All right, here we go, pop quiz. We’re going to dive into today’s message, ready? Here’s a pop quiz for you. Out of all the miracles performed in the Bible, rather than… Other than, excuse me, other than the resurrection, what miracle is recorded in all four Gospels? Think about that for a minute. Out of all the miracles Jesus performs in the Bible, there’s only one other than the resurrection that finds itself in all four Gospels. And if you know the answer to that, then you know where we’re going today, because if you’ve even been here for, I don’t know, any time in the last few weeks, we’re in John chapter 6. John chapter 6, that’s the answer to the question. The one miracle in all four Gospels is the feeding of the 5,000. Feeding of the 5,000.
Now, here’s the big question: Why? Right? Some of you might hear that Jesus feeds 5,000 here in the story, and some debate if it’s even 5,000, because it describes itself as 5,000 men in this passage, so is that 5,000 men not including the women and children, we’re not counting the women and children here, or is it 5,000 people and it’s just representing men as humankind or mankind? Some say it could be 5,000, some say it could be as much as 20,000 if we’re not counting women and children here. But regardless, Jesus is feeding 5,000.
Now, why is this the miracle that’s recorded in all four Gospels? Out of all the miracles that you could record, why is it this one? Some of you might be saying, “Well, I know why it’s this one, it’s because after today, we’re already thinking about what we can eat, and we’ve got a family of five, and sometimes I don’t even know how to feed them.” Right? You’re talking about a day with… In Jesus’ day, there’s no refrigeration, right? This was agricultural society, but you just wake up that day, and you got to figure out what you’re going to eat, you know? There’s no going to the supermarket and going down the frozen food section and just heating something up in the microwave. That’s not how this works.
And so, you look at that and be like, “Of course, out of all the miracles.” I think about just feeding a family at Thanksgiving, and I don’t even want to do that, and we’re talking thousands of people. How do you even wrap your mind around that? I mean, we just had men’s breakfast yesterday, and we try to tally the numbers just for a few dozen people, just to make sure we can get that done. But 5,000, that’s pretty incredible.
But honestly, you think about it, why? Why the miracle of the 5,000, out of all the miracles that Jesus could record? I mean, if you’re going to put a miracle in all four Gospels, would that be the one you pick? Why is it here? Well, when you look at the first seven verses of this section, chapter 6, Jesus wants us to recognize the problem that’s existing here. So, we’re really going to talk about three things today. We’re going to look at the problem that Jesus presents here in John chapter 6; then we’re going to look at the response that Jesus communicates to us, starting in verses 8 to 12; and then we’re going to talk about the application, because here’s what I find with this story, is when people get to the application of the feeding of the 5,000, we really botch it up a lot of times. Jesus actually tells us what the application is in portions of the Gospel, so we’re going to look at the application that Jesus tells us to make to this, and not botch up what Jesus wants us to understand about this story.
John chapter 6, verse 1, let’s recognize the problem here. We could’ve titled this section… I titled it Worship in Your Struggle, right, we should learn to worship in our struggle, and Jesus is going to show us a problem here, how to worship. But I think we could also title this How Not to Push Jesus Away. Because that’s what you find in the end of this story, it’s interesting how they choose to respond to this, and Jesus’ response to their interaction with Him. So we definitely don’t want to push Jesus away, but learn how to worship in our struggle. So, let’s look at the problem, verse 1.
“After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias. A large crowd was following Him, because they were watching the signs which He was performing on those who were sick.” Real quick, let me just say this. Jesus was going to a place around the Sea of Galilee that’s really a newer town, it’s more remote. This is more a village for peasants, fishermen would’ve gathered here, agricultural-type society. Not a whole lot of great things that you would say for vacation spots you would necessarily want to go and participate. So, it’s a smaller, rural area that Jesus is participating in life with people here. And verse 2, it tells us that there’s a large crowd here. Here’s an indicator for you, any time that you read the Gospels, any time an author says something about a crowd, you know something dumb’s about to happen. That’s typically… Whenever the crowd gathers, it’s usually something foolish that then takes place right after that, and that’s what you see in verse 2: a large crowd following after Jesus “because they were watching the signs which He was performing on those who were sick.”
Verse 3: “But when Jesus went up on the mountain… He went up on the mountain; there He sat with His disciples.” I love this about Jesus. When Jesus typically teaches, He doesn’t bring out the bright lights and the fog machine, you know? He usually gathers with a group of people, and think, this is thousands of people. What’s Jesus do when He gets in front of the crowd? He sits down. He sits down. He does that over and… His Sermon on the Mount, I conjured up this image in my mind when Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount. I think it’s even done like this in the movies. Jesus gets up to preach His Sermon on the Mount, and he’s orating this eloquent speech in front of all these people as He stands there. And really, what the passages says is Jesus goes up on the mountain and He sits down. And He does the same thing in this story.
Jesus is, He’s not about the spotlight, it’s not about a popularity contest; He just wants to teach the truth and for people to understand that. And then verse 4, “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.” I think verse 4 is here because of everything Jesus is about to lead into with verse 5. I think Jesus wants us to tie in this story with sort of an Exodus experience. You remember in the story of Exodus, Moses is with masses of people, journeying through the wilderness. And any time you got a crowd, you got problems to figure out with the crowd, and one of those problems is how in the world you’re going to feed this group.
And just like Moses during the time of the initiation of the Passover having to figure out this problem, so the author wants to correlate that story, really Numbers chapter 11’s where this comes from, verse 13, to the story of Jesus in this moment. And in verse 5, “So Jesus, after raising His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?'” That’s the same thing Moses asked, Numbers chapter 11, verse 13. “Where are we going to find enough meat to feed this crowd?” And Jesus says the same thing to Philip here.
It’s like, Jesus wants us to really see how He intersects in our struggle in life, right? He puts His thumb right on the problem. He did that last week when we talked about the healing of the paralytic man next to the porticoes. Jesus comes, and He certainly identifies the struggle. He’s great at that. It wasn’t something we could sweep under the rug, and He wants something that we wrestle with, the darkness that we face in life, and He wants it exposed to the light, and that’s what Jesus does in this circumstance. “Here’s a problem; what are we going to do about it?”
In verse 6, I don’t know, maybe if you’re like me, the answer you would say is, “Let’s spaz.” Like, there’s… “I don’t know, what can we do about this problem? Let’s flip out for just a minute. Are we supposed to feed these people? I didn’t know we were supposed to feed these people. Who said we were supposed to feed these people? Now there’s all these people gathering around.” And Jesus, verse 6, “He was saying this only to test him, for He Himself knew what He intended to do.” Jesus is going to use this as a teaching moment. Maybe it’s safe to say some of us have been trying to solve things our way for so long and recognizing it’s just not going to work, but what we need is something greater. What we need is a miracle. And Jesus wants His disciples to see that.
In verse 7, “Philip answered Him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough for them, for each to receive even just a little.'” I think Philip’s really trying here. Jesus said, “Feed them”; now Philip’s trying to solve the problem. “How in the world are we going to do this?” He counts the money they have, he’s like, “We got 200 denarii. 200 denarii’s not even going to touch this. We’re in a small town, there’s no refrigeration. What do you do with… This town doesn’t even have this many people, and how in the world are we ever going to feed this many people?” And so, you see Philip struggling with his circumstance.
But then we get to the responses, verse 8 to 9. And Jesus gives three responses to this circumstance, and all three responses are really unusual. If you were in this moment with the crowd, and maybe you think, “We’re going to a church service, we’re going to meet with Jesus,” and maybe you take along with you your pessimistic friend that’s not really all in to who Jesus is, but you’ve encountered Christ, and so you love what Jesus is doing, and you just want other people to be exposed to Jesus too, if you take that kind of friend into this, this is the perfect moment for him to expound upon his skepticism based on what Jesus does here. Jesus does some extraordinary things, but three responses Jesus gives in this circumstance, but He teaches us a lot about how God can supply in our struggle.
Verse 8, look at this. “One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are these for so many people?'” I don’t know how Andrew got into this interaction; you try to speculate a little bit in your mind as to what this might look like. I could imagine that Philip’s over here panicking over trying to feed the crowd, and then he looks over and he sees Andrew sitting down with just a little boy. He’s like, “Andrew, what are you doing? We got to figure out how to feed these people,” and Andrew’s like, “Joke’s on you, suckas, I found a little boy with some loaves and some fish. I’m having my lunch; you guys figure out your own problem.” Right? Is that how Andrew comes into this? It doesn’t really tell you in this text.
Or maybe not, maybe I’m being too pessimistic towards Andrew here, but maybe more Andrew has a little bit more faith in having walked with Jesus. Maybe Andrew looks at the moment and he’s thinking, “You know what, this is probably weird to even say, but I remember when Jesus turned water into wine, so, Jesus, believe it or not, out of this whole crowd, there happens to be the little boy out of everybody. Not a man, not like someone sent it for their family. No one planned ahead for this but this little boy, this little boy did, and he’s got some loaves and a couple of fish.” Right? And so Andrew, maybe in faith, is just hoping, hoping that Jesus can do something here. He’s starting to learn something about who Christ is.
What we learn here, it becomes an incredible story, right? And this is in all four Gospels. Jesus takes just a few loaves and a couple of fish, and He feeds thousands of people. Can imagine if you were this little boy, what this moment would’ve been like, really, for the rest of your life. How incredible it is that God would use a little boy, and how humbling it is that God would use a little boy. Yet it’s this little boy who has the faith to give this meal over to Jesus.
I think maybe the first lesson for us when you look at this story is just to simply say this: A moment with Jesus can change your life forever. One moment with Jesus can change your life forever, if you just surrender. And some of you know what that’s like, right? Because you can think in your own life that moment where you just stopped living for you, and you really looked at Jesus. And maybe you looked at what you had, and it wasn’t that great, but you just… You turned it over to Him. And that moment with Jesus has changed your life forever.
Verse 10: “Jesus said, ‘Have the people recline to eat.’ Now there was plenty of grass in the place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Just then, Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were reclining; likewise also of the fish, as much as they wanted.” You think about this: You go to the worship service with Jesus, with your pessimistic friend, and you see Andrew come up, and he’s presented Jesus with these five loaves and two fish. And you’re sitting there with your friend, and you’re listening to what Jesus says, and your friend says, “What is Jesus saying?” “Jesus, I don’t know, I can’t really see Him. He’s kind of sitting down.” Right? “But I think He just said… I think He just told us to all sit down. Why is He telling us to all sit down? I think He’s planning to feed us with the five loaves and the two fish.” “Why is He going to… How’s He going to do that?” “I don’t know, but now He’s praying.” “Why is He praying?” “I think He really believes He can feed us with five loaves and two fish.”
You can imagine just being in that moment, just how ridiculous that might look, right? “5,000 people, five loaves, two fish, let’s do this,” right? You’re thinking, “By the time this even gets to us, there’s definitely not going to be anything left. What, are we taking, like, communion-size today? What is this? This is not going to be enough for this group, Jesus.” But Jesus completely believes, and you’re thinking, “I journeyed all the way out to this wilderness to meet with this guy? This guy is crazy.”
But you know how the story goes, right? What’s Jesus teaching us? It’s not about the size of the gift, but it’s about the size of your God and the heart of the giver. Guys, it’s not about the size of the gift. And that’s such an important lesson for anyone putting their faith in Christ, because here’s the tendency in our own lives, is that when we come to Jesus, sometimes we look at what we have to give and we’re like, “Guys, why would I even give this? I don’t understand. Compared to them, they have so much more. Why give what I’ve got when what they’ve got is so much better? Jesus can do so much more with what they got. I’ll just let them do that, because they’ve got something that I don’t have. It looks better than what I’ve got, and so who am I? I’m just a little boy, and to offer just a few loaves and some fish to God, what’s God going to do with that? God can use them. Look, He’s made them more talented than me.”
It’s not about the size of the gift. It’s about the heart of the giver and the size of your God, the power of your God. God can do just incredible things with just very little. I’m not saying to be stingy with God and just give God a little; I’m saying just use whatever God’s given you for His glory. The results aren’t up to you; it’s up to Him. What God’s interested in is your heart.
You know, there’s three ways we can look at the possessions of things that we have in life. The first… They all start with S. Let me just say it like this. The first is to be selfish, “what’s mine is mine”; The second is to be stealing, “what’s His is mine”; and the third is to be a steward, “what’s mine is His.” Had the little boy not saw his possessions as a steward, he would’ve missed out at the great things God would’ve done. This moment would’ve changed his life forever. Sure, you can hold on to the things that are yours, but just look at the beauty of what it became.
When we approach life with the attitude of “what’s mine is mine,” how could God ever expect to bless you with more when you’re not even willing to give what He’s already given to you? It’s not about the size of the gift, but the heart of the giver. When we come to worship on a day like this, we’re not here to impress anybody, we’re here to connect with Jesus, because what’s mine is His. God, how can I leverage this for your glory? How can I be a part of something great that you are doing?
You know, one of the beautiful things that we’ve been seeing in our church, just over the last year… We start our calendar year in September, we follow a school year, so our fiscal year starts in September, and I remember we met with a group of our board, our elders, our leaders here at the church, and we were just thinking through what would be healthy for our church this year and where God is leading us and seeing us grow. Our heart was towards missions, just to think about how we can see God not just do great things here, but just continue to do great things through His church. And we just sort of set some, what we thought were feasible goals for our church this year in giving.
We haven’t really talked a whole lot about missions. We had baby bottles here a couple weeks ago to fill up for pregnancy care centers in our valley, and then the only thing we’ve presented really formally was Uganda. But so far this year, a third of our budget has gone to missions. You know, as a church, $75,000 from our church this year is going to missions. That’s incredible. I looked at that and I thought, “I don’t even know if we’ll ever do this again. This is amazing to see the Lord work in His people for His glory with just what we have.” I mean, we’re not… We didn’t shoot for really a number or anything, we just, “Lord, we’re willing, whatever you’ve got, let’s just see you move through is,” and together, it’s incredible what God can do. I mean, all we did was really one Sunday, we presented a need, and on one Sunday, we took over 10% of our yearly budget in an offering to go to Uganda. That’s powerful. It’s a powerful thing to see God work through His people.
So, there’s the approach that we can take that is selfish, but how can God trust us with more when we don’t even give what He’s given to us? And this doesn’t just have to do with finances, it’s not just a money thing. This is just to check where our heart is with what God’s given to us, and to not downplay the importance of what God has blessed you with. Who cares if someone else is better? It’s not about what they have versus what you have. It’s not even about the size of your gift, but the heart of the giver and the power of the God that you believe in.
God calls us to be stewards, and it’s when we steward the things of God that we see the hand of God move. We get a front-row seat. That’s what the life of this boy is, right? Could you imagine if he just held on to the food? “Me and Andrew are going to sit in the corner and eat this. Good luck, guys.” But because of that, his life is changed forever.
You know, when I think about how that might play in just more than this story, because you know, this Friday for us as a church, this Friday is Good Friday. Good Friday. You ever wonder, “Why in the world do we call Good Friday good?” It’s a bit speculative, but in case you didn’t know, Good Friday’s the day Jesus died on the cross. Why in the world would we call that good? Might I just throw out maybe a suggestion for you this Friday as you enter into Friday and what makes it good? It wasn’t the nails that held Him on the cross; it was His love. His love held Him there for you. That’s what makes that day so good, that God would love you that deeply, and the same God that came for this boy is the same God that comes for you. And the proof of the resurrection is the demonstration that His word is good, and that His promises are true, that Jesus has overcome.
And so, when you think about the challenges in your life, and the God who comes to meet you in them, this was why this miracle is in all four Gospels. To see that it’s the same God that enters into our world for our benefit and His glory, that if we would just come to Him, because a moment with the Lord can change our lives forever, and that we don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to see the hand of God move in our lives.
So, number three, let me give you the third response. Interesting here, right? Jesus uses a kid, and in verse 10 and 11, Jesus wants us to relax and worship. A little bit odd with just five loaves and two fish, but if you’re stressed out about something, rather than spaz, maybe consider relax and worship for a minute in Him. And in verse 12, Jesus wants to take up a collection. And you think for a minute, if you’re coming to this to worship the Lord, you come to this, and you’re thinking, “Jesus, there’s no way you’re going to be able to feed all these people,” and then Jesus feeds all these people. And then after Jesus feeds all these people, Jesus then says to the crowd, “Okay, we’re going to take up a collection.” “What are we going to collect, Lord?” “Everything you just ate.” And again, you’d be looking at that moment thinking, “And, yeah, you are certifiably insane. This is not normal, Jesus.”
But Jesus does that, verse 12: “And when they had eaten their fill, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.'” Now, let me just tell you, when people get to the end of this story, here’s… I’m going to tell you the interpretation we often make, and then I’m going to tell you it’s wrong, okay? Here’s the interpretation we often make: If you give to God just a little, He will multiply you a lot. Right? You got a tiny house, you give God your tiny house, He’ll give you a big house. You got a tiny car, you give God your tiny car, He’ll give you a big car. You give a little bit to God, God’ll give you a lot. You give God a dollar, He’ll make it a million, right?
That’s usually the interpretation that I often hear in a passage like this, and I want you to know that that is not the point of the story, because here’s why. If you end with that point to this story, guess who the hero of the story is: you. You’ve just turned this miraculous story about Jesus into all about you. And so, when you read this story, you’re going to think, “I’m going to do this because I want to make it all about me. I’m just going to use Jesus to get what I want, and I’ve got $100 right now, and I want it to be $1,000 tomorrow, so Jesus, here you go.”
But the point of the story isn’t about you. Jesus certainly cares about you; you see His care here. But to just stop with you is to miss the heart of what Jesus desires for you to see in Him, because the point of the story isn’t you. The point of the story is Jesus. God fills us up, not because of us, but because of Him.
Look in verse 13 and 14. This is where we make the right application. “So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is come into the world.”
So, there’s two responses here; we’re going to look at the second one in verse 15 in a minute, but one pushes Jesus away, and the other one draws Jesus near. And we certainly want to be the people that draw Jesus near. Now, let me just say this. This is a miracle, right? This story obviously is a miracle. And when I come to put my faith in Christ, a few things I think are important for us. One is to recognize God has built faith in a very logical way. When you think about, like we talked about Good Friday, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, like you’re in a place in your life where you’re just wondering, “Should I even be trusting in Jesus?” Jesus has given us enough in God’s Word to validate who He is. There’s enough proof in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus alone to say, “Okay, I’m putting my trust in Jesus. He is who He says.” His Word prophetically revealing exactly who He is before He came.
God has made faith very logical. And at the same time, in seeing that, there is still a place of trust in saying, “God, because you have been good in your word, and because you are who you say you are, I am now taking my soul and entrusting that into you because of how you’ve communicated yourself and how you’ve faithfully demonstrated yourself, and therefore my soul.” There is a leap of trust in your faith in God because of that. And so, when you look at a story like this, I think it’s important to recognize, when you come to a miracle and you see God doing things like this, to see a precedent for, and therefore God, as you trust yourself into Him, that God is able to fulfill everything that He promises to you as well.
In verse 13 and 14, Jesus shows yet one more time in this story, they gather up 12 baskets full. When you think about these 12 baskets, it’s kind of interesting that He does 12 baskets, right? What is this? I guess after the meeting’s done, when the disciples leave, every disciple gets a goodie bag to walk with Jesus, right? For the rest of the day, they know where their meal’s coming from, because they’ve all got 12 baskets they get to carry now. I mean, that’s pretty cool to think about, Jesus’ 12 disciples and 12 baskets, so they can eat from. But I think there’s a little bit more to the story than that. Because when you think about the story of the feeding of the 5,000, you look in the Gospels, you can recognize this isn’t the only time Jesus fed a crowd. Jesus fed 5,000, and then a little bit later in some of the Gospels, it also records for us that Jesus feeds 4,000 people. Jesus feeds both 5,000 and 4,000.
And what’s really interesting about this story is, if you read in the book of Matthew or the book of Mark when Jesus talks about both those stories, the 5,000 and the 4,000, He doesn’t tell the disciples the point of the feeding of the 5,000 and to the point of the feeding of the 4,000 until both of those events are over, and then He explains it to them. It happens in the book of Matthew chapter 16, and it happens in the book of Mark in chapter 8, but look at this. In chapter 8, verses 18, Jesus explains to His disciples in this portion why He feeds the 5,000 and why He fed the 4,000. Jesus says, “‘Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?’ They said to Him, ‘Twelve.’ ‘When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?’ And they said to Him, ‘Seven.’ And He was saying to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?'”
What? Do you understand? Jesus is talking about baskets here; you’re thinking, “Who cares? We picked up 12, who cares? We picked up seven, who cares? We picked up the baskets, Jesus. You told us to pick up the baskets, we collected it, and we picked up the baskets. Who cares about the baskets? The baskets were full.” But Jesus in this story is saying, “But this is exactly the point. The whole point of the story is the basket.” Well, what does this have to do with me, right? Why do I need to know anything about these baskets?
Well, here’s the point. When Jesus was feeding the 5,000, He was in an area of Israel. How many tribes are in Israel? 12. 12 tribes. 12 tribes in Israel. When Jesus feeds the 4,000, He’s in an area of Gentiles. What’s the number of completion or fullness for Gentiles? Seven. Jesus, in the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000, is communicating to both the Jewish world and the Gentile world that He’s able to satisfy them, and in Him, there’s more than enough, there’s plenty to go around. In fact, what Jesus is saying is that He can supply, and His supply is unending; that you can take and you can eat, and there’s enough for everyone else too. Jesus is more than enough.
12 baskets and seven baskets. It’s not just an arbitrary number; it’s an intentional number, to communicate to your soul exactly who Jesus is. Jesus comes into your life to provide an encounter for you, that your soul can taste and see that He is good. Both 12 and seven is the point. That’s why I say when we get to this story, this story isn’t about “come to Jesus so you can get everything that you want.” The point of the story is to see that giving is the blessing. It’s not about you, it’s about Him. But because He’s good, it fills your soul. Jesus is enough. And when your soul finds itself content there, you get the joy of seeing God supply.
Verse 15, though, look at this. “So Jesus, aware that they intended to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself, alone.” Here’s the tragedy of the story, is they didn’t see the sufficiency of Jesus as enough for them. The tragedy of the story is they start thinking about their kingdom and their agenda, and they think, “Wow, Jesus can do that. Let’s put Jesus on our team, and we’ll get Jesus to do what we want for our kingdom,” and Jesus is like, “I don’t want anything to do with that. I’m not coming to you for you to invite me to your team. I’m coming to you to invite you to my team.”
When He saw the crowd and the heart’s desire was to simply focus on themselves, Jesus withdrew. When you think about a moment like today, and you think about all your struggles and all the things that you’ve gone through in life, I think the message for us is to get out of the way. Like Jesus said to His disciples as He sat down, knowing what He was going to do in verse 6, looks at you and says, “Relax, worship.” And even when it looks like you’ve got just a little, a little in the hands of a great God can radically transform anything, because it’s not about the size of the gift, but the heart of the giver coming to a God who is more than enough.
The feeding of the 5,000, you look at this and think, “Why? Out of all the miracles, out of all the miracles that God could have, why is the feeding of the 5,000 here?” It’s a communication to the entire world: When you don’t feel like you have enough, and it feels overwhelming, when you can’t even see how trusting will help, rest and worship, because a moment with Jesus can change your life forever. Jesus in this moment shows us just to pray, give thanks.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. God, meet the need, because you’re more than enough. We all have a need for Jesus to satisfy our soul in the midst of trouble. We all in some way are in the wilderness, and our souls hunger for satisfaction. This doesn’t become an invitation for Jesus to join my team, but for me to die to self and come to His, that He can fill me up.