Much to the chagrin of my co-laborers in the office, I stockpile cans of sardines and Wasa crackers in a cabinet for a quick inexpensive lunch. The crackers are dry and crunchy and the sardines are . . . well . . . stinky fish. This isn’t kingly food. It’s not caviar and truffles.
When Jesus provided bread and fish to the five thousand He did not give them a fancy feast. John tells us it was barley bread. This was the bread of poor people. It was easy to make and traveled well, meaning, it was dry and hard to chew. The fish were most probably small (sardine-like), transportable fish, dried for preserving. Yum. Wasa and sardines are lookin’ good now aren’t they?
So if Jesus is going to do this miracle, why wouldn’t He do it up right? Why not checkered cloths and Longaberger baskets filled with chicken salad, sparkling champaign, and grapes?
Why? Because Jesus is the Bread of life. Could it be to show the vast difference between the bread of earth and the Bread of Heaven? One is temporal and fleeting and the other eternal and infinite. Since Jesus is using these signs and wonders to point to Him, He surely wants us to see that the things of this world on which we depend are insignificant compared to the life He brings.
Jesus has given the things in this life to us just as He gave bread and fish to overabundance to the five thousand. These things were never meant to bring ultimate satisfaction. Now we taste in them of sorrow and strife and bitterness. But life in Christ is hope that through these very gall-filled things we find life in Him and Him alone. (John 6)
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