The Miracle of the "Five Loaves and Two Fish"

(Comparison of the Four Gospels)

The place where Jesus, His disciples, and many people were gathered was a field, and the day was already getting late.  The disciples said to Jesus, “Send the people to the nearby villages so they can buy themselves something to eat.”  But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.”  The disciples then asked, “Should we go and spend 200 denarii on bread to give them something to eat?”  Jesus replied, “Go and see how many loaves you have.  Find out.”  When they did, they found that they had only five loaves and two fish.  At that moment, Jesus instructed the disciples to have everyone sit down in groups on the green grass.  The disciples arranged the people in groups of 100 and 50.  Jesus then took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks.  He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.  He also divided the two fish among them all.  Everyone ate and was satisfied, and they collected twelve baskets of leftovers.  The number of men who had eaten was about 5,000 (Mark 6:35-44, Korean Modern Bible).  As I meditate on this passage, several thoughts come to mind::

(1)    The place where Jesus, His disciples, and many people were gathered is described as a field (Mark 6:35), but in John 6, it is mentioned as a "mountain" on the "other side of the Sea of Galilee" (John 6:1-3).

(2)    It is mentioned that it was "already late" (Mark 6:35, Korean Modern Bible), but in Matthew 14, it says "evening" (Matthew 14:15, Korean Modern Bible), and in John 6, it says "the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near" (John 6:4, Korean Modern Bible).  The mention of "Passover" by the Apostle John is theologically significant.  The reason why Jesus performed the miracle of feeding approximately 5,000 men with not only two fish but especially five loaves of bread when the Passover was approaching was because Jesus, the bread of life (John 6:48), the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), was preparing to be crucified. His death on the cross was so that everyone who believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

(3)    When Jesus' disciples said to Him, "This place is a wilderness, and it is already late.  Send the people to the surrounding villages so they can buy themselves food" (Mark 6:35-36, Korean Modern Bible), similar words are found in Matthew 14:15 and Luke 9:12 (though Luke adds "find lodging" in his account).  However, in John 6, there are words not recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).  These are: (a) Jesus' question to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" (John 6:5), and Philip's response, "It would take more than two hundred denarii to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" (John 6:7), and (b) Andrew's words, "Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two fish, but how far will they go among so many?" (John 6:9).  Specifically, Andrew’s statement is a detailed explanation of Mark 6:38, where Jesus tells the disciples, “Go and see how many loaves you have.”  When they found a boy with five barley loaves and two fish (John 6:9), they reported this, and in Matthew 14:17, the disciples said, "We have here only five loaves and two fish," and in Luke 9:13, they said, "We have only five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all this crowd."  From these passages, it can be concluded that Jesus' question to the disciples was, “Where shall we buy bread to feed these people?” (John 6:5), and Philip’s answer was, “Even if we had two hundred denarii, it would not be enough for each to have a little” (John 6:7).  Mark 6:38 mentions, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and feed them?” which is not found in Matthew and Luke.  Andrew’s answer was, "Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two fish, but how far will they go among so many?" (John 6:9).  The disciples’ response to Jesus' question was, "We only have five loaves and two fish, and how could we feed this many people without buying food?" (Luke 9:13, Korean Modern Bible).  In other words, the disciples’ answers to Jesus' test question were that it was impossible to feed about 5,000 men with only five barley loaves and two fish.  Mark 10:27 (New Translation) says, "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.'"  Luke 1:37 (New Translation) says, "For nothing is impossible with God."  What the disciples missed in their responses to Jesus’ test question was the word "we" that Jesus used.  "We" includes Jesus, who is God, and who is capable of doing all things.  However, the disciples did not look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:2).  They did not realize that Jesus, the one who posed the test, was the answer.

(4)    In Mark 6:39-40, when Jesus commanded His disciples to have all the people sit in groups on the green grass, they sat in groups of 100 or 50.  However, in Luke 9:14, it is written that Jesus instructed them to have the people sit in groups of about 50.  Matthew 14:19 simply says, "He directed the people to sit down on the grass," and John 6:10 records Jesus saying, "Have the people sit down."  The difference here is that only Mark mentions "green grass."  Another difference between Mark and Luke is the number of people in each group: Mark says the people sat in groups of 100 or 50, while Luke says they sat in groups of about 50.  Though the difference in numbers seems not very significant, reflecting on Mark's mention of "green grass" brought to mind Psalms 23:1-2: "The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters."

(5)    In Mark 6:41, it says that Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks [“gave thanks before breaking the bread” (Korean Modern Bible)], then broke the bread and gave it to His disciples to distribute to the people, and He also gave the two fish to everyone.  Matthew 14:19, Luke 9:16, and John 6:11 also describe similar events.  One interesting detail is in John 6:11, where it says, "He gave them to those who were seated as much as they wanted."  This is significant because when Jesus gave thanks to God the Father in heaven, broke the bread and fish, and gave them to the disciples to distribute to about 5,000 men [possibly about 10,000 when including women and children (Matthew 14:21)], it was an act that could only have been done by faith.  For example, Philip, a more calculating person, had answered, "It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" (John 6:7, Korean Modern Bible).  How could Philip, who doubted that so much could be provided, distribute the bread and fish to so many people as they desired?  It was an impossible action without faith.  This brings to mind Philippians 4:13: "I can do all this through Him who gives me strength."  Another intriguing point is that Jesus "looked up to heaven and gave thanks" when He received the five loaves and two fish (Mark 6:41).  How could Jesus give thanks in that situation?  From this, I learn that no matter what situation we find ourselves in, we should not be led by the circumstances to complain or grumble.  Instead, we should give thanks to God in everything, in accordance with His will (1 Thessalonians 5:18), and do so with faith.  When we do this, God's miraculous works occur.  For instance, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after he had been in the tomb for four days, Jesus had the stone rolled away and then "looked up and said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me.'"  After saying this, He called out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" and the dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen (John 11:41-44).  This shows that giving thanks to God the Father with faith is a very powerful act!

(6)    The result of Jesus' miracle of the five loaves and two fish was that "they all ate and were satisfied, and the leftover pieces of bread and fish were gathered up and filled twelve baskets" (Mark 6:42-43).  Similar records of this result are found in Matthew 14:20, Luke 9:17, and John 6:12, but only in John 6:12 does it include Jesus' words: "Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing is wasted."  This command from Jesus led the disciples to gather the remaining food, and as a result, the leftover pieces of bread and fish (Mark 6:43) were collected into twelve baskets [John 6:13 specifically mentions "the leftover pieces of barley loaves," without mentioning fish].  Why did Jesus instruct that the leftover pieces should not be wasted?  According to scholar Lightfoot, in Jewish customs, any leftover food from a meal served would become the portion of those who served it.  Hoekma comments, "Jesus gives gifts generously, but forbids waste.  Wasting material goods is not God's will" (Internet).