 You know, I've always loved the version in John's gospel of the feeding of the 5,000 more than the other versions because John Has some behind-the-scenes insight and info that the others didn't include And particularly when it says that Jesus Turned first to Philip and said where shall we buy enough food to feed all these people then it says Jesus asked him this Knowing already what he was going to do. He asked him to test him Because he already had in mind what he was going to do And it occurs to me that sometimes a mark of good leadership is the willingness to appear stuck In order to give room for others to flourish in Order to give room for others to come forward with a solution and this whole exercise It seemed to me was Jesus intentionally probing for how Solution possibility minded His team were by this stage of his leadership towards them So for him to ask a question Deliberate in knowing he didn't ask him because he was short of an answer or an idea But he's asking just to test him Holding back his own suggestions till our room for Philip's suggestions to come forward I think poor leadership and I think poor mentoring poor coaching poor teaching poor parenting is when we are too quick to offer What's in our minds That shuts down what's in their minds when we are too quick to Tell them what we know or tell them how we would do it or tell them What we think is the best thing to do Instead of allowing room and space which Jesus clearly did in this scenario and others Allowing them to search inside themselves for did they have any idea of what to do about this feeding of this multitude And he asked him this to test him knowing what was in his heart already to do um and Then Philip Comes up with this eight months wages wouldn't feed all these people This mathematical calculation logistics response Which I guess you know logistical responses details people are important in what we all do in team building and so on and so on But it was the wrong answer because Jesus Asked this to test him it strikes me that it's unfair to to Create a test scenario if you don't know the answer to the test So if Jesus deliberately tested Philip and the rest of them with this question It must mean that he knew they knew something that they didn't know they knew Because he's not testing them For do they have the same solution as is in my mind He's testing them for do you will all think outside the box do you have any Suggestions do you have any? Possibility thinking in there, or are you just terrified by the question terrifying the idea of Feeding a multitude which in fairness to them was unprecedented. They had not done this before so they had no precedents set for it in their minds of how to respond to him and yet despite them having no idea of What was possibly gonna happen next he still tests them and we either put that down to God been deliberately deliberately taunting us and playing with us And I don't think that's his nature at all All we put it down to the test was because he knew that there was something in these guys that unless he Pretended to be stuck and not know what to do He would never allow room for their ideas to come forward when he always tells what you think then what I think Doesn't really need to be said because you're always the one we rely on and default to as the leader as The teacher as the parent as the mentor as the coach as the pastor or whatever As the one with the suggestion. I love how he was willing to appear stuck in order to Explore the solution oriented Dimensions in them. I Love that Philip answered logistically when in fact Jesus had no intention of buying food anywhere He put the word in by deliberately I think to send them off on a false trail to see whether or not they would respond literally to the word buy or Whether they would hear by as just one possibility and come up with others Without thinking he thinks he thinks we're gonna buy. We have to talk about buying. It's a it's a it's a finance It's an economic question and it was not all so where shall we buy bread was rigged That was the nature of the test the word buy was a Was was a trigger word to see whether or not they would jump in with only a buy suggestion, which is what Philip did Then Andrew chips in There's a there's a boy here with with with a small packed lunch of loaves and fishers Then he adds but how far will so little go amongst so many him not knowing he is in the neighborhood of a possibility thinking and Suggest this and I think in life you either are gonna be mainly a Philip or an Andrew a logistical details Here's why it can't happen person or a glass half full. I don't know. Here's a little beginning Here's something that could help person. I don't know that it's the answer I imagine Andrew felt a bit embarrassed about suggesting it because it was such a small amount compared to so many But he said it anyway and that was the option Jesus Jesus chose and the whole thing This whole behind-the-scenes few moments that John gives us as fascinating to me on the kind of leadership style Jesus built And we often do not build try and build into your leadership style this Intentional appearing to be stuck Be slow to give your opinion be slow to give your solution be slow to Spell it out for us and leave room for others to come forward And you're gonna have Phillips and Andrews and it's helpful for them to know who they are and Create room for people to flourish Even with something as ridiculous as the question he posed to them to figure out who here is even getting and in the beginnings of What it is I'm trying to do and achieve through you Because I think the greatest miracle Jesus wanted to see happen in the team was not feeding the 25,000 or healing the sick the greatest miracle for longevity and success was gonna be the miracle between their ears Were they going to be solution-minded enough as leaders were they going to be in their heads? One-dimensional one-size-fits-all responses needed to be guided and told what to do all the time Or would there be entrepreneurial? Would they be imaginative? Would they be creative in the way that they approach problems in life? And of course we all know the early church demanded huge amounts from that from all of them every twist and turn of The persecutions that beset the early church and the need for them to kind of pop up and reinvent in other places and navigate the whole Nightmare that the early church went through in the persecution they experienced So Maybe God's testing you right now Maybe God is wondering what you'll come up with and just in finishing Let me say we have no idea by the way what Jesus did have in mind because The idea that he did go for came from Andrew not from him So we don't know what actually Jesus did have in mind He just said he had in mind what he was going to do and then Andrew suggested the boys lunch That was not Jesus's idea So to this day, we don't know did he have that in mind or do you have something else in mind? It doesn't matter because what he decided to do is go with Andrew's option and maybe shelve his own idea thinking Okay, let's do that then because that's how God is with us. There's no right or wrong answer There are suggestions and options and then you pick one and often God picks one Because he's our friend. He said I no longer call you servants But friends it is not a great friendship if only one of us gets all the time to pick what we do If only one of us knows the answer or only one of us is seen as having enough authority credibility to have an answer So Jesus trains them To come up with solutions to think outside the box to think in possibility becomes possible When you put your mind to it and heart to it so if you're a leader then in this next Day or two of your life somewhere Maybe pretend to be stuck Come across like you don't know what to do and don't tell them what's in your mind Because what's in their mind may be better than what's in your mind and the releasing of that mind in them Creates more growth in the team than you just saying what you should think we should do and we all kind of do that Think about that today