🕂 The Holy Great Rulers Constantine and Helen, Equals-to-the-Apostles.
Polyeleos Feast. Leave-taking of Mid-Pentecost.
Acts 13:13-24; Acts 26:1-5, 12-20; John 6:5-14; John 10:1-8.
Read John 6:5-14
Why did the Lord want to test Philip? He wanted to give Philip an opportunity to grow in his faith in Him. Philip answers the Lord’s request with a very pragmatic answer – we don’t have the money to do what You ask. Andrew joins in with the material facts – this one boy with five loaves (like pita bread) and two fish (like sardines or slightly larger fish), a meal too big for him but much too small for 5,000 men (plus women and children). The resources are scant, the request is impossible. Could it be that Philip and Andrew both understood our Lord as Messiah according to their own terms? Certainly, when the Lord multiplies the loaves and fish such that after some 15,000+ people (a decent sized town) have had their fill, there are twelve baskets of leftovers collected so that they will not go to waste. He is the Lord of suprabundance (much more than superabundance)! The Lord wanted Philip and Andrew (and the other disciples, and us as well as we contemplate this Gospel passage today), to understand Him as the Messiah according to his terms. He gives more than daily bread (as the Lord gave to Moses and Israel in the desert). He gives bread from heaven that when consumed gives eternal life (as we learn later in chapter six of John’s Gospel). and, indeed, He is that very bread!
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So, when the Lord gives us a request to do something that is seemingly impossible, we can give Him pragmatic answers, AND we can trust that He will provide more than we could ever conceive!