After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, "How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?" John 6:1–9 (RSV)
Philip and Peter gaze at the multitude before them, trying to grasp what Jesus has told them to do. Philip's quick calculation arrived at two-thirds of a year's wages would not be enough to provide crumbs for them all.
With no lunch of their own to offer, Peter spies a boy whose mother thought ahead, sending a meal with him. Five poor folk loaves and two dried fish was a laughable suggestion for so many hungry mouths. "But what are they among so many?" As he suggested it, Peter knew that the boy's loaves and fish were woefully inadequate.
You and I know how this ends. Jesus takes what the boy has, blesses them, thanking God, and feeds the multitude. When done, each of the disciples had a basket full of bread leftover, twelve in all. So taken with the miracle, the grateful crowd would have made Jesus their Bread King. He walked away from that honor.
Jesus, who is the Bread of Life, could cast His gaze over the whole of creation, from its beginning to its final hour, and asked, "How are we to redeem these people so that they may know salvation?"
A calculation of all the earth's treasure would realize that not one person would have atonement for sin. Another might note, "Here is Jesus, the only Son of God, but what is He against so much sin and death?"
Weighed down by sin, our hearts cannot imagine anyone coming to the Father on their own with any hope of redemption. And we would be right, for we have even less to offer God for our sins than did the boy who had five loaves and two fish for the hungry thousands.
On the cross, Jesus does what no one could imagine could be done. His death and resurrection are the life of all things. The Father's grace is abundant beyond measure, extended to all who hunger and thirst for salvation. Jesus is the Living Bread that satisfies all who receive it.