THE KING’S BUSINESS
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v. 7. “Philip answered Him, Two hun dred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient fo r them,-that every.one o f them may take a little." Philip’s answer is not only sug gestive, but amusing. He figured out just how much it will cost to buy enough so “every one may take a little. Ah! Jesus does not provide “a little” for those who sit at His table. :Philip1, however, was quite a typical church treasurer, he believed in “carrying on the Lord’s work on strictly business principles.” There are many just ; like him today, who are figuring out on how little they can dole out to those who come to the Lord Jesus table to receive at His hand. vs. 8, 9. “One o f H is disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto Him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves and two small .(omit, small) fishes., but what are these among so many?” Andrew, seeing the difficulties of the occa sion, for a moment ventured a suggestion ‘that there was a little boy at hand with five loaves and two little fish (there is no adjective “little” in the Greek, but the word translated “fish” is itself a diminutive form and indicates something carried along to bp eaten with bread), but he was immediately frightened at the apparent absurdity of his own suggestion, and immediately blurted out, “but what are these among so many ?” Before the day was over he found out that they proved to be quite sufficient among so many, for the Lord Jesus Himself took these insignificant things into His own hand and multiplied them. We are often tempted to say of our insignificant gifts and pos sessions, “But what are these?” “Quite sufficient,” Jesus replies, “if you will only put them into my hand.” There is a won derful naturalness about the whole story, an artlessness that surpasses all the possi bility of art. What Philip said, and what Andrew said are quite characteristic of the two men. That little chap who had come along with his five cheap barley crackers and two little salt fish about the size of sardines, to eat with them, or possibly to sell to some one who had come out to see
was because the passover, the great annual feast of the Jews, was at hand, a'nd the crowds were gathered to go up to Jerusa lem to the feast. ■v. 5. “When Jesus then lifted up (Jesus therefore lifting up) His eyes, and saw (seeing that) a great company come (multi tude cometh) unto Him, He (omit He) saith unto Philip, Whence shall we (are we to) buy bread, that these mail eat?" It was several hours (as we learn hy the com parison of the accounts) before this crowd would need feeding, but Jesus considers their coming need at once and sets His disciples to considering it. He takes it for granted that they were to eat with Him; so He puts to Philip the question, Whence are we to buy bread that these may eat?” y. 6. “And this He said to prove him: fo r He H imself knew what He would do." It is to test Philip, not to solve any per plexity of His own, that our Lord asks the question. He knew from the beginning what He would do. He was never taken unawares, or unprepared. He knows exactly what He will do in every, emergency that may arise in the lives of any one of us; there are no after thoughts with Him. But Philip needs testing. Will Philip arise to the occasion and say, “Master, there is no difficulty at all about that, because you are here; Thy hand is quite sufficient for the emergency?” Philip might well have done that ; for 'he had seen the water become wine in another emergency, and he had seen other manifestations of.the fullness of Divine power that there was in Jesus. But alas! while Philip might have done it, Philip was just like us, slow of spiritual perception and slow of faith, and just as Moses in the wilderness was utterly at a loss to know how God could provide flesh for six hundred thousand footmen, so Philip is at a loss to see how Jesus can provide bread for five thousand (cf. Num. 11:21-23; Ps. 78:19). How often we are aghast at the seemingly colossal work before us, or rather before Christ, and at the small visible resources at our com mand.
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