This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  10 Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.  11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. 

As an aside, one wonders if that same dynamic is in place in our time when people offer the answer to the question as a “miracle” took place in people’s hearts. In such thinking, Christ induced the selfish to share their provisions, and when this was done there proved to be more than enough for them all. As Morris [300] notes, such a view relies “too much on presupposition and [overlooks] what the writers actually say. It is much better, accordingly, to hold … the view, that Jesus, the Son of God incarnate, did do something that we can describe only as miracle.” That said, let us return to the commentary.

Jesus knows the answer to the question—he knows what he is going to do—and he discovers that his disciples are unable to answer his question. Instead of seeing that Jesus’ question is about himself, the two disciples interpret the question on the most earthly level and so give earthly answers: There is neither money nor food enough to feed so many people.

O’Day points out [594] that this “exchange between Jesus and his disciples prepares for the miracle in several ways. Philip’s and Andrew’s responses communicate how daunting the size of the crowd is and hence the huge quantity of food that would be required to feed them. More important, the disciples’ answers show how traditional categories cannot comprehend in advance what Jesus has to give. Conventional expectations offer no solutions to the crowd’s needs; Jesus alone knows how to meet those needs.”

One should note that the account indicates there are 5,000 men – so if one assumes women and children present, not an unwarranted assumption, then there are a great deal more than 5,000 people present.

Verse 10 narrates an element standard to all of the accounts of the feeding: the order for the crowd to recline/sit down (Matt 14:19; 15:35; Mark 6:39; 8:6; Luke 9:14). In the miracle itself, Jesus’ actions do not reflect the more liturgically stylized actions of the synoptic accounts (e.g., Mark 6:41; Luke 9:16 – “looking up to heaven”), but rather reflect the actions of a host at a Jewish meal (although Liturgy has its foundation in the Jewish meal). Jesus takes the food, gives thanks over it (eucharistēsas), and gives it to his “guests.” Importantly, the Fourth Evangelist narrates Jesus’ distributing the bread and fish himself, in contrast to the synoptic accounts, where the disciples distribute the food (e.g., Matt 14:19; Mark 6:41; Luke 9:16). Jesus’ distribution of the food enhances the christological focus of this miracle: The gift of food comes from Jesus himself.

Image credit: James J. Tissot, ‘Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes’ (1886-94), Brooklyn Museum, NYC | PD-US