John 6:7-9
” Philip answered him, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’”
John tells us more about Philip than any of the other Gospel writers, but even at that, he doesn’t tell us much. We know that he was called by Jesus and that Philip then went and got Nathanael who also became a disciple. We see Philip mentioned just a few more times in John’s Gospel. It isn’t until we read Acts of the Apostles that we see what became of him, and how effective he was preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ.
In today’s verses, we see Jesus putting Philip on the spot. Sometimes we find ourselves in a public situation being asked a question we either don’t want to answer or don’t know the answer to. Some people are good at buffaloing their way through these kinds of situations, but Jesus didn’t call any buffaloers to be his disciples, so Philip answers the only way he knows how. He looks around at the thousands of people who are coming up the hill towards them and tries to calculate how many people there are and how much it would cost to feet them all, even one little bite of food. Andrew comes to Philip’s rescue and points out that at least one person had brought some food, but then he asks in effect, ‘What good is that?’
Jesus, through his Holy Spirit, sometimes comes to us with the same kind of question Philip was asked. Where should we get enough of something to do some impossibly big thing?
Q: If you could go back to the moment in time John is writing about, how would you coach Philip to respond to Jesus?
I would probably be like,..Phillip,..I know we haven’t been around Jesus for a long time but let’s give Him a chance,..if He say’s who He say’s He is then what are we to worry about,..He will take care of us,..I know we are not that educated yet but I believe this is where faith comes in,..remember God sent manna from heaven for our people to live a long time ago,..look what happened when they didn’t have faith and believe,..let’s give this guy a chance and watch what He does with this small amount of food,..come on,..let’s go and do what He tells us to do,..have some faith and believe that what there is here is enough to go around,..I know it may be hard,..but let’s give it a shot,..what do you say,..huh?
That’s my thoughts on going back in time with what I know now,..not knowing what I know now back then it would more than likely be a whole different response,..I would be like,..yeah,..I hear you,..there isn’t much here and it would take a lot of money to feed these people,..but hey what else do we have to do,..let’s go and get this done,..
Thanks John! Awesome role playing!! I can picture you next to Philip with a smile on your face as you encourage him with your words.
🙂
Well, like what John says above, it may depend on what I knew at that time. What knowledge I could take with me. The revealed word allows me to play armchair quarterback. Similarly, if we did not have the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, that would also play a big part. I am afraid that I would be probably as clueless as Philip appears to be. But we do have the Holy Spirit and we do have His revealed word. My problem is that sometimes I still act clueless. Sometimes my faith is not up to par with what I know. That is a bigger concern for me. I want to have faith that represents believing what Hebrews 11: 1 says: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.” Nothing is impossible with God that is in His will, but sometimes things are impossible for me due to the limitations of my faith. God help me.
41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).
45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
As we read in Chapter 1, His disciples were proclaiming Jesus as the Christ. “The Son of God”. Had they so quickly forgotten?
The whole scenario of going back in time knowing the future is a bit goofy. I understand that. Ron points out that they had already proclaimed Jesus “Son of God,” and yet they didn’t seem to understand what that meant. Rich points out that we all have limitations on our faith like Philip does. Yet in both cases, whether we have forgotten what God can do, or whether our faith is faltering, there is a path back to a right understanding of who God is and what He can do. What I would wish for Philip in that moment years ago is that he could at least stop and ask the question, “If God is God, what can’t he do?”
Yep, but it would appear Philip was as human as the guys answering your question Jeff.
God Bless,
Look for you tomorrow.