came to become a curse for us, that

He might fill us with His blessing, with Himself, offered for us, broken for us, poured out for us. Jesus came that the Word might become flesh, and that we, receiving that Word, might have life in Him.

Is there enough bread in Bethlehem? Is the Word of God enough? The Word that created life, the Word that redeemed our lives from the curse, the Word that created the bread that sustains life? “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man will give to you.”

Beloved people of God. There is a presidential election coming up. The issue, it seems, is no longer Iraq, but the issue is the economy. And when it is said that the issue is economy, it finally boils down to saying that the issue is bread. To whom shall we go for bread? To whom shall we direct people for bread?

At the end of this chapter, after Jesus had spoken many words relating to the issue of bread, after He had directed all those words to find meaning in Himself, in His body and blood, He said this: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” From that time, says verse 66, many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” And there it is. There may very well come a time, a time that the Lord Jesus

Himself will bring to this land, when there is a shortage of bread. There may come the day when there is a famine in the land. And where shall we go? Can the Lord set a table in the wilderness? Oh yes, the Lord can set a table in the wilderness. Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

Beloved, there are severe famines in many parts of the world right now. What shall we do? Shall we export American democracy? Shall we export free market economy? Shall we get the world bank to forgive their country’s debts? Shall we give them wheat? We have been doing all these things for fifty-sixty years. What we need is a renewed export of the gospel, the gospel that through the Word and Spirit of Christ creates churches, churches where the living Word of Christ is proclaimed, churches where a table is set, a table of bread and wine, of strength and joy.

Beloved, let us rejoice that the Lord Jesus still provides us bread for our tables every day, produced by the miracle, not the miracle of American agricultural technology, but by the miracle of the few people who began to settle this country with faith in the Word of God. No, not them, but the miracle of Jesus Christ, who, according to promise, has tamed flooding rivers, and turned the deserts of this land into gardens of God. Yes, Christ still gives us bread for our tables. But when that bread is gone, when He brings a famine, when He lets us go hungry, will we then remember, that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Will we and our children still rejoice in the God of our salvation, who will faithfully serve us the living Word of Christ, and who will set a table before us every first day of the week, a table in the presence of our enemies, a table of bread and of wine?

Amen.