The feeding of the 5000

There are two episodes in the Gospels of multiplication of bread and fishes:

1- Feeding the 5,000, Matthew 14:1-21; Mark 6:35-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:5-15... the only miracle described in the four Gospels.

2- Feeding the 4,000, Matthew 15:29-39; Mark 8:1-9

Some liberal Christians of the high critic may not believe Jesus actually fed 5,000 or 4000 people using only five loaves and two fishes but that the boy who brought these to Jesus set an example which the crowds followed (i.e. they all shared their food).

But the Bible story is very different, and 6 times!, and it is the only account in history we have of the events.

1 10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.

11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."

13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

14 After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."

15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (Jn.6:10-15).

2 The Bible proclaims it as a miracle, 4After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world. (Jn.6:4).

3 Jesus is very careful to ask to gather the left of the five barley loaves, and here, 3So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. There were five barley loaves, not any other shared food!

The gospels mention 5000and 4000 men, and, of course, if you count women and children the multitude fed should have been over 10,000 or 15,000.

The Bread of Life, John, chapter 6:

Chapter 6 of St. John has the sixth treasure of the Gospel, the Sermon of the Bread of Life, where Jesus promises us our daily bread, to live on earth this beautiful life in Christ as a wedding feast, to have eternal life, and to help others to do so.

This Sermon was the announcement of the Eucharist, we have to eat his flesh and drink his own blood, the most substantial Sermon of Jesus... but it was the greatest scandal in the life of Jesus, the multitudes and the 72 disciples left him thinking he was crazy, to eat his flesh and drink his blood?!... and not only that, here Jesus signed his death sentence, because "after this Jesus went about in Galilee; he did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him" (Jn 7:1)... and the next time he went to Judea they killed him!... on a Cross!.. they were not bluffing.

The chapter starts with two of the seven miracles of the Gospel of John: The multiplication of the seven barley loaves and two fish, to feed 5,000 people (Jn 6:1-14), and Jesus walking on water (Jn 6:18:21)... both of them show us the power of Jesus on nature, preparing us for the announcement of the greatest miracle on nature, the Eucharist, the Bread of Life.

The multitudes were so impressed with the multiplication of the bread and fishes that they wanted to make him a king!, but Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself (Jn.6:15).

The next day, when they found him, they asked him: "What must we do to perform the the works of God?. Jesus answered to them: This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (Jn 6:28)... and he will repeat it four times in this chapter, "This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day" (Jn 6:40, 28, 35, 47)... four times repeats it, to prepare us for the great announcement we have to believe and do, to eat his flesh and drink his blood!... as hard as it sounds!... just as Jesus will repeat it 8 times!.

Now they ask Jesus for a "sign", as the "manna" was a sign for their ancestors, for 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus tells them that it is the Father who gives the bread from heaven, or the bread of life. So they said to Jesus: "Sir, give us this Bread of Heaven always" (Jn 6:30-34).

And here it comes, the Sermon of the Bread of Life, or the Bread of Heaven, in John 6:35-69, 35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty (Jn.6:35).

This feeding of the multitudes happened once or twice in the gospels, the manna, also mentioned in John 6, lasted for 40 years, and the Eucharist already for 2000 years and counting, the longest miracle in the whole Bible... and just you have to believe!