Jesus was not facing an emergency. The crowd that followed Him up the mountain was not starving, and if Jesus had done nothing, no one would have died that day from starvation. While many of them would have packed a bit to eat, (just as the young boy did with his loafs and two small fishes) they were still a very poor crowd. They would have lived from day-to-day depending upon each day’s labor to provide their evening meal. Still, Jesus did not perform his miracle to prevent a disaster. He was not saving them from death.

He also did not perform his miracle to provide them with a wonderful banquet. Barley loaves were the cheapest form of bread. People who had the money would have bought bread made of wheat, oats or rye. Only the poorest of the poor ate bread made of barley. However, when Jesus performed His miracle it was barley that He fed to the multitude. The fish would not have been anything special either. It would have been sun dried fish, much like dried jerky. It would have been tough and chewy without much taste. Jesus did not provide the crowd with an extravagant meal.

If Jesus had not performed his miracle, the crowd would have traveled home and arrived hungry, but their lives would have remained unchanged. After Jesus fed them, their daily lives still remained unchanged. They were still poor and had to work to survive from day-to-day. After being fed by a miracle, they still woke up the following morning hungry and facing a harsh and cruel world.

Why then did Jesus perform his miracle? He did not have to, and it did not lift anyone out of poverty or change their status in life. He did it as a sign revealing Himself as the Bread of Life. The multitude saw the sign, but could not yet understand it. Jesus as The Bread of Life is not about hungry bellies. Jesus wants to satisfy the hunger in our souls.