In these verses of scripture John records how a large crowd was following Jesus. John said this crowd followed Jesus because of the many miracles he had performed on them.

It was also Passover; the festival in which God’s people celebrated their deliverance from the Egypt.

During this season Jews from both near and far made their way to Jerusalem to participate in the festivities. In Mark’s account (see Mark 6:35) it was late in the evening and the people were hungry. Jesus asks Phillip where can we buy bread to feed them? Phillip said we only have $14.50 and that is not enough to feed this crowd. The disciples wanted to send the multitude away so that they could purchase food in one of the local cities. But Jesus disagreed. Here we learn that He does not want us to leave out of his presence the same way in which we came! If we come into his presence sick he want us to leave healed! If we come with questions he want us to leave with answers! If we come all bound up he want us to leave delivered! Andrew identified a young vendor who had two fish and five barley loaves of bread which was not enough to feed this large crowd. The two fish were the size of sardines and Barley bread was the bread that was eaten by the poor. These were not loaves but they were actually small hard crusted rolls that were smaller than a dinner roll. In verse 11 Jesus gave thanks. Mark said he looked toward heaven and blessed them! He gave thanks for two small fish and five small rolls! When was the last time you gave God thanks for the small things? Thanks for the low paying job! Thanks for the few resources that you have! In this miracle Jesus teaches us that when we give thanks for the small things in our life God will stretch what we have to make sure we have a sufficiency of all things!