08 - John 6:26

’Verily, verily I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.’ -John 6:26. The miracle of the multiplication of loaves was wrought to satisfy the need of the people. They had been fasting some time; it would be difficult for them to get food for themselves; Jesus, therefore, with power from on high, spread for them a repast in the wilderness. Was he simply intent on satisfying their hunger? Had he regard only to their physical need? Had this been the only object in view, the providence of God would so have arranged matters that they should have been fed without a miracle, just as it now provides for the sustenance of similar multitudes all over the World. But the miracle was full of significance; its scope was sublime; it was freighted with that which should convey blessings for a lifetime, for eternity, to the soul.

I. It was divinely given. The power and grace of God were directly concerned in its production. He that said "Let there be light, and there was light", said "Let the five loaves in this basket be more than sufficient for the appetite of these assembled thousands." It was as though angels had sped from the very throne of God with the bread which they required. Through the operation of sin. Nature has become a screen between God and men; they take and eat the good things with which the world abounds without understanding that they are at the banquet table of God, that he has knowledge of them and of their need, and is the Giver of these good things. What is found is valued simply for what it is in itself, for the help and pleasure it briefly ministers, and not as a special token of a heavenly Father’s love. But what these Galileans had all their life failed to recognise, the miraculously multiplied loaves should have shown them. Now, if never before, the bread in their hands should signify to them the love of God, should as it were constrain them to see a door opened in heaven, with the God of all grace looking down and saying, In me is all thou needest; my people shall be satisfied with my goodness. A rose sent to you from the sovereign, a mere rose, would it not be priceless as signifying to you that the giver is your friend, his power at your service, his treasures plighted for your pleasure? The Lord Jesus might well have thought in himself as he multiplied the loaves, Now surely I shall get a victory over this Nature that has so long been intercepting the glory of God and hindering these creatures of his, these pensioners of his, from recognising the kindly hand Divine that opens daily to satisfy them.

II. The miracle bore testimony to Christ. Him God the Father sealed by means of it, declaring unambiguously, "This is my beloved Son", commissioned to interpret all my mind to you, laden with the riches of my grace, clothed with salvation; his words are my words, and should be to you more precious than thousands of gold and silver. Hear and your soul shall live. Was it possible for men to eat this bread and not look unto Jesus, not see the glory of God shining in his face, not hunger and thirst with intensest desire for every word that should fall from his lips? Did not every mouthful that they ate take possession of them for Christ, and bind them to him by a mystical but vital, indissoluble bond, even as the members are bound to the head? Are they not now consecrated to him by far more than an external and visible sign and symbol, even by his signature in the very fountains of their being? Of what can they speak as they sit there by fifties? shall it be of the mere bread, satisfying their bodily hunger? Shall we not hear one say to another: How wonderful is this Jesus! nothing is impossible to him; with him is all the power of God; he speaks and it is done; how fearfully have we slighted the words that fell from him! surely every word of his must have an everlasting importance; what sinners we must be! what a blessed thing that he is full of grace, and does not frown upon us! let us listen diligently to every word that he utters, and obey it for our life; henceforth know nothing but Jesus Christ, and deem it a greater honour to suffer privation, ignominy, cruel injury in his name, than to be the most exalted of men without him.

We hearken, but we do not hear them thus speaking to one another. They find much to wonder at; they think it would be a fine thing to have Jesus for their king; but the thought in their mind is that as a king provides sumptuously for his courtiers, so he should enrich and honour them.

Jesus saw that this was all that was in their minds when they gathered around with acclamations, wishing to make him king of the Jews, there and then. It was very much as when the Tempter had shown him from an exceeding high mountain the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them. Jesus sent them away, sent the disciples too away, and went into the woods to weep in the bosom of his heavenly Father. Was that a peculiar race? Has that generation passed away? Is it not, morally, still existing? Are there not in Christendom, are there not among us, multitudes who receive the Gospel as those Galileans received the miraculous bread, only to inquire how they can be helped by it to a comfortable and honourable provision here below? At the present day, almost everywhere, the office of a minister of Christ means a competency. It often means more; it means a position in society; the respect of the gentry, the reverence of the poor; in some instances, wealth. Hundreds and thousands come forward every year to the place of embarkation for the voyage of life, to the point where they must decide upon a career, a profession; Law, Medicine, Literature, the Navy, Commerce, Engineering, Art, "the Church," are before them; and many, we have reason to fear, are helped to make election of this last, by the fact that it is to give them advantages of a temporal nature, - an honourable place in society, ease, a good income. We know what ministry means in Christ’s estimation; he came not to be ministered unto but to minister; he was among us as one that serveth; and the servant of Christ is not greater than his Lord. If any man serve me, let him follow me; let him take up his cross, forsaking all that he hath, and follow me. But the origin of the evil lies further back. Those who come forward to enter the ministry are as the church is. Their piety bears a certain proportion to the piety of the body to which they belong. The view of discipleship determines the view of the ministry. Too many join themselves to the great body of professing Christians, with views not essentially different from those which brought the Jews in Capernaum to Jesus. They are largely influenced by considerations that relate to this life. They have no thought of repudiating the world, its service, its honours, its pleasures. They would shudder at the thought of breaking with the world. The incidental advantages of professing religion (if that can be called a profession of religion which has the sanction of the world) are all that they look at.

Surely this must be revolting to Christ in a high degree. How greatly was he displeased when a man came with a complaint against his brother about some miserable inheritance; to Christ who had come from heaven to tell us of an inheritance unfading and sublime in the heavens. The Gospel offers men a key of paradise; they take it with a smirk of complacency, thinking to sell it for old silver.