John 6:5-9 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Jesus knew this was an impossible thing in the natural. He asked Phillip the question not because he did not know the answer, but because he wanted to solicit a response from Phillip that said “I cannot do this. This is impossible for us. We need you.”
The correlation to the miracle in John 5 is the realization of our need for God. When we admit our shortcomings and acknowledge our need for him, that puts us in the position to receive.