Two Hundred Denarii
Maybe he had been thinking about it for a while, or maybe he was just quick with numbers; either way, Philip seemed certain it would take two hundred denarii to feed the multitude, and that's exactly what he told Jesus. Jesus had asked Philip, “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?” That’s when Philip presented his calculations to Jesus, “It would take two hundred denarii to feed all of these people! That’s a little more than six months' wages, and then everyone would only get a little bit. Then, even if we did have the money, there’s no way we could find that much bread,” he rattled on and on in front of Jesus (John 6:5). Jesus had to be impressed by Philip's business acumen, but not so much by his faith. Had Philip and the other disciples not been following Jesus and seen Him perform miracle after miracle? Where was Philip’s faith? And the other disciples, where was their compassion? Maybe their reluctance to help was clouding their memories. They saw the same need Jesus saw, but their answer was to get rid of the need by getting rid of the people. They seemed fine with just sending the crowds away and letting them fend for themselves. Jesus, the Good Teacher, was obviously going to use this to teach them, and us, a lesson.
“You feed them,” Jesus said to the disciples. While the other disciples made excuses, Andrew brought a small boy forward. This child had a generous heart and believed Jesus could do something with what little he had. Jesus took the boy's lunch, looked up to heaven, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and began distributing the food to the disciples to hand to the crowds (Matt. 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, Jn. 6:1-15). They didn't need two hundred denarii after all; they only needed the faith and generous heart of a child to trust Jesus to do what He had always done: deliver.
Isn't it peculiar that we are children for so little of our lives? Think about it: if you live long enough, you will be an adult much longer than you ever were a child. Our childlike innocence lasts only a short time. Only for a short time are we pure-hearted and trusting. This world has ensured that most of us don’t carry those childlike attributes into adulthood. We spend most of our lives as adults, which means we spend most of our lives trying to figure things out on our own. We spend most of our lives trying to be self-sufficient and self-reliant, and distrustful of God. We spend most of our lives trying to figure out how many denarii it will take to solve our problems, only to find that nothing we have is ever enough. How do we move from an innocent child willing to share his bag lunch, to disciples of Jesus who spend so much time consumed by the world that we ignore the value of sitting at the Savior's feet?
This was a test. Jesus knew the plan. He just wanted to see where the disciples’ heads were. Would they ever stop thinking about logistics? Would they ever stop focusing on how feeding the people wouldn’t work and consider that they were in the presence of the Miracle Worker? Hadn’t the divine resources Jesus had already displayed been enough to convince them that He wasn’t bound by physical limitations? Jesus had compassion for the multitude and displayed His power over the laws of nature by feeding the five thousand men, their wives, and children, with tons of food to spare.
He didn’t expect the disciples to try to figure out how to feed the crowds. He expected them to trust Him, as the little boy did. He expects the same from us. Stop trying to figure things out on your own. In most cases, you are completely powerless. In other cases, you may have some power, but you will likely still make mistakes. Why not trust God with everything? Jesus has resources we know nothing about. He has the whole world in His hands! God knows your need and loves you! God has compassion for you and will provide; trust Him! Look at Jesus like that little boy, with trust and expectation, and watch Him turn the little you have into a big miracle.
