"6 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denariiwould not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”"
John 6:1-14
The circumstances leading up to the miracle have something to teach us. Jesus asked Philip a question about the provision of bread, and John adds that He did so 'to test Philip' (6). This is significant, apart from the matter of the miracle itself. When we company with Jesus, He is never prepared to allow us simply to amble along, but puts tests in our way. He keeps prodding us, so to speak, because He is concerned that we shall grow in grace. In one sense, being a disciple of Christ is a very uncomfortable business. One is not allowed to sit back and take things easy. Philip's reply to Jesus in 7 was pretty uncompromising as to the impossibility of anything being done for the multitude; which seems to show that, so far as Philip was concerned, he was not learning very much through His companying with the Saviour. Doubtless he had been present when the woman of Samaria had been converted, and when the man was healed at Bethesda. He had seen a miracle-working Jesus, yet when our Lord, as it were, puts the ball into Philip's court, inviting him to believe in His miracle-working power, all Philip can say is 'Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient'. It is as if he had said, 'Lord, it would take a miracle to feed all these people' - and, all the while, he was staring the miracle-worker in the face, and it did not dawn on him: 'O Philip, you dullard!', we are tempted to say. But, are we ourselves so different? Sometimes in our prayers we think despairingly, 'It would take a miracle to do this', and we sink back in despondency, forgetting that it is a miracle-God that we come to, in our prayers. Andrew (8) seems to be admitting the possibility of something happening, with the young lad's scanty provision. Perhaps he spoke more in hope than in faith, as if to say, 'Perhaps He might do something with this supply, I'd better mention it, just in case'. It was hardly a strong, positive attitude of faith, but surely it was better than Philip's attitude!