Miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand.

(Mat. 14:15-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15).

All four Evangelists describe this miraculous event. Moreover, Saint John links this with the Lord’s teaching on the heavenly bread and on the Mystery of Communion of His flesh and blood — and gives us an important chronological indication, that all this was occurring at the time of “the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near” (John 6:4), the third Passover in the Lord’s ministry.

Having received the news of John the Baptist’s death, the Lord Jesus Christ withdrew from Galilee with His Apostles, recently returned from their preaching travels. They sailed across to the eastern side of the Sea of Tiberias, to a desolate area close to the town of Bethsaida. As one Bethsaida was located on the western bank near Capernaum, it must be supposed that this was another town, Bethsaida-Julias, situated on the eastern side, where the river Jordan entered into the lake of Gennesaret. The people — according to Evangelist Marks narration — having determined where the lord was heading with His Apostles, “ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him” (Mark 6:33). Seeing the multitude of people that have gathered around Him, the Lord took pity on them, “because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:33), recounted to them about God’s Kingdom (Luke 9:11) and cured the sick (mat. 14:14). After a while — according to Saint John — He ascended a mountain and sat down with His disciples, only to see a great many people heading towards Him. The day was starting to give way to evening. Then all the Apostles came to Him and exclaimed: “This is a deserted place and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food” (Mat. 14:15; Mark 6:35-36; Luke 9:12). However, the Lord did not want to send them away, saying to His disciples: “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat” (Mat. 14:16; Mark 6:37; Luke 9:13).

The Lord takes this opportunity to test Apostle Philip’s faith by asking him: “Where shall we buy, that these may eat?” (John 6:5), to which Philip replied: “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little” (John 6:7). The rest of the disciples were expressing similar concerns. Then the Lord said: “How many loaves to you have? Go and see” (Mark 6:38). Having found out, Andrew replied to Him: “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” (John 6:9). Then the Lord said: “Make them sit down in groups of fifty” (Luke 9:14, Mark 6:39-40). And the people sat down on the green grass — 100 across and 50 crosswise. Thus, it was possible to determine that there were 5000 individuals — excluding women and children (Mat. 14:21; Mark 6:44; Luke 9:14; John 6:10).

Taking the five loaves and two fish, the Lord raised His eyes to the sky, gave thanks (John 6:11), blessed them (Luke 9:16), broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, so that they may distribute them among the people; He likewise divided the fish for all the people (Mark 6:32; John 6:11). “So they all ate and were filled” (Mat. 14:20; Mark 6:42; Luke 9:17). When everybody had their fill, the Lord directed His disciples to collect the remaining portions, so that nothing goes to waste; they collected 12 full baskets.

Evangelist John advises us that people, having witnessed the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, exclaimed: “This is truly the Prophet Who is to come into the world” (John 6:14); they wanted to come and unexpectedly take Jesus, and take advantage of the advancing feast of Pascha, lure Him to Jerusalem and proclaim Him King of all nations. But the Lord naturally didn’t want to indulge in this false presentation of the Messiah as an earthly king. He directed His disciples to leave for the western side of the lake, while He — having calmed the people excited by the miracle — sent them away and “departed again to the mountain by Himself alone” (John 6:15), so as to pray.