In this crucial passage from the gospel of John, we get some significant insights as to Jesus’ mission and purpose. Jesus came to feed the hungry, both spiritually and physically — but at various places, we sense frustration on his part when people come to him solely for “physical” reasons. 

            We find here that Jesus is a leader, in every sense of the word. He is exactly what we look for in a leader, even today, with our so precisely defined understandings of leadership. His actions could have been prescribed at any given seminar on leadership. We see that he already has an idea of what he is going to do, but he asks for suggestions, anyway, and he sets his team to work looking for possible solutions. 

            And when his team runs into a wall, he decisively takes charge. We don’t see any doubt or hesitation on his part, no worried questioning of his own motives. He is in charge. He is a leader. 

            Who is following this leader? Well ... there is a crowd; but that crowd is not “following” him, exactly, but more like following him around, to see just what he might pull off next. And then we have the disciples, those who are following him in the truest sense, who appear to be the kind of followers he is looking for. 

            What kind of leader is he? Who does he want following him? Where is he going? What does he want? In this particular vignette, he apparently simply wants some alone time with his disciples — the followers he has specifically called — so he can teach them some as

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