More Than Enough

Scripture: John 6:4-9

Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”

More Than Enough

In our Journey of Senseless Faith, we find ourselves looking through the miracles of Jesus. Throughout the course of the ministry of Jesus, He performs a myriad of miracles that defy our logic. These miracles suggest to us that the capabilities of God are far beyond our understanding. It proves the validity of Isaiah 55:8-9, which argues that God’s thoughts and ways are above our ways and thoughts.  The greatest of God’s creations was the human, which directly relates to you. In the eyesight of God, you are Good. in lieu of the reality of God, we live in a contradicting society that is engulfed with the weight of comparison. Comparison serves as a tool the shows that we are not enough. We forget about the sight of God and compare ourselves with people based on their position and status. Comparison either depresses us or oppresses others, as we use it to see our worth through the lens of others. Our value and importance lies in the ability to see ourselves as valuable.

Like us, Jesus came to this earth with a purpose. By the time of this text, Jesus had been doing miracles since John chapter 2, which was the wedding at Cana. That miracle, and the ones to follow gain notoriety in the area, which caused Jesus to get familiar with having the attention of others by this point. Jesus had grown a large following of people, and on this day, his entire Instagram and Twitter following came together for a live appearance with Jesus. Jesus was in a space where 5000 men, plus women and children were there with him. He realized, just like a good host, he must feed these people has a come into his space. Jesus didn’t have the resources to provide lunch for this great gathering of people. The disciples saw the number of people gathered and forgot about the power of God. They saw the issue, not knowing that they were standing in the company of the solver of the problem. They saw Jesus and forgot. They forgot that Jesus was from the hood of Nazareth and knew how to make a dollar out of 15 cents. Jesus was born into an environment that required creativity. A creativity that the Disciples didn’t have. They were supposed to be the followers of Christ, who had been walking with him from the beginning of his public ministry, but they lack enough imagination and creativity to see God in the place of lack. They should’ve known what kinds of thing happen when there was a shortage, or there seemed to not be enough of something. Where was their creativity? God sees our issues and creates a solution

·         God saw nothing and created the earth

·         God saw the vacant land and created animals

·         God saw the loneliness of Man and Created the Woman

·         God Created ways in the wilderness and rivers in the desert

·         God saw the sin of the world and gave us Jesus as a sacrifice

How could a God, who is so creative, create a people in God’s image and likeness; and not expect them to be creative? Sometimes we are faced with issues and circumstances that our own creativity could get us out of. While this is not the case for all of us, our creativity could be the remedy for our maladies. There are some issues we ought to stop praying for deliverance out of. Some problems we ought to stop praying for God to fix. Some situations we ought to stop praying for God to provide for. Some illnesses/pains we ought to stop praying for God to heal. Why, because even in the midst of our trauma and issues; God still finds a way to sustain us with things that were in our midst that we lack the creativity to see. Our prayers should be aimed at seeing the pieces of the story and asking God to help us use them effectively.

Jesus’s relationship with the disciples had not been fully determined at this point, as this was their first year together. Jesus only had a 3 year-long tenured contract to be the mentor and teacher to these 12 disciples. So as Jesus is training them to be true disciples, Jesus pulls out a pop quiz. The text says that Jesus asked them this to test them. Jesus says where will we find the bread to feed all of these people? And just like most other imperfect, self-centered, and inconsistent people, we, I mean the disciples failed. They didn’t take in the capability of Christ, nor did they prepare for the possibility in their midst. The disciples, like us, lack the imagination and fortitude to realize that there is something else going on around us. That it is possible that you’ve been planted right where God needs us to blossom, with the resources needed to ensure your blossoming takes place. This should offer us an opportunity to see the opposition as a means to be the creative work of God. What if we looked at all of our opposition to the potential site of what God can be brought forth out of this? In this text, it is seen through the lens of the disciples, who do not see the capacity to feed the multitude of people.  Like Philip, some of us approach opposition with the defeated perspective, that screams “I’ve given up”. This is due to the logic of Philip. He suggested that it couldn’t be done, as his limited view could see it. But unfortunately, he was being tested and he failed. Jesus already knew that the supply he needed was in the room, but it was trapped in the hands of a willing vessel. This is similar to our own opposition, that we lack the ability to see.

You may find yourself up against opposition and are frustrated because all you can find on your side, is you. Why is that? This is possible because what you have to offer could be the thing that changes history. We look at this text and some of us can recite this because of the number of times that we’ve heard it read and/or preached. This story is not simply about a story of faith, but how faith, when executed properly, can bring forth results that we didn’t anticipate. Jesus knew that those fish and loaves were not enough to adequately feed the disciples, let alone the gathered crowd of people. The truth is, that the story isn’t even about the fish, it is about the boy who was willing to surrender it. Some of us would have been in that space and wouldn’t have offered our lunch to Jesus. While we would have considered it, the thought for some of us is “if I surrender my food to Him, what will I eat?”? What if I told you that this is how we behave with ourselves? This child left home with only enough to feed himself, but it, in turn, would feed thousands of people. He had more than enough. What seemed like only enough for him, was more than he could’ve imagined. Why? Because, he not only offered his lunch, but also his trust in Christ. The lunch was not enough, He was. Just like this boy, you, too, are enough. No matter what your family said, no matter what your haters did, or even what your doctors diagnosed, You’re more than enough.