John 6:1

 

 John 6:1 says, After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.  Jesus went across the sea of Galilee, which was called the sea of Tiberius, in honor of the emperor by the same name.  Jesus did not cross over to the city but went further up the coast from where He had been.  Verse two adds, And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.  If He planned to go away from the crowd of people for a while, it didn’t work.  Great multitudes followed Him because of the miracles He had done. There ar some people today who follow Jesus   because of the miracles He has done, and if they see no miracle in their life, they turn away.  Verse three continues, And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.  Jesus had gone up on the mountain with His disciples, and He looked up and saw the multitude coming to Him.  Notice He did not say something like not now, I am tired or busy or hungry.   We may at times need to get away, but if God leads someone to us, we should not turn them away.  Verse four states, And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.  Verse five adds, When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? Since the Passover was near, Jesus asked Philip, who had been with Him from the beginning of His ministry, and had seen many miracles, where could they buy enough bread to feed the multitude.  Verse six continues, And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.  Jesus did this to prove Philip’s faith. He did not do it to tempt him.  God will never tempt us, but He may sometimes test our faith.  Verse seven concludes, Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.  Philip said two hundred penny worth of bread was not enough for them to have just a little. How often do we look at the task God has set before us and say that it is impossible?  We have seen firsthand, if we are indeed His followers, the miracle of salvation, but still doubt His ability to provide for us.  We look at the facts and not the Creator of it all.  Philip needed to look to Jesus and not at the masses, and so must we always look to Him first.  Sometimes we would be better off looking at what we have instead of what we don’t have.