From: Luke 9:11b-17
First Miracle of the Loaves and Fish
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Commentary:
11-17. Jesus replies to His disciples knowing very well what He is going to do
(cf. John 6:5-6)—thereby teaching them little by little to trust in God’s omnipotence.
On this miracle see the notes on Matthew 14:14-21; 15:32; 15:33-38; Mark 6:34;
6:41; 6:42; 8:1-9; and John 6:5-9; 6:10; 6:11; 6:12-13.
[Matthew 14:14-21 states:
14-21. This episode must have occurred in the middle of springtime, because
the grass was green (Mark 6:40; John 6:10). In the Near East loaves were usual-
ly made very thin, which meant it was easy to break them by hand and distribute
them to those at table; this was usually done by the head of the household or the
senior person at the meal. Our Lord follows this custom, and the miracle occurs
when Jesus breaks the bread. The disciples then distribute it among the crowd.
Here again we can see Jesus’ desire to have people cooperate with Him.]
[Matthew 15:32 states:
32. The Gospels speak of our Lord’s mercy and compassion towards people’s
needs: here He is concerned about the crowds who are following Him and who
have no food. He always has a word of consolation, encouragement and forgive-
ness: He is never indifferent. However, what hurts Him most are sinners who go
through life without experiencing light and truth: He waits for them in the sacra-
ments of Baptism and Penance.]
[Matthew 15:33-38 states:
33-38. As in the case of the first multiplication (14:13-20), the Apostles provide
our Lord with the loaves and the fish. It was all they had. He also avails of the
Apostles to distribute the food — the result of the miracle — to the people. In dis-
tributing the graces of salvation God chooses to rely on the faithfulness and ge-
nerosity of men. “Many great things depend—don’t forget it—on whether you and
I live our lives as God wants” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 755).
It is interesting to note that in both miracles of multiplication of loaves and fish
Jesus’s provides food in abundance but does not allow anything to go to waste.
All Jesus’ miracles, in addition to being concrete historical events, are also sym-
bols of supernatural realities. Here abundance of material food also signifies abun-
dance of divine gifts on the level of grace and glory: it refers spiritual resources
and eternal rewards; God gives people more graces than are strictly necessary.
This is borne out by Christian experience throughout history. St. Paul tells us
that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20); he speaks
of “the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us” (Eph 1:8) and tells his
disciple Timothy that “the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and
love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:14).]
[Mark 6:34 states:
34. Our Lord had planned a period of rest, for Himself and His disciples, from the
pressures of the apostolate (Mark 6:31-32). And He has to change His plans be-
cause so many people come, eager to hear Him speak. Not only is He not an-
noyed with them: He feels compassion on seeing their spiritual need. “My peo-
ple are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). They need instruction and
our Lord wants to meet this need by preaching to them. “Jesus is moved by hun-
ger and sorrow, but what moves Him most is ignorance” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ
Is Passing By”, 109).]
[Mark 6:41 states:
41. This miracle is a figure of the Holy Eucharist: Christ performed it shortly be-
fore promising that sacrament (cf. John 6:1ff), and the Fathers have always so in-
terpreted it. In this miracle Jesus shows His supernatural power and His love for
men — the same power and love as make it possible for Christ’s one and only bo-
dy to be present in the Eucharistic species to nourish the faithful down the centu-
ries. In the words of the sequence composed by St. Thomas Aquinas for the
Mass of Corpus Christi: “Be one or be a thousand fed, they eat alike that living
bread which, still received, ne’er wastes away.”
This gesture of our Lord — looking up to Heaven — is recalled in the Roman canon
of the Mass: “And looking up to Heaven, to You, His almighty Father.” At this
point in the Mass we are preparing to be present at a miracle greater than that
of the multiplication of the loaves — the changing of bread into His own body, of-
fered as food for all men.]
[Mark 6:42 states:
42. Christ wanted the left-overs to be collected (cf. John 6:12) to teach us not to
waste things God gives us, and also to have them as a tangible proof of the mi-
racle.
The collecting of the left-overs is a way of showing us the value of little things
done out of love for God—orderliness, cleanliness, finishing things completely. It
also reminds the sensitive believer of the extreme care that must be taken of the
Eucharistic species. Also, the generous scale of the miracle is an expression of
the largesse of the Messianic times. The Fathers recall that Moses distributed
the manna for each to eat as much as he needed but some left part of it for the
next day and it bred worms (Exodus 16:16-20). Elijah gave the widow just enough
to meet her needs (1 Kings 17:13-16). Jesus, on the other hand, gives generously
and abundantly.]
[Mark 8:1-9 states:
1-9. Jesus repeats the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish: the
first time (Mark 6:33-44) He acted because He saw a huge crowd like “sheep with-
a shepherd”; now He takes pity on them because they have been with Him for
three days and have nothing to eat.
This miracle shows how Christ rewards people who persevere in following Him:
the crowd had been hanging on His words, forgetful of everything else. We should
be like them, attentive and ready to do what He commands, without any vain con-
cern about the future, for that would amount to distrusting Divine Providence.]
[John 6:5-9 states:
5-9. Jesus is sensitive to people’s material and spiritual needs. Here we see Him
take the initiative to satisfy the hunger of the crowd of people who have been fol-
lowing Him.
Through these conversations and the miracle He is going to work, Jesus also tea-
ches His disciples to trust in Him whenever they meet up with difficulties in their
apostolic endeavors in the future: they should engage in them using whatever re-
sources they have—even if they are plainly inadequate, as was the case with the
five loaves and two fish. He will supply what is lacking. In the Christian life we
must put what we have at the service of our Lord, even if we do not think it
amounts to very much. He can make meager resources productive.
“We must, then, have faith and not be dispirited. We must not be stopped by any
kind of human calculation. To overcome the obstacles we have to throw ourselves
into the task so that the very effort we make will open up new paths” (St. J. Escri-
va, “Christ is Passing By”, 160).]
[John 6:10 states:
10. The evangelist gives us an apparently unimportant piece of information: “there
was much grass in the place.” This indicates that the miracle took place in the
height of the Palestinian spring, very near the Passover, as mentioned in verse 4.
There are very few big meadows in Palestine; even today there is one on the eas-
tern bank of the Lake of Gennesaret, called El-Batihah, where five thousand peo-
ple could fit seated: it may have been the site of this miracle.]
[John 6:11 states:
11. The account of the miracle begins with almost the very same words as those
which the Synoptics and St. Paul use to describe the institution of the Eucharist
(cf. Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:25). This indicates
that the miracle, in addition to being an expression of Jesus’ mercy towards the
needy, is a symbol of the Blessed Eucharist, about which our Lord will speak a
little later on (cf. John 6:26-59).]
[John 6:12-13 states:
12-13. The profusion of detail shows how accurate this narrative is — the names
of the Apostles who address our Lord (verses 5,8), the fact that they were barley
loaves (verse 9), the boy who provided the wherewithal (verse 9) and, finally, Je-
sus telling them to gather up the leftovers.
This miracle shows Jesus’ divine power over matter, and His largesse recalls the
abundance of messianic benefits which the prophets had foretold (cf. Jeremiah
31:14).
Christ’s instruction to pick up the leftovers teaches us that material resources
are gifts of God and should not be wasted: they should be used in a spirit of po-
verty (cf. note on Mark 6:42). In this connection Paul VI pointed out that “after
liberally feeding the crowds, the Lord told His disciples to gather up what was
left over, lest anything should be lost (cf. John 6:12). What an excellent lesson
in thrift — in the finest and fullest meaning of the term — for our age, given as it
is to wastefulness! It carries with it the condemnation of a whole concept of so-
ciety wherein consumption tends to become an end in itself, with contempt for
the needy, and to the detriment, ultimately, of those very people who believed
themselves to be its beneficiaries, having become incapable of perceiving that
man is called to a higher destiny” (Pope Paul VI, “Address to Participants at
the World Food Conference”, 9 November 1974).]
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
| First reading | Genesis 14:18-20 © |
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| Psalm | Psalm 109:1-4 |
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| Second reading | 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 © |
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| Gospel Acclamation | Jn6:51 |
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| Gospel | Luke 9:11-17 © |
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