Reflection on Sign Four from John's Gospel

I think my favorite part is right after it says that the Great Passover Feast was near ... John describes Jesus looking up and seeing a great crowd coming toward HIM. The hungry pilgrams are going to their yearly feast in Jerusalem and man they look like they are starving ... and there is so many of them. So Jesus' sense of humor or maybe just playfullness kicks in and he says to Phillip: "Where should we buy bread for these people?" They are looking for a feast right, well, how are we going to provide it for them?

While Phillip is expressing his dumbfoundedness, Peter's brother speaks up, "There is a little poor boy who has offered his meager barley loaves and small fish ... but I don't know what that means." Do you think Jesus smiled about the young man who has more faith than his disciples? There is a lot missing here for me ... did they talk long enough for the boy to get that they were trying to come up with the food. Who was this young boy anyway and why was he so close to the disciples (not with the great crowd of people).

Jesus provides from this boys lunch a feast for over 5000 people with plenty left over (all that they want). Jesus is definitley pointing to his ability to feed our hunger. This always make me think of the verse in the Old Testament that "Man cannot live by bread alone, but needs the word of God." I think Jesus is setting up to teach about how he is the bread of Life ... the word of God that will cause us to live.