Feeding the people

Now Jesus stands before the people, his guests, as their host.  He takes the food and solemnly blesses it, probably using the regular Jewish words of blessing: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who bringest forth bread from the earth”.  Thus Jesus is careful to indicate that God is the Giver of the food that is to be eaten. (18) Now Jesus breaks the bread and gives it to his disciples to serve the people.  And he divides the fish and gives this also to the disciples.  The Greek tense of the verb ‘gave’ represents an action which was continued or repeated (19) so that more accurately Jesus kept on handing out the food, possibly suggesting that the multiplication of the loaves and fishes took place in the hands of Jesus. (20, 21)

Gathering up the food that is left

When everyone has eaten all that they need, the disciples fill 12 baskets with the broken pieces of bread and the fish.  These are not half-eaten scraps of food, they are the pieces broken off for distribution which are surplus to requirements. (22)

Have you ever been in a situation so momentous that you find it hard to believe it is happening?  And perhaps you even have to pinch yourself to realise it really is happening.  The disciples must have felt like that after the crowd had dispersed.  But the 12 baskets full of food which they have to eat and enjoy are tangible proof that Jesus has indeed hosted this great open air banquet at which he has fed more than 5,000 people.  So the 12 baskets served “as convincing proof to them that the feeding was no illusion but a reality”. (23)

3. PONDER

Take some time to think about this miracle.  What message(s) does it have for you?  Write down your thoughts in a notebook.