The crowd gathered because they saw the signs Jesus was doing for the sick. Another sign was the meal for the thousands. But among the thousands there were different interpretations of that sign. Some said it showed that Jesus was the long-awaited prophet God had promised Israel. Others said it showed that in any election Jesus would be a shoe-in for king.

Outdated political bumper stickers are, of all signs, surely the most irrelevant. "Thomas E. Dewey for President" is as meaningful as "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too." But up-to-date significant signs go unheeded at great cost: "Bridge out" or "Detour." They are vital signs. They are signs that affect life or death. Signs determine whether you make it home or get where you're going. The sign in today's gospel is significant, vital for today.

Jesus was the sign maker. He was creating these signs on purpose. Jesus knew what he was doing. Hear verse six again: "He himself knew what he was going to do." The verse seems to call for parentheses. Jesus had seen the large crowd and said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" Then -- think parentheses -- verse six: "This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do." Close parentheses. Some interpreters call this verse a scribal addition, added to make sure readers would not get the impression that his question indicated that Jesus did not know what he was doing.

From where we believers sit, here, after all the facts of salvation history are in, we can say Jesus was doing everything here on purpose. He knew that his signs, that is, his healing of the sick, were attracting crowds. On purpose, then, he took up his position with disciples on this little mountain by the sea. "When he looked up" -- those words, as we read them, almost suggest that he did that on purpose, too, that he made a contrived move of surprise that conveyed a meaning like, "Why, look at that! A great crowd is coming." Then he asked the question, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" He did not ordinarily take the responsibility for providing a free lunch for the crowds that came out to see him. Here was another mixed crowd of onlookers, gawkers, and the curious, of honest seekers, unbelievers, and many who were sick. All of them were needy, Jesus knew, but many did not know how needy they really were. What sort of sign would help them realize what was really going on here in Palestine at Passover time to meet their need? Why would Jesus even suggest the possibility of feeding them all? He did it on purpose, don't you think?

Jesus knew what he was doing. He was speaking to Israel -- and to us -- in sign language. John underlines signs when he describes the miraculous acts Jesus performed, from the changing of water into wine on through the healing of the nobleman's son and the healing on the sabbath of the man hoping for health at the pool of Bethesda. In this section we have heard John call what Jesus was doing for the sick signs. At the close of today's gospel account the feeding of the 5,000 is called a sign: "When the people saw the sign that he had done..." Sign language.

Jesus knew what he was doing. He was himself a sign. Here he appears to be deliberately setting up a sign that would publicize the fact that God was behind all that he did. God was being revealed in the person and the performances of Jesus. He -- Jesus -- was an in-the-flesh revelation of God, his divine Father. And this feeding of the multitude was designed as a sign to show the people of Israel that if they liked Moses, they really ought to love Jesus, the Messiah. This sign was a proclamation that one greater than Moses had appeared.

Our greatest danger would be to glance at this sign as if it were an outdated sort of bumper sticker. It is a vital sign for us today, even as it was back then. Focus on the meaning of that sign and take it to heart. All the rest is detail, the 5,000 head count, the two dried fish. Of course, there was more to the significance of the loaves over which Jesus gave thanks and which he distributed. John is not only recording the fact that Jesus said "grace" before lunch. We will hear the echo of that blessing later when we prepare our table for another of our Lord's bread blessings. In fact, we will think more about that in the next four Sundays as the gospels record Jesus' claim to be the bread from heaven. But for now, focus on the meaning of this sign. It shows us the way home.

Try to see this as God sees it. God had been setting up signs for home ever since the first couple had been put out of their home in Eden. Thorns and thistles were signs that going against God's directives could only mean disaster. The flood was a sign more obvious than "Bridge Out." Abraham and Sarah had Isaac for a sign and all that happened to Jacob and his "children of Israel" was God's sign of a new homeward way which was to come. The stand-out sign language came in the life and deeds of Moses. The exodus from Egypt was so clearly a sign of God's favor that Moses and Elijah at the Lord's transfiguration discussed Jesus's saving passion as his exodus which he would accomplish in Jerusalem. But it was Moses himself who clued Israel in on the sign developed in today's gospel. Before his death Moses reminded Israel that God had told him, "I will raise up for them a prophet like you" (like Moses, that is) "from among their own people; I will put my words into the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command (Deuteronomy 18:17-18)." After our Lord's resurrection, Peter made the sign connection of "that prophet" and Jesus clear to the Israelites of his day and also to us. In Solomon's portico he and John had healed a man lame from birth. They told the crowd that it was the name of Jesus which empowered the miracle. And then Peter identified Jesus with the prophet whom God would raise up, even as Moses had said (Acts 3:22f).

What Jesus was doing here for these thousands was being done on purpose, for this purpose: to alert them to what God was doing to bring them to the eternal promised land. What would come to people's minds when a large crowd in a desert place was miraculously given all the food they could eat and then some? Moses, of course! Moses gave Israel God's gifts of manna and quail in the wilderness. In the strength of that miraculous food they followed Moses to the promised land. And who was doing it now? Jesus was. And what was the meaning of the sign? That one greater than Moses had appeared, the promised prophet, who was speaking for God, who would accomplish a greater exodus than Moses, who would bring them to a better home than Canaan.

Clearly the value of a sign depends upon the correct interpretation. People got the point of this one, all right. Those of the crowd who thought the Messiah's role was to free them from Roman rule wanted to take him by force and make him king. Jesus withdrew, practically fled, to disabuse them of that dream in a hurry. Those who correctly interpreted the sign said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world."

We, too, should be sure our understanding of this sign is correct. It is a vital sign. God chose Israel as his own people to make them a sign for all the world, a light to the Gentile nations, a sign that God was for real, that God was involved with human life, that God loved even an erring people. God rescued Israel from bondage as a sign that this "Greater than Moses" would rescue all people from the slavery of sin and evil. Jesus knew what he was doing when he performed this sign. At issue is whether we all realize what Jesus was doing. And at issue after that is whether we do something about what Jesus has done. And this is what we should do. It's as simple as what the hungry thousands did when Jesus distributed the bread he had blessed: they took it and said, "Thank you, Jesus." What God-in-Christ is distributing today to all of us, to all the world, is the forgiveness of all our sins. We take it and say, "Thank you, O Savior." What he is offering to us today is life, true life, abundant life for each today, and salvation for the eternity of life which will follow our dying. What we do is receive it, live it, share it and say, "Thank you, our Lord and Friend!" Even a child knows what to do when offered bread: take, eat, be satisfied, grow by it. And when by a sign like this miracle God offers us forgiveness, life, and salvation, surely we "sign on"; we receive it; we give thanks.

Jesus, who knew then what he was doing, and knows now, tells us again, "Take and eat." That crowd received his gifts and was satisfied. We, too, who eat of this bread which he blesses and taste of this cup which he offers, know that the Lord is good! Some bumpers carry a sign that says, "If you can read this, you're too close. Back off." This Sunday's sign says, "If you understand this, you're very near the Kingdom. Come closer." Come nearer. He is the sign. Read him: "I am the way. By me you come to the Father. Listen to me. Follow me. Follow me home!"