About This Guide: This weekly groups guide, “A Light Has Dawned,” is designed as a companion to our Epiphany 2022 teaching series, fostering discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting. Join a group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
Teaching Text: John 6:1-14
Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Satisfaction in God
Presence
Take a moment of silence and think about these questions:
Take 2 minutes of silence
Notice your body, all the aches, and pains
Notice your emotions, what rises to the surface?
Notice your mind - what thoughts keep coming to you in the silence? (It might help to have a pen and paper ready to write them down so you don’t feel the urge to be distracted by them during the time)
Meditate on the words of Jesus: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
How should we live if what Jesus has said and done is real?
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance and, if true, is of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.” (C.S. Lewis)
Jesus demonstrates
Jesus declares
Jesus delivers
The Kingdom of God
“There are roughly three New Yorks.(and he acknowledged that there were really more) There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something...Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.” (EB White, Here is New York)
We see life differently
We live differently because of our worldview
Jesus mirrors the exodus in this passage because he:
Feeds people supernaturally
Has power over water
Promises deliverance
Bread - to the Jewish people - was:
Essential
Communal
Grateful
Worshipful
Jesus meets the people in their need(feeds the 5000+) and then points them to the greater need that only he can satisfy.
He does not dismiss their needs; only care for their physical needs.
The signs (physical provisions) can’t ever truly satisfy but point to the greater promise that he makes and shows he is able to deliver on his promise: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
What drives or motivates you?
What hopes do you have?
Life will be better if/when…
Is your hope set on one of these things mentioned above?
Do you expect they will bring you the deep and lasting joy that your soul needs?
“The kind of people we want to be are those who believe the good news of Jesus so much that we actually order our lives around it.” (Todd Hunter)
Love
Read these notes and discuss the questions below:
Who can you notice this week that sees life differently from you?
How can you make an effort to see life through their lens and understand them better?
Pray for one another in the group.
