Philip answered Him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. John 6:7
Prices were very good at a large bakery that existed at one time in Saint John. I remember going there and filling a very large bag with fresh buns that had barely cooled and remarking at the price. Other bakery products in that shop were also very reasonably priced, and we made frequent visits there. Other people did the same, and there was a steady flow of customers. The shop had a good production line, which was kept busy keeping up with the demand. A shop like that could probably have quickly met the needs of the crowd that gathered to hear Jesus preach on the mountainside. But they didn’t have shops like that in those days. Philip is pointing out the hopelessness of meeting the need. It’s an attitude that many of us have these days.
A pennyworth, actually a Roman denarii in the original, was enough to buy enough bread for ten men for a day. Two hundred pennyworth would feed two thousand. But Philip knew the crowd was much larger than that. Naturally speaking, the need far exceeded the supply. Naturally speaking, the need exceeds the supply today, in many ways, especially when it comes to the Gospel. The need for preachers to herald the word far exceeds the demand. The need for Bibles to place in ther hands of sinners exceeds the demand, as does the need for Gospel tracts and Seed Sowers texts. The need for Christians to invite people out to Gospel meetings is far more than the demand, as is evidenced in the number of empty seats at those meetings. Also in short supply are Christians to live as witnesses for Christ before the world. In all of these areas, the Christians could be doing more, giving more, and living more. So some of the lack is actually our fault. It is also our responsibility to be praying for the Lord of the Harvest for more workers.
Just as the disciple’s pitiful resources could never have met the needs of the hungry multitude, so the Christians today can never meet the needs of the lost all around us. Even if we all devoted ourselves as we should to invitations and witnessing, we could never of ourselves fill seats at Gospel meetings or draw crowds to listen to the message. Only the Holy Spirit will draw sinners near. The best of testimonies, and the most powerful of preaching can never bring about conviction of sin all by itself, nor can those preachers even one bring repentant sinner to the foot of the Cross. Again, that is alone the work of the Holy Spirit. That is the power for which we entreat our God to display today.
Have we done our little portion toward the furtherance of the Gospel? Have we petitioned God to work His Gospel miracles among us? -Jim MacIntosh