JESUS FEEDS 5,000: A TOUCH OF HEAVEN

JOHN 6:1-21
1 The following period, Jesus crossed to the dry area diagonally from the Sea of Galilee (a.k.a. Tiberius),
2 where the crowds were furiously thick, tagging behind, fascinated by his miraculous signs which he did on those sickly.
3 So quickly, Jesus went up a mountainside to recline, kickin' back with his closest students for a time of brief interlude.
4 The highest feast of the Jews, Passover, would be coming soon.
5 When Jesus looked up & right in his view he saw the masses coming to see him--they found him--it touched his heart so he wanted to go & feed them. So he turned to Philip and beseeched him, "Where can we buy food, so the people can eat some?"
6 He asked the question to really teach him; he already figured out the procedures.
7 Philip was like, "Jesus, I know your heart is right, but I doubt that one might supply a bite for each one of these Israelites, even w/ 10 billion mites."
8 Then another discip'e, Andrew, Peter's brother, spake up to shed some light:
9 "This kid here has two small fish and five loaves of bread, but with this many heads, how far will that spread?"
10 Then Jesus said, "We'll have the people take a seat." There were 5,000 men alone but plenty of space for each.
11 Then Jesus reached for the bread and gave thanks for the dish and gave it to his crew, who gave to the people & he did the same with the fish.
12 And get this: All the people ate as much as they wished! Then Jesus had his crew gather together the leftovers so that none would be ditched.
13 From five little barley loaves & two tiny fishes, they added up the fragments to 12 baskets of deliciousness.
14 This was a sign. The people insisted when they saw what Jesus just did, "I swear to you that he's a prophet!"
15 They were hype about this topic & Jesus, using spiritual optics, saw that they were locked on making him their king--no stopping. So he departed, back to the mountain alone where he started to roam.
16 Later in the night the disciples went down to the sea,
17 undocked their ship, and got on, heading out toward Capernaum. See...they had waited for Jesus to get back, but they went without him because by now the sky was pitch black.
18 And strong winds began to attack and howl, making the waves wild.
19 When they had rowed the boat between three to four miles, they looked out on the water and was like, "Wow!" They saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking, staying afloat--the sight was so awesome that they were scared speechless, lump in the throat.
20 But then Jesus spoke, "It is I. You don't have to be afraid; you're not about to die." And their fears did subside.
21 Needless to say, they wanted him to come and get inside, and in no time they arrived at their destination on the other side, alive.
DEVOTIONAL
Discovering the other side of Jesus
To embark upon any new adventure, a person would normally leave room to be surprised by new experiences--but the disciples were in no way prepared for the 32-month journey when they ran with Jesus. They knew he was a man because they ate, slept, laughed, and lived with him. Yet Jesus was prone to show them another side to his nature that jacked them up. Jesus simply being himself activated a theological and social tailspin that threw the disciples off their game, constantly causing them to question each other: "What kind of man is this?" Although they never approached Jesus with that type of question, he always told them who he was. Not only did he tell them, but he also backed it up by showing and proving. Miracles were the norm for Jesus because to him heaven was not so far away, and he stayed in touch. Yet he was introducing the disciples to a brand-new world that took some time to get used to...if they ever actually did get used to the surprises of Jesus.
Surprise, surprise!
- What's the biggest surprise from God you've ever experienced?
- Name three subtle surprises we experience every day that are miracles just as big as walking on water.
- Out of all the miracles Jesus did, which one would you most like to have seen?

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Taken from "The Script" by Fred D. Lynch III, copyright 2008 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission.