Sunday Meditation: The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes

The Gospel readings now shift for the next few weeks from the Gospel of Mark to that of John.  Today begins a series of readings that will culminate with the Bread of Life discourse, but we start with the feeding of the five thousands.  The feeding of thousands is actually in all four Gospels, and it occurs twice in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew.  So there are actually six passages where Jesus multiplies loaves of bread to feed the multitude.  That’s quite interesting.  Bread is certainly the most important nourishing element in the New Testament.  “Give us our daily bread” Jesus teaches us to pray.

 

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.

A large crowd followed him,

because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.

Jesus went up on the mountain,

and there he sat down with his disciples.

The Jewish feast of Passover was near.

When Jesus raised his eyes

and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,

he said to Philip,

"Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?"

He said this to test him,

because he himself knew what he was going to do.

Philip answered him,

"Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough

for each of them to have a little."

One of his disciples,

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,

"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;

but what good are these for so many?"

Jesus said, "Have the people recline."

Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.

So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.

Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,

and distributed them to those who were reclining,

and also as much of the fish as they wanted.

When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,

"Gather the fragments left over,

so that nothing will be wasted."

So they collected them,

and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments

from the five barley loaves

that had been more than they could eat.

When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,

"This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."

Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

~Jn 6:1-15

 

Fr. Geoffrey Plant provides the entire context of this passage.

Fr. Geoffrey really covers a broad range of elements of this passage. But there are still other angles that we could further explore here.  Why did Jesus single out Phillip to test him?  (Phillip was from Bethsaida, which is right near the where the miracle occurred; Phillip would know where to buy bread.)  Why was it a little boy who was carrying food and not the vast adults?  Why nothing be wasted?  He could multiply more.  Did they eat the fish raw or did they set up to cook it?  Most of these questions I can’t answer but it shows how much depth there is to the story.

 

Sunday Meditation: “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted.”

 

Let’s get back to a John Michael Talbot song this week.  “Gift of Finest Wheat” seems very appropriate.  Is there a difference between wheat and barley? 

 

 

Talbot did write this hymn but is his rendition.  Robert E. Kreutz  was the composer.