John 6:1-13

MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES

Text 6:1-13

1

After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.

2

And a great multitude followed him, because they beheld the signs which he did on them that were sick.

3

And Jesus went up into the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.

4

Now the passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

5

Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude cometh unto him, saith unto Philip, Whence are we to buy bread, that these may eat?

6

And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.

7

Philip answered him, Two hundred shillings-' worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little.

8

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,

9

There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes: but what are these among so many?

10

Jesus said, Make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

11

Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down; likewise also of the fishes as much as they would.

12

And when they were filled, he saith unto his disciples, Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that nothing be lost.

13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which remained over unto them that had eaten.

Queries

a.

What are Jesus-' reasons for feeding this multitude?

b.

Which passover is at hand?

c.

Why did Jesus command the left-overs to be gathered up?

Paraphrase

After the interval of a year of increasingly popular ministry in Galilee, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (the Sea of Tiberias) to the eastern side. A great multitude was following Him because they were seeing the miracles which He was performing upon those who were sick. Jesus went up the hillside and there He sat down with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Jesus looked up, therefore, and seeing that a great multitude was coming unto Him, said to Philip, Where are we to purchase food that these people may eat? This He said to test Philip, for He Himself knew what He was about to do. Philip answered Him, A year's wages would not buy enough bread that everyone may receive even a small portion. But one of His disciples, Andrew Simon Peter's brother, says to Him, There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are these among so many? Jesus said, Make all the people to sit down. Now there was much grass in that place and the men therefore (about five thousand in number) sat down. Jesus took the loaves, when He had given thanks, and He distributed to the people who were sitting down; likewise He distributed the small fish, as much as the people wanted. When they were all full, He said to His disciples, Gather up the fragments that are left over so that nothing may be wasted. So they gathered them up and they filled twelve hand-baskets with fragments left over by those who had eaten from the five barley loaves.

Summary

Jesus tests the faith and spirituality of a great throng of about fifteen thousand people, plus His twelve disciples, by providing a miraculous meal for all present.

Comment

John's indefinite note of time in John 6:1 cannot be construed to mean the events of Chapter Six must follow immediately the events of Chapter Five. A whole year's ministry intervenes between Chapter s 5 and 6 including such events as:

1.

Controversies about the Sabbath in Capernaum; Matthew 12:1-50; Mark 2:1-28; Luke 6:1-49

2.

Sermon on the Mount; Matthew 5:1-48; Matthew 6:1-34; Matthew 7:1-29

3.

Raising Widow of Nain's Son; Luke 7:1-50

4.

Healing demoniac at Gergesa; Matthew 8:1-34; Mark 5:1-43; Luke 8:1-56

5.

Second visit to Nazareth; Matthew 13:1-58; Mark 6:1-56

6.

Twelve sent in pairs to preach; Matthew 10:1-42; Mark 6:1-56; Luke 9:1-62

7.

Herod desires to have Jesus visit him; Matthew 14:1-36; Mark 6:1-56; Luke 9:1-62

See Map No. 3 page No. 170 for the Second Year, the popular year, of public ministry.

There are at least four things which led Jesus to seek retirement in a desert (uninhabited) place, beyond the Sea of Galilee:

a.

The news of the death of John the Baptist

b.

The sudden, and probably evil, interest of Herod

c.

The return of the Twelve from intense evangelistic labors

d. The great multitudes pressing upon Him continually

Jesus saw the tide of crisis mounting, and He wanted time alone with the Twelve to prepare them and Himself for the coming climax of His ministry (John 6:60-71). He thus took the disciples in a boat to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee to a city called Bethsaida Julias (cf. Luke 9:10; also Map No. 4, page No. 266). This city was at the northeast corner of the Sea of Tiberias. The sea of Galilee had many names:

a.

Sea of Chinnereth (Numbers 34:11; Deuteronomy 3:17; Joshua 13:27).

b.

Sea of Chinnereth (Joshua 12:3; 1 Kings 15:20).

c.

Lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1).

d.

Sea of Tiberias (John 6:1).

Mark 6:32-33 pictures for us the great Passover crowds catching a glimpse of Jesus and His Twelve disciples, and recognizing Him as the great Galilean miracle Worker. Upon which, more than fifteen thousand people began running along the northern seashore, and arrived ahead of Jesus at the eastern side of the sea.

Enthusiasm was high. It was Passover time, the great deliverance festival of all Jewry. A miracle-working Prophet had arisen in Galilee He might even be the long-awaited hoped-for Prophet like unto Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15).

He seems to have eluded the vast throngs momentarily as He goes up into the hillside and sits down with His disciples. Rest was the primary motive, but secondarily, perhaps, He wanted to give the Twelve a birds-eye-view of the great mass of people, preliminary to His test questions.
The mention of the feast and its specific name, Passover, is primarily to give a note of time. It may also be given in explanation of the great throngs of people. This is undoubtedly the third Passover in Jesus-' ministry John 2:13; John 5:1; John 6:4, and the fourth, John 13:1.

Many commentators see a problem in John 6:5, and its parallels in the Synoptics. They cannot harmonize the fact that Matthew and Luke, and especially Mark, say that the crowd arrived first (cf. Matthew 14:13-14; Mark 6:33-34; Luke 9:11), while John says Jesus arrived first. R. C. Foster, in his Syllabus of the Life of Christ Harmonizes the difficulty in this manner:

Mark 6:33-34 explicitly affirms that the crowd outran the boat, and when Jesus and the apostles disembarked they found the crowd. Such a multitude men, women, children; young and old; sturdy, and sick or crippled would be strung out for miles by such a race. The vigorous ones outran the boat; Jesus saw the situation and picked a natural amphitheatre on the mountain side. By the time the weak stragglers arrived and the multitudes fully assembled, Jesus was seated with His disciples prepared to teach and heal. The accounts are wonderfully independent and harmonious.

The Synoptics also include the Lord's tender compassion as He beheld the great crowds coming toward Him. They were as sheep not having a shepherd (Mark 6:34). They were not being led in spiritual paths by the religious leaders of the day. Jesus took this opportunity to heal many and teach them concerning the kingdom of God (cf. Luke 9:11).

As the day began to wear away (Luke 9:12), the Twelve came to Jesus, asking Him to stop teaching and to dismiss the multitudes that they might go into the villages and obtain food. But Jesus proposed an astounding question, intended to elicit an affirmation of faith and trust in His omnipotence. He turned to Philip with the question, Whence are we to buy bread that these may eat? Why question Philip? As a matter of fact, there is no conclusive answer. The Lord was testing Philip's faith, but He was also testing the faith of the other eleven. It is manifestly ridiculous to grasp at only one or two incidents of Philip's life and give him a matter-of-fact personality.

Jesus questioned Philip directly, but the entire group indirectly (cf. Matthew 14:16; Mark 6:36). He needed no help for this situation, for He knew all along what He was going to do. His questions to the disciples were test questions. It is amazing that not one of them could remember the previous miracles, e.g., raising the widow's son from a funeral bier; casting legions of demons out of a man; and even earlier and more appropriate, the changing of water into wine at Cana. Could they not even remember these and suggest that Jesus exercise His miraculous prerogatives to provide food? Perhaps their faith was staggered at the vision of fifteen thousand people.

Philip's answer in John 6:7 was one, as Godet puts it, of good common sense, but not of faith. Many followers of Christ since Philip have followed the road of good common sense, allowing multitudes to go unfed by the true Bread of Life, when they should have taken the stand of daring-yet-trusting faith.

The two hundred shillings would be equivalent to nearly a year's wages! One shilling, or denarius, represented one day's wages. A year's wages would not purchase enough bread that each of the more than fifteen thousand might have even a very small amount! The situation was an impossible one in the eyes of Philip and the others.

There seems to be a considerable lapse of time between John 6:7-8, for the Synoptics report Jesus as sending the disciples into the crowd to gather all the available food (cf. Mark 6:36). They found a lad with barley loaves and two small fish. Andrew then stepped forward with the find, but he too, sees the situation to be impossible.

As Hendriksen points out, numerous sermons have been preached on the lad here, but John focuses our attention on the Lord of lords, not the lad.
The loaves were probably somewhat like American hamburger buns, only thinner and harder, while the fishes were probably small, sardine-like fish processed into pickled delicacies. Pickled fish from Galilee were renowned throughout the Empire.

Jesus then, John 6:10, prepared the mass of people for the coming repast. He commanded that the people be made to assume the customary position (half-way reclining) for eating, Mark adds (John 6:39-40) very picturesquely that they reclined, garden beds, after garden beds (row after row of people in many colored costumes), by hundreds and fifties. Foster comments, The lanes of green grass and the solid groups of people dressed in the gay colors of the East looked just like a flower garden.

There are two apparent reasons for this seating in companies:
a. That there might be orderliness, no greediness and elbowing, nor confusion of any sort.
b. Probably to test the faith of the multitudes.

John says there were about five thousand men. Matthew 14:21 adds, besides women and children. The Greek word which has been translated number is arithmon, and we have our English word arithmetic from it.

As was His customary practice, Jesus gave thanks before the meal. Then He distributed bread and fish to the assembled multitude. Immediately the curiosity seekers ask, Where and how did the actual miracle take place? Matthew 14:19 states that Jesus distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds. This is as descriptive as the Gospel writers become. All four are amazingly brief certain indication of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures never place emphasis upon the mechanics of miracles, but upon their factuality and completeness. Every person there had as much as he could eat and some, it seems, took more than they could use, for there were broken fragments left over.

And so it is, in John 6:12, that Jesus sends the disciples back among the rows of men and women to gather up the leftover fragments. What a lesson for the poor stewardship of present day followers of Jesus! The Lord not only taught good stewardship, but He also practiced it! The Creator of all abundance guarded against waste. Certainly it behooves us as dependent recipients of God's providential care to exercise good stewardship, and to guard against waste.

The disciples gathered up (John 6:13) twelve kophinos (stout wicker baskets) full. These baskets were bottle-shaped, and no Jew ever travelled without his kophinos. By carrying his own food along with him he was not forced to shop in markets and touch (ceremonially) unclean persons and objects, and thus be forced to go through the tedious rites of purification overly much. Furthermore, the ceremonial cleanness of his food itself could be assured since he could carry it from his own table.

An interesting story is told in connection with this miracle. A Sunday School teacher was trying to convince her class of youngsters that there was no actual miracle performed by Jesus here at the sea of Galilee. Children, she said, you must realize that Jesus didn-'t actually provide bread and fish for the people to eat. They were really filled by His teaching. A small lad revealed heaven-sought faith when he said, But what about the twelve baskets left over, Teacher?

Quiz

1.

How many of the Gospel writers record this miracle?

2.

Is there an interval of time between Chapter s 5 and 6? If so, how much?

3.

What did Jesus do and teach before providing food for the vast multitude (cf. Mark 6:34)?

4.

What sort of answer did Philip give Jesus?

5.

How much bread is two hundred shillings worth?

6.

Approximately how many people were fed?

7.

What lesson is taught in this miracle regarding stewardship?