according to the word of the Lord.
2 Kings 4:44
2 Kings 4:42-44
42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, "Give it to the people and let them eat." 43 But his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred people?" So Elisha repeated, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and have some left.'" 44 He set it before them, they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.
John 6:1-15
1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3 Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.
5 When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9 "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" 10 Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."
Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost."
13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world."
15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
2 Kings 4:42-44
The lectionary pairs this story with Jesus' feeding a huge mob of…5,000 men plus women and children. Do the math!
For an undisclosed reason someone from a land of the Baals, the Canaanite fertility gods, a person almost definitely not an Israelite, brought bounty from the first fruits of Shavuot, the Jewish Pentecost or festival of weeks we talked about on the Christian Day of Pentecost. The first fruits marked the harvest end; Leviticus 23:20 states, "The bread of the first fruits … shall be holy to the Lord."
At first it looked like a lot of food, but when they discovered the crowd was 100 people (was that only men, as was typical then?) they knew it couldn't be enough.
The servant (whose servant? it doesn't say) from afar had anxiety about the amount of food, but Elisha assured him it would be more than enough according to God's promise—as in having leftovers. The hungry people, the human gathering, shared God's holy food of the first fruits.
Bread-Tide
Because Mark is the shortest gospel, this year we hear more from John's gospel than we do during Matthew's or Luke's year. For five weeks beginning today through Pentecost 14, we'll read John 6:1-69—most of the chapter. On twitter, Dr Jo Kershaw from Wakefield, UK, called these five Sundays Bread-Tide.
All four gospels include today's loaves and fishes story:
• Matthew 14:13-21
• Mark 6:32-44
• Luke 9:10-17
Interpreting Scripture
To the extent we can figure it out, the historical setting and original meaning of a passage always is our first question. Every mention of water doesn't refer to baptism; every mention of bread and/or fruit of the vine doesn't correlate to the Lord's Supper, yet they still remind us water is life and food is essential.
At this opening section, try to go back to before Maundy Thursday, before Resurrection evening.
Jesus' disciples would not have heard or seen Jesus in terms of the Last Supper/Lord's Supper; they could not have related this event to a post-resurrection Eucharistic meal with the risen Christ. Although Jesus' original long discourse would have been more scattered and piecemeal than what John gives us, John was very theologically intentional about the order of Jesus' words, and today's reading doesn't yet have Jesus' proclaim I Am the Bread of Life where Jesus not only gives the food, Jesus is the food, so let's also wait on that.
Some scholars believe this is John's stand-in for the Maundy Thursday Lord's Supper founding meal. That's only speculation, even though Jesus takes the loaves, gives thanks, and Jesus himself – not the disciples – feeds the people. Did you notice there's no mention of fruit of the vine, or wine…?
Bread and Fish notes
This chapter happens during Passover. Just as at the first Passover, there's been a sea crossing, followed by bread in the wilderness. John 6:9 "Five barley loaves and two fish." Barley was one of the seven agricultural gifts of the promised land; barley was the coarser, less expensive poorer person's grain; the barley harvest had the advantage of being ready before the wheat! Some people in that culture considered fish a food of the gods.
Just as in the OT reading, there were bountiful leftovers. In Greek, leftovers and baskets full are the same word. But what happened to those leftovers? Maybe they fed people who weren't there for whatever reason; possibly the extras fed birds or wild animals?
We only can guess and hope what happened to the leftovers, but we know God's abundance, generosity, grace, supply—you can't out-give God!
I love how the first reading ends with Elisha repeating, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and have some left.' He set it before them, they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord."
You've probably heard, There's enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed?
John 6:9
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