Settling or Seeking? 2
One expression which recurs in the first part of John 6 is, "a large crowd."  This assemblage has followed Jesus because He has been healing the sick.  Now they find themselves away from any food source.
"Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?'  He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do."
Philip's response was a reasonable one.  Andrew's was not even solicited yet he came and brought word of one possible resource.  Nonetheless, even Andrew was tempered by reality as he said, "but what are they for so many?" in speaking of the five loaves and two fish.
How familiar are their responses?  How frequently do we see so far and no further?
But Jesus was not only compassionate, He was prayerfully powerful.  He had the crowd organized, thanks given, food distributed.  We are told the people were given as much as they wanted and ate until they were full.  Then Jesus had the leftovers gathered, "that nothing may be lost."
We are told that there were 12 baskets of fragments left by those who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
No one could complain about the bounty of that miraculous meal.  No one did.  Instead the crowd thought that Jesus would make a good king; He could heal their ills and provide their meals.  What more could anyone want?
But Jesus left to be alone on the mountain.  His miracles of compassion were not intended to lead to the kind of king/kingdom the crowd had in mind.

Watch for more next week.