Hi everyone, welcome to the Daily gospel exegesis, thank you
so much for listening. Hope you learned something new
about the Bible. Today we're looking at John
chapter 6 verses 1 to 15. That's the Gospel reading.
You would hear it? Today is mass and this is the
feeding of the 5000 John As version of that event.
Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee or of
tiberias and a large crowd. Followed him impressed by the
signs. He gave by curing the sick,
Jesus climbed the Hillside and sat down there with his
disciples, it was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.
Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip
where can we buy bread for these people to eat?
He only said this to test Philip, he himself knew exactly
what he was going to do. Philip answered 200.
Denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece?
Each? One of his disciples Andrew
Simon Peters. Brother said, there is a small
boy here with five, barley Loaves and two fish.
But what is that between? So many Jesus said to them, make
the people sit down. There was plenty of grass there
and as many as 5,000 men sat down, then Jesus Took the loaves
gave thanks and gave them out to all who are sitting ready.
He then did the same with the fish giving out as much as was
wanted. When they had eaten enough, he
said to the disciples pick up the pieces left over so that
nothing gets wasted. So, they picked them up and
filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal
of five barley loaves. The people sing the sign that he
had given said. This really is the prophet who
is to come into the world. Jesus, who could see that they
were about to come and take him by force and make him a king
escaped to the hills by himself. So we're at John chapter 6, John
chapter 5, which comes just before that, that's red in the
fourth week of Lent. Now we're up to John chapter 6
and we have the feeding of the 5000, this is an event, which is
in all four Gospels. Now, as you probably know, John
typically doesn't include events from the synoptic gospels,
because he feels that there's no point going over ground.
That's already been covered by the other gospel.
Authors, he wants to add in new things only basically.
But this is one of those events that he does include even though
it's been covered by the other three gospels.
Why does he include the feeding of the five thousand?
Probably because he considers it.
So important for understanding Jesus, identity, which is what
John is trying to emphasize and in particular in forms the
backdrop for what Jesus will say, later in chapter 6 about
the Eucharist. So few verses later, in fact,
the following day, Jesus has an interesting conversation about
the Eucharist, which is based on the feeding of the 5,000.
So John feels, it's necessary to include this background.
So what we're going to see here in the feeding of the 5000 is
that John includes some details that the others don't have and
vice versa. Verse 1.
Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
So Jesus has been in Jerusalem according to John, and now he
travels to Galilee in the north and that's where Jesus does most
of his ministry. John only includes this
particular event as in the feeding of the five thousand but
we know from the other gospels, that around this time, period,
Jesus does a whole lot of other stuff in the area of Galilee
Galilee is where he does most of his ministry.
That's where he's from verse to a large crowd.
Followed him impressed by the signs, he gave by curing the
sick. Now, we learn from the other
gospels that what's been happening is Jesus has been out
on the boat with on the Sea of Galilee with.
With the disciples and he's been trying to have some alone time
with them and to rest. But while they were gone, while
they were out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, the crowds
have worked out where Jesus is where he's probably going to
land and they run to the other side of the lake.
So, they're waiting for Jesus by the time, he steps ashore and
based on what's occurred so far. In the Gospel of John, it would
appear that a lot of the crowd. Really is just looking for a
miracle there, perhaps not genuinely seeking God.
Although some of them probably are And it's so janja says large
crowd at this point. Although we later learned that
it's 5,000 men. So were probably talking at
least 15,000 people, if you factor in women and children,
this is a big crowd. There's lots of people following
Jesus. By this point verse 3, Jesus
climbed the Hillside and sat down there with his disciples.
And even today, if you go to the Sea of Galilee, there's lots of
hills surrounding this area. Other translations have this as
Jesus went up the mountain and that might be deliberately
trying to recall when Moses went up the mountain because Jesus is
depicted as the new Moses in the Gospels.
Now, John doesn't tell us this, but the other gospels do they
tell us that at this point as the crowds come up the hill to
see Jesus, Jesus has compassion on them and he begins to teach
them. We also know that it's starting
to get late, meaning that the people won't be able to get to
the villages in time before the villages close.
So if they want to get food, they need to leave soon.
That's where the other gospel authors.
Tell us about this event. Verse 4, it was shortly before
the Jewish feast of Passover. Now, why is John mentioned this?
What's the point of mentioning the Feast of Passover?
Well, it will come important coming in important later in
John, chapter 6, but it could also be because around Passover
time, just for practical reasons, reasons, it will be
hard to find enough food for people in the markets because
everyone is buying food for the Passover.
So, maybe Jesus is concerned. Not not only, is it getting
late, but it's the Passover and the people, if they don't move
soon, they won't be able to get food from the market.
But they might be a more spiritual reason why John
mentions the Passover. It could be that John's concern
here is to unfold the spiritual relationship, between Jesus, and
the Exodus event. And the very first Passover, in
the book of Exodus, particularly in terms of providing food in
the wilderness. We've talked about this on the
podcast, a bit. When we looked at the other
gospels version of The Feeding of the 5000, clearly they're
supposed to be parallels, with feeding the Israelites, in the
wilderness with manna, oh, and now Jesus feeds these people,
which is essentially out in the desert area as well.
Verse 5 looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said
to Philip, where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?
Now, the fact that John knows that Jesus asked, Philip suggest
that John was an eyewitness. He doesn't say, he asked the
disciples. He's actually quite specific.
He says, Jesus asked Philip. Now, Philip is just one of the
disciples, he he's not particularly well known, but in
this case, Jesus asks Philip And then John ads in this comment.
He only said this to test Philip, he himself knew exactly
what he was going to do. So Jesus wants to see, Phillip
has enough Faith to know that the crowd will be will be
provided for its kind of is testing.
Philip Jesus is saying, I wonder what Phillip is going to say in
response to my question and John, is looking back on the
event, says that Jesus had a plan all along.
Verse 7 and Phillip replies, 200.
Denarii would only be enough to give them a small piece.
Each and Denari was a single day's wage.
And that's what Phillip is saying here.
It could imply that they had 200, denarii in their sort of
ministry. Supply of money, that's
possible. But certainly what he's saying
is that they would need 200 day's wages, 200 denarii in
order to feed the people just enough food.
And it's probably likely that they wouldn't have had that
much. So they need at least two
hundred denarii in order to feed people.
So, if you could say, Phillip fail the test here, he didn't
answer by having trust in Jesus verse 81 of his disciples,
Andrew Simon Peters brother. So, we're talking here about
Andrew, and notice how the Primacy of Peter is highlighted,
though, Andrew is always referred to in relation to Peter
because Peter is the most important of the Apostles.
How would you like that, always being referred to not as
yourself as an individual, but in relation to your brother, And
so, Andrew says, there is a small boy here with five, barley
Loaves and two fish. But what is that between?
So many Now, only John tells us this detail that there's a small
boy that gives them the food. And it's he mentions barley
loaves. So the small boy has barley
lows, which is typical food for poor people.
Verse 10. Jesus said to them, make the
people sit down, so Jesus. Here's what he needs to hear.
He has this Five Loaves and two fish, and Jesus Springs into
action. He says, get them to sit down
and basically he's telling them to get ready for a meal in the
Greek more literally, it says, make the people recline, so he's
getting them ready for a typical meal.
There was plenty of grass there, and as many as 5,000 men, sat
down this language of the grass, is highlighted in the gospel of
Mark as well. So this is an indication that
John is familiar with the gospel of Mark.
So, we know from the other gospels, that Jesus gets him to
sit down in groups and it's a pretty big task for the
disciples to manage 15,000 people.
So this could have taken a little while to get people in
the groups. Verse 11 then Jesus Took the
Loaves and gave thanks. Now it was common at that time
for the man presiding over a meal to give a blessing and then
break the food, that was a common practice particularly
amongst the essence of qumran. They would do this for every
meal, they would say a blessing and then break the bread.
So some have said that the essence of qumran would not have
been surprised by Jesus instituting the Eucharist
because they were already doing a form of it.
So that's an interesting side. Comment about the Essence.
So there's more to it, though, because for John's readers, when
Jesus, when John says here, he took the bread and gave.
Thanks obviously for John's readers.
They're going to think of the Last Supper, the word for gave
thanks. Here is Eucharist t0.
So, they're definitely going to be thinking of the Eucharist.
And this is basically why John includes this story because this
is a Eucharistic story and John is about to go on and tell us
lots of specific information about the Eucharist.
And Jesus gave them out to all who are sitting ready.
So John doesn't say this but we know from the other gospels that
the disciples distribute the food to the groups and then he
did the same with the fish but notice the bread is described
first. The bread is the focus, the fish
is only secondary verse 12, when they had eaten enough, he said
to the disciples pick up the pieces left over, so that
nothing gets wasted. So it's a big meal.
And Jesus is thinking practically for such a big man.
Meal like this. The disciples are going to want
to collect leftovers so that they can use it for their own
future meals. Now, some Scholars think this
might be a deliberate reference to the Manna in the wilderness.
If you know the story of God, feeding the Israelites with the
Manna in the wilderness. The Israelites are specifically
told by God, don't take extra food.
Don't gather anything extra. Just get what you need.
But here Jesus says, to the disciples, get leftovers, get
extra. So maybe John is trying to
highlight how Jesus is both like God in providing the manner but
also kind of unlike that story as well, so that's possible.
Other translations have this phrase as gather up the
fragments left over so that nothing may be lost and it might
be a theological meaning here in terms of lost referring to
salvation, but that's just speculation.
So they pick them up and filled twelve hampers with scraps left
over from the meal of five barley loaves.
So there might be some significance to the number 12.
Maybe that indicates that God is going to provide for the 12
tribes of Israel. May be that God is making a new
is rail through the 12 apostles or it could just be literally.
John is saying how amazing this miracle is he saying there's
twelve baskets which were produced from only five barley
loaves. When does the multiplication
happen? The story doesn't tell us when
the food gets multiplied. So most likely it happened when
the apostles were given the food from Jesus.
At the point that Jesus hands it to the apostles is when it gets
miraculous and multiplied. But that's just speculation
notice though, that Jesus doesn't make food out of thin
air, he actually takes what's already there and he multiplies
it and that's significant. Now there are similar miracles
to this in the Old Testament, particularly in Second Kings for
Elisha the prophet multiplies, 20 loaves for 100 men and they
still have some left over. So this Jesus doing this,
miracle would have made the Jews think of that Miracle, but Jesus
shows that his greater than Alicia, because he starts with
fuel Loaves and he feeds a larger crowd Verse 14.
Now it gets interesting. The people sing this sign that
he had given and signs is a big theme in John's gospel.
If you read the Gospel of John, essentially, signs, a Miracles
that are meant to point people towards recognizing his identity
as the Son of God. Now interestingly there's one
other food sign in the Gospel of John and that's the one where
the wine is Multiplied at the wedding of Cana.
So in both food, miracles, And the two Miracles that we have
involving food. What is Jesus?
Multiply here? Multipliers bread and he
multiplies wine. So John is clearly setting up
the significance of the Eucharist.
And the crowd says, this really is the prophet who is to come
into the world. So who's this Prophet that
they're talking about the Jews of the time?
Believe that one day, there would be a great profit that
they had come to call the profit.
And that's predicted in Deuteronomy 18:15 Dane Moses
himself says there will be a prophet like me that comes one
day. So the Jews at the time of Jesus
are waiting for this Prophet. Some of the Jews believe that
the prophet would be the same person as the Messiah and that
appears to be what the crowd is thinking here.
The crowd is recognizing, the Jesus is the profit and also
that he's the Messiah. And another interesting fact, is
some people at the time of Jesus, believe that when the
Messiah returned, he would bring a new kind of manner like the
one that was in the wilderness, but better.
So, that's an interesting link to the Eucharist as well.
So they think he's the Messiah verse 15, Jesus, who could see
that they were about to come and take him by force and make him
King. What's going on here?
The Jews of the time believe that the Messiah was going to be
like a military political Leader who would wipe out the Romans.
That's the basic idea. They had of the Messiah and they
think the Jesus, because he is the Messiah.
They think that that's what he's going to be.
So they try to grab him. They gather around him as a big
crowd, and I want to Proclaim his as this military King.
Now, Jesus is a king, no doubt about it.
And, in fact, on Palm Sunday, he presents himself as a king.
But he doesn't agree with the way.
The crowds were going about it here.
He doesn't agree with the idea of kingship that they have in
mind. Is not a military leader and
he's not going to accept that view of himself.
And also, he doesn't want to cause chaos this early in his
ministry. He doesn't want there to be a
big Riot. He knows it.
He still has some years to do ministry before he can be
arrested. So, Jesus is not denying that
he's a king, but he doesn't want to be taken his King this way.
So Jesus withdraws again to the hills by himself, he gets out of
there quickly. We know from the other gospels
that he gives some instructions to his disciples and he tells
the disciples to go on ahead without him and getting the boat
while he goes up to the hills and later that night he comes to
them walking on the water. And that's the very next thing
that John narrates so an interesting passage
particularly, when we combine in all the information about this
event from the other Gospels, So there's two brief catechism,
references to this, passage that help us understand Catholic
teaching. So, paragraph 439 is in the
discussion about Christ, which is another word for messiah,
many Jews and even certain Gentiles who shared their hope
recognizing Jesus. The fundamental attributes of
the Messianic, son of David promised by God to Israel.
Jesus accepted his rightful title of Messiah though, with
some reserved because it was understood by some of his
contemporaries into human. A sense as essentially political
and this passage in John, chapter 6 is the best example of
where people misunderstand the role of the Messiah, certainly
But then paragraph 559 clarifies it for us.
This is talking about Palm Sunday.
It says, how will your roofs? I'm welcomed her Messiah.
Although Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make
him King, he chooses the time and prepares the details for his
Messianic, entry into the city of his father, David and the
paragraph goes on from there. So from there, we learn that
later, Jesus does allow himself to be called King on Palm
Sunday. So we'll leave it there for
today. Thank you for listening.
Hopefully you learn something new and please continue to share
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from a Catholic perspective