A Feast Fashioned by a King

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Jesus does not rival God’s power, rather, he exercises God’s power. …Jesus does not work independently of God; indeed, he cannot work without God’s authority. Thus, Jesus’s argument for his dependence on the Father is implicitly an argument for his unity with the Father.”

~Marianne Meye Thompson, theologian and professor of New Testament

“The Church is perishing today through the lack of thinking, not through an excess of it.”

~J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937), New Testament scholar

“As the centuries pass the evidence is accumulating that, measured by his effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet.”

~Kenneth Scott Latourette (1884-1968), historian, professor at Yale

“No one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshipped; no other man has been so devoutly loved.”

~John Knox (c. 1514- 1572), Scottish minister, theologian, and reformer

“You never have to drag mercy out of Christ, as money from a miser.”

~C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), English Baptist preacher

“It is the identity that we ascribe to God…that will determine the identity we will give ourselves and ultimately the life that we inevitably live. If he is the Creator, then we are created. If he is Master, then we are servants. If he is love, then we are loved. If he is omnipotent, then we are not as powerful as we think. If he is omniscient, then there is nowhere to hide. If he cannot lie, then his promises are all true. It is faith in the truths of God’s character that has the power to completely revolutionize how our lives are lived out.”

~Jackie Hill-Perry, writer and hip-hop artist

SERMON PASSAGE

John 6:1-15 (ESV)

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.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.