"A large crowd followed (Jesus), because they had seen his miracles of healing the sick." Notice the crowd's condition for following Jesus. There is an angel. He was able to heal sick people, therefore they followed. There was one more reason why Jesus would have been somewhat reticent about openly sharing miracles, signs and wonders. He did not wish people to follow him simply because he was able to physically heal people. Others could do that also. So he would often ask his followers to tell no one about the miracles he had done.

The point is that Jesus already knew himself to be the Son of the living God. He did not have to prove anything. When he healed people he was genuinely giving gifts; giving of himself. There were no angels as far as he was concerned. He simply desired the people to know who he really was. He wanted them to know that he was not just some physical healer among many, but Jesus, the Christ, the humble servant revealer of God. No conditions were needed to qualify for Jesus' life-giving water. Jesus simply desired to know two things. First, did the person really want to be healed? Jesus realized that many people do not want to change and grow. Thus, they do not desire spiritual healing. Two, why me? And if the person saw in Jesus, God desiring to be that person's friend and savior, Jesus would offer himself as healer. He would freely offer spiritual food. No conditions. No angels.

So when Jesus asked Philip, "Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?" quite naturally, Jesus was simply testing Philip because he already knew what he would do. Of course he knew what he would do. He was God. Jesus wanted to see if Philip trusted his kingship, his sovereignty. And then Andrew said, "There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people." And a little child fed them! There were even 12 baskets left over. This is the extent of Jesus' power and kingship.

Seeing the miracle that Jesus had performed, the people wanted to seize him in order to make him king by force. This is the point of the text, the point of the people's misunderstanding. Make Jesus king by force? Actually seize him and force him to be king? How absurd. He already was king. He rules however, not from a throne but from a cross. This is the extent of the multitudes' misunderstanding of the kingdom. So Jesus went off to the hills by himself.

Because Jesus is already king he is able to feed the following crowd that has gathered. Because Jesus is already king, the Son of God, he also empowers us, his church, to feed the masses of hungry people in the world. The resources are present. The question is, are we willing to count the cost and pay the price? Are we willing to let go of established traditions and ways of doing things and change and grow and sacrifice and even suffer on behalf of the hungry and malnourished? Or do we not desire to be spiritually healed by Jesus? That is why Jesus asked a potential follower, "Do you desire to be healed?" He asks us the same question. "Do you desire to be healed? Do you desire to be my friend? Do you see God in me? If so, come join me in my kingdom work. Let's feed the world together."

Jesus is king and desires the world to be fed with his spirit and truth. It is the selfish world which resists his kingship. Jesus is already king. He doesn't need to be seized and made king by force. And that is exactly what our sin is. We have told Jesus that we want him to rule and solve the problems of the world our way, not his way. We desire our brand of peace, not his way of peace.