Dear friends,
I am back. I have been lying in bed, suffering from flu. I suppose it is not swine flu. I will make up the missing entries in due course.
Yours in the Risen Lord
Alex Kwok.
The Sea of Galilee is not a sea but a lake. Tiberia is on the south-west of the lake and Capharnaum/Bethsaida are on the north. Jesus fed 5000 on the other side of the Sea of Galilee (John 6:1) or the other side of Bethsaida (Mark 6:45). Therefore, we may safely hypothesize that Jesus fed the 5000 in Tiberia. Luke has this miracle taken place in Bethsaida (Luke 9:10).
Of the 5000 whom Jesus fed with 5 loaves and 2 fish, how many knew that it was a miracle?
The three Synoptic Gospels do not give a clue. But the gospel of John gives us very enlightening answers.
Here is how John finishes the first part of the story.
And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost."
So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten.
When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!" (John 6:12-14)
We are all familiar with this. At the end of the feeding, Jesus told his disciples to collect the leftovers and they were able to gather 12 baskets of fragments. There were 12 baskets of leftovers not because there were 12 apostles. Rather, it shows that there really was an increase of food supply because 5 loaves and 2 fish would not fill up 12 baskets. (Don't ask me where the baskets came from!)
While the other gospels did not say whether the people knew it was a miracle, the gospel of John affirms that at least some of the people saw the sign. But then, it leaves us some troubles in explaining what happened later.
All the gospels except Luke continue with the second part of the story in which Jesus sent the apostles to row the boat to Capharnaum. He himself stayed away from the crowd to pray. John gave the reason that the people wanted to make Jesus king. So Jesus retired to the mountain to pray (John 6:15). The gospels record the story of Jesus walking on the water to the boat in which the apostles were hard at the oars. Only the gospel of John continues with the teaching of the bread of life which we read today.
John set the background. It took time for people to disperse and the feeding miracle took place near dinner time. So, there were still some people remaining in Tiberia the next morning.
On the next day the people who remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone (John 6:22).
There had been only one boat in Tiberia. Jesus and his disciples were not there.
However, boats from Tiberias came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus (John 6:23-24).
News spread that Jesus fed people in Tiberia. So, more boats arrived at the place where people were fed. Since Jesus and his disciples were long gone, they headed for Capernaum, Jesus' favourite missionary centre.
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" (John 6:25)
This time, the other side of the sea should be Capernaum, not Tiberia. To this rather innocent question of when you had gone there, Jesus replied rather bluntly.
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." (John 6:26)
Jesus was not speaking to latecomers from Tiberia who had missed the miracle but to some of those 5000 who had, on the previous night, ate their fill of the loaves. So 5000 were fed but not all of them saw this as a miracle! What makes some of them so blind then?
From this feeding experience, Jesus taught the people to seek something higher.
"Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal."
Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"
Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform?" (John 6:27-30)
How could they ask Jesus what sign/miracle he had done? Hadn't they eaten to the fill?
I am afraid it was a lack of faith on their part that they failed to see this miracle and the work Jesus had been doing. Some of the 5000 had faith and it was enough for Jesus to work this feeding miracle. However, not all of them saw this feeding as a miracle. Poor Jesus! You work miracles but men do not see Your miracles as miracles. What a waste of Your energy!
Faith is a curious thing. We never know how much, or rather how little, faith we have until we are put to the test.
Dear Lord, I pray that we are able to retain small enough faith to accomplish the work You assign us. Amen.
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