Post by Admin on Jan 25, 2019 7:37:46 GMT
This story featuring Philip is the famous "Feeding of the 5,000," here as told in John Chapter 6 (NIV):
1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
5 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?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 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). 11 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.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
Here is some background on and analysis of the incident from a Bible study on the Gospel of John by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson:
The miracle appears to have occurred on a mountainside above the city of Bethsaida in the area known today as the Golan Heights. Bethsaida had been the home of Philip, and, at least for a while, of several of Jesus' disciples. Bethsaida ("house of fish" or "house of fishermen") is at the northeast end of the Sea of Galilee, on a hill east of where the Jordan River enters the lake. In Old Testament times it had been the capital of the Aramean kingdom of Geshur. In the New Testament era, Herod the Great's son Philip rebuilt the city and named it Julius.
From the Synoptic Gospels, we know that the disciples have just returned from their mission. John the Baptist has just been executed, and that Jesus and his disciples are trying to take a break from the multitudes to a solitary place. They take their accustomed boat (Mark 6:32), push off from the shore, and set sail toward a deserted area near the town of Bethsaida, only a few miles from Capernaum. By taking the boat, they are hoping to discourage the crowds from following them. They are trying to get away. However, they don't succeed in avoiding the crowds.
Jesus sees the crowds and knows they must be hungry. According to the Synoptic Gospels, he teaches them for a while before the miracle. Now he asks Philip, who is a resident of Bethsaida and who would be familiar with food sources in the area, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat." Jesus is testing him. Will Philip look to God to provide? No.
Philip doesn't give a location where they can buy food. Rather, he explains to Jesus how expensive it would be to buy bread for them all -- "eight month's wages" (NIV), an approximate equivalent of 200 denarii (ESV). The point is, that this is a staggering sum, a sum way beyond what Jesus' band is carrying with them. It is way beyond their means. Philip's comment is probably included to emphasize how impossible it would be to buy a truckload of bread. In each of the Synoptic Gospels the disciples urge Jesus to send the people away, rather than try to feed them, but Jesus insists: "You give them something to eat." He asks them to see what they have in store. It's interesting how Jesus seeks to involve his disciples in this feeding, both in finding what they have -- and later in distributing the multiplied loaves and fish.
After they've obeyed Jesus, and inventoried their resources, Andrew makes his report. Only John gives this disciple's name and that it is a boy who has the food. The poor would eat barley loaves, while those better off would eat bread made from wheat. The fish seemed to be a couple of small dried or preserved fish. It's a simple lunch. Again, Andrew emphasizes how tiny their resources are in face of the gargantuan task of Jesus' harebrained idea (so they thought) of feeding the entire crowd.
The lesson that Jesus is about to teach his disciples is the lesson of Gideon's army. When your resources are tiny compared to the need, you know the victory is God's, not man's.
Here's the sequence so far. They have examined the problem and seen no solution except to send the people away to fend for themselves. Jesus doesn't let them off the hook: "You feed them."
"We can't," they protest.
"What do you have?" Jesus asks.
"Five loaves and two fish."
"Give them to me," Jesus says.
Until the disciples are willing to commit what they do have to the enterprise, Jesus waits. Their contribution and commitment of it must be part of the solution, however tiny and inadequate.
1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
5 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?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 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). 11 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.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
Here is some background on and analysis of the incident from a Bible study on the Gospel of John by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson:
The miracle appears to have occurred on a mountainside above the city of Bethsaida in the area known today as the Golan Heights. Bethsaida had been the home of Philip, and, at least for a while, of several of Jesus' disciples. Bethsaida ("house of fish" or "house of fishermen") is at the northeast end of the Sea of Galilee, on a hill east of where the Jordan River enters the lake. In Old Testament times it had been the capital of the Aramean kingdom of Geshur. In the New Testament era, Herod the Great's son Philip rebuilt the city and named it Julius.
From the Synoptic Gospels, we know that the disciples have just returned from their mission. John the Baptist has just been executed, and that Jesus and his disciples are trying to take a break from the multitudes to a solitary place. They take their accustomed boat (Mark 6:32), push off from the shore, and set sail toward a deserted area near the town of Bethsaida, only a few miles from Capernaum. By taking the boat, they are hoping to discourage the crowds from following them. They are trying to get away. However, they don't succeed in avoiding the crowds.
Jesus sees the crowds and knows they must be hungry. According to the Synoptic Gospels, he teaches them for a while before the miracle. Now he asks Philip, who is a resident of Bethsaida and who would be familiar with food sources in the area, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat." Jesus is testing him. Will Philip look to God to provide? No.
Philip doesn't give a location where they can buy food. Rather, he explains to Jesus how expensive it would be to buy bread for them all -- "eight month's wages" (NIV), an approximate equivalent of 200 denarii (ESV). The point is, that this is a staggering sum, a sum way beyond what Jesus' band is carrying with them. It is way beyond their means. Philip's comment is probably included to emphasize how impossible it would be to buy a truckload of bread. In each of the Synoptic Gospels the disciples urge Jesus to send the people away, rather than try to feed them, but Jesus insists: "You give them something to eat." He asks them to see what they have in store. It's interesting how Jesus seeks to involve his disciples in this feeding, both in finding what they have -- and later in distributing the multiplied loaves and fish.
After they've obeyed Jesus, and inventoried their resources, Andrew makes his report. Only John gives this disciple's name and that it is a boy who has the food. The poor would eat barley loaves, while those better off would eat bread made from wheat. The fish seemed to be a couple of small dried or preserved fish. It's a simple lunch. Again, Andrew emphasizes how tiny their resources are in face of the gargantuan task of Jesus' harebrained idea (so they thought) of feeding the entire crowd.
The lesson that Jesus is about to teach his disciples is the lesson of Gideon's army. When your resources are tiny compared to the need, you know the victory is God's, not man's.
Here's the sequence so far. They have examined the problem and seen no solution except to send the people away to fend for themselves. Jesus doesn't let them off the hook: "You feed them."
"We can't," they protest.
"What do you have?" Jesus asks.
"Five loaves and two fish."
"Give them to me," Jesus says.
Until the disciples are willing to commit what they do have to the enterprise, Jesus waits. Their contribution and commitment of it must be part of the solution, however tiny and inadequate.