Andrew had found a little food; but rightly thought it would not feed 5,000 people. So instead of seeing its value in the hands of Jesus, Andrew thought it was virtually useless. But Jesus knew otherwise. He got His disciples to seat the crowd on the grass in groups (Mark 6:40); and they obeyed, even though they did not know what would happen next. Then Jesus said the Jewish prayer of thanksgiving for the food (Christians call this prayer before meals 'grace').

It was an amazing miracle. Feeding 5,000 people had shown everybody that Jesus had supernatural power. The Jewish people identified Him as the 'Prophet' who Moses spoke about (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). In other words, they recognised that Jesus was on a mission from God, to bring people back to honour God's covenant. But Jesus knew that their primary interest was not simply to listen to the Word of God: they wanted to make Him fulfil their ambitions, making Him their leader in a public uprising against the Roman occupiers.

Lots of people were searching for Jesus. Why? They had enjoyed a free meal when Jesus fed 5,000 people miraculously from five rolls and two fish (John 6:1-13): they thought if He could do that for them, then they could ask Him to do anything. They had tried to force Him to be their revolutionary leader (John 6:15), but He refused to be part of their political agenda.

Human beings are naturally very religious. Instinctively, most people believe that there must be someone or something bigger than them and that they are accountable. The big question is "What must we do to please God?" In one way, that shows we are appealing to a higher authority, because we are asking to know the rules. But in another way, it is an appeal to human pride: assuming that we are good enough and strong enough to do the right thing all the time, and never do what is wrong.