Lifting up His eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?” John 6:5 ESV

Last Friday, God changed my notes, and substituted a short message about how Jesus sometimes spent more time asking questions than He did providing answers. In short, Jesus, unlike myself, was NOT a know-it-all. He rarely gave long lectures, and instead, Jesus often asked questions, and then took a breath to listen to the answers. In today’s verse, when the disciples were feeling stressed about how to feed the people, Jesus did not say, “Hey chill out guys. I have a miracle up my sleeve that will knock your socks off!”  

Instead, Jesus turned to the closest disciple and more or less asked, “Hey what do you think we should do?” Jesus was not in a hurry to show off His knowledge, and He asked questions, even when He knew the answers. Why would He do that? The next verse tells us that He asked in order to test Philip. Now, there were at least five thousand hungry men, including the disciples, and though Jesus was concerned for their welfare, He was more interested in their hearts than their hunger. Then Jesus asked a second question,

“And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Mark 6:38

Strangely, when Jesus asks us questions, His next step is often to invite us to surrender whatever we have towards the answer. In this story, the disciples had only five loaves and two fish. Yet, despite of the absurdity of that tiny meal, they brought it to Jesus. Then Jesus gave thanks. He was grateful for the loaves and fish that looked insignificant to everyone else. Then, last, and most amazing of all is what happened next. Jesus gave them back everything they had surrendered, but with a blessing! And today, just like then, Jesus asks us questions, He patiently listens to our answers, welcomes what we give Him, and then, with a blessing He gives us back everything we surrender to Him!