When Jesus heard of it, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. 14 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 [Jesus] said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” 17 But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” 18 Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” 19 and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over —twelve wicker baskets full. 21 Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.
When Jesus heard about the death of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod Antipas, he prudently left Antipas’ territory on the West side of the lake (Mt. 14:22) and sailed to Bethsaida (Lk. 9:10). The crowd heard where he and his disciples were going and went there on foot. The distance by foot was approximately 3 miles but it was 6 miles by boat. The crowd, which increased in number as it went, arrived before Jesus (Mk. 6:33). The crowd had gathered on a plain to the SE of Bethsaida between the hills and the sea. Jesus started to teach them out of pity because they had no one to guide them (Ezek. 34:5-6) and he also healed the sick (Lk. 9:11). The feast of Passover was near (Jn. 6:4) so it was Spring, and the plain was covered with green grass (Jn. 6:10).
Late in the evening, the twelve told Jesus to dismiss the crowds so they could go to the villages and buy food for themselves to which Jesus replied, “Give them some food yourselves (v. 16).” Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, told Jesus that they only had five barley loaves and two dried fish (Jn. 6:8-9). After ordering the crowd to sit down on the green grass (Ps. 23:2), Jesus looked up to Heaven and said the blessing, broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to distribute. Everyone ate and was satisfied and there were 12 baskets of fragments left over. Over 5,000 people were fed.
The breaking of the bread was significant because it was mentioned in all four Gospels (Mt. 14:19; Mk. 6:41; Lk. 9:16; Jn. 6:11). There are biblical precedents where food was provided by divine means - Manna for Israel in the desert (Exodus 16, Numbers 11) and Elisha miraculously feeding 100 men (2 Kgs. 4:42-44). By the time the Gospels were written (between approximately AD 66 and AD 100), the four Evangelists interpreted the ‘taking’, ‘blessing’, ‘breaking’, and ‘giving’ as Jesus looking forward to the institution of Eucharist (Holy Communion) at the Last Supper (Mt. 26:26), and the Messianic Banquet in heaven (Is. 25:6).
Almighty God, nourish our souls with your Word and your presence and help us to be instruments of your grace and love in the world. May we be willing to share what we have, knowing that you can use our small offerings to bring about great blessings. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
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