The following is originally posted at Otium Sanctum and is reposted here due to the former's inaccessibility. The present article can be used in conjunction with the forum posting at the main site dedicated to the Feast of the Transfiguration.
The whole chapter 6 of the gospel of John has but one unifying theme: the Bread of Life. However, it is presented in such a way that anyone hearing it read would be reminded of the Eucharist, the daily breaking of the bread. Within this chapter, John 6:1-15 is presented as a sign that Jesus explains in vv. 22-59 and which becomes a judgment on the disciples in vv. 60-71.
John 6:1-15 is John's rewriting of Mark's "Feeding of the Five Thousand." In Mark's account, Jesus is presented as the Messiah who feeds Israel in the desert just as God did during the time of Moses. The actions of Jesus in the act of feeding the crowd points the reader to his actions in the Last Supper where he establishes the memorial of his Body and Blood. John goes further and rewrites the narrative to show that what he is describing has a bearing on the Eucharistic celebrations of the Christian community. Raymond Brown points out the literary signals that John uses in this narrative:
- John uses the word eucaristeo, which means "to give thanks". This is the word from which we derive the word "eucharist."
- Jesus, not the disciples, distribute the bread as he does in the Last Supper accounts of the Synoptics (in John, there is nothing similar to the meal described in Mark, Matthew and Luke because he puts it all in chapter 6)
- Jesus commands the disciples to gather the "fragments." Here he uses the word sunagw, from which is derived synaxis sunaxiv, the "Collect" of the Mass.
- the word "fragment" itself -- klasma, klasma -- is the technical term in early Christian literature for "host", the piece of bread received in communion.
The setting for the multiplication of the loaves is around the time of Passover and on a mountain. John, then, associates this sign with the liberation from Egypt and the Passover lamb that is offered in sacrifice as a memorial for it. The mention of the mountain prepares for the declaration later on of the crowd about Jesus: "Truly he is the Prophet, the one that is coming into the world."
The allussion here is to the prophet like Moses in Deut. 18:15-18. In Deuteronomic history, the "prophet like Moses" is Elijah who lived on a mountain and who gave his powers to Elisha his successor. This last is alluded to in the mention of the boy and the barley loaves, an echo of 2 Kgs. 4:42-44. The crowd however sees the "Prophet like Moses" as a political Messiah (see vv. 14-15).
In this narrative, John mentions two disciples: Philip and Andrew. Philip is tested with the question: "Where can we buy food?" The question takes for granted the amount that is needed for buying food. In answering, Philip seemed to say: "Look, the 'where' is immaterial; we will first need a huge amount of money." This is also the same Philip who at the Last Supper Discourses wil ask the Lord to show the Father, for which he will be rebuked: "Philip, until this time you still do not know me?"
Andrew was the one who introduced Jesus to his brother Peter. Here he introduces the boy with barley loaves. Like Philip, however, he was thinking of the mathematical implications of the problem they will face if they start feeding the crowd: "What good is this for so many?" Philip and Andrew were thinking in terms of money. Jesus as not. John is careful to point out "he already knew what he is going to do."
Jesus is all-knowing in the Gospel of John. In John 4, Jesus presents himself to a Samaritan woman as the coming Messiah, the Christ will reveal everything (cf. John 4;25-26.39-41). We already know from John's Prologue (John 1:1-18) that Jesus is the Word of God who reveals the Truth. This Word is also life-giving Light. Jesus "knew" so he distributes to many what in the eyes of Philip and Andrew was "few." But what seemed "few" turned out in the end as more than enough. The fragments gathered were put into twelve baskets, symbol of those who eat the bread that Jesus gives and are collected into the new Israel.
The crowd was not mistaken when they associate the sign with a Messianic figure. But they are mistaken in their idea of the Messiah who is to come. Later on, Pilate will present Jesus as "King of the Jews" Ironically, those who wish to make Jesus king in John 6:14 are nowhere to be seen in Pilate's tribunal. Jesus, crowned with thorns, wounded and bloody will say: "My kingdom is not of this world." His Body and Blood will be the subject of the Discourse on the Bread of Life. But even in this part of John 6 we are already pointed to the myster of his Passion, Death and Resurrection as the fulfillment of his words at the Last Supper: "this is my Body ... this is my Blood."
