1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 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?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” (John 6:1-7 – English Standard Version)
After a long day of work, Jesus must be very tired. He may want to find a quiet place to rest. Unfortunately, a large crowd of people kept following Him because they saw the miraculous work of Jesus. When Jesus saw the crowd, he concerned about their needs. He may have thought to Himself, “These people must be tired too. They may have not eaten yet. They must be hungry.” So Jesus asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” To feed the people is not a problem to Jesus. He already knows what to do. However, it is a problem to Philip and he has another concern in mind. While Jesus was asking Philip about the place to buy bread, Philip was concerning about the costs. Philip thought that with the money they had, it would not be enough to buy food that feeds everyone. Philip was not addressing Jesus’ question. While we are in the mist of difficult situation, we see no solution and feel hopeless. We think the situation is impossible to be changed. However, Jesus concerns about the situation before we do and he already has the solution. Jesus may have asked us question to test our faith. And we may have missed that original question and kept bothering by all the questions that we have in our mind. If we are able to listen carefully to what Jesus has asked and simply respond to it, situation may have already been turned around.
Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
