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 this podcast with others who are interested in studying the Bible from a Catholic perspective