This week we begin to look at the sixth chapter of St. Johns’ Gospel. This chapter begins with Jesus performing a miracle whose inner meaning is spelled out in the rest of the chapter. The bread which Jesus multiplies for the crowd is a “sign” which discloses Jesus as the one who sustains us with His loving word and with the gift of His own life in the Eucharistic Bread.
John’s account of this miracle is more Christ centered than the Synoptic Gospels. For example Jesus “sees” the crowd “coming to Him;” He takes the initiative in feeding them and he distributes the loaves and fish Himself to the crowd. They, on their part, acclaim Him as a prophet like Moses sent to feed His people and as the fulfillment of their hopes for a messianic king. He “takes” and “gives” the bread, he “gives thanks” – this is all language of the liturgy and recalls the Last Supper accounts in Mark’s Gospel and First Corinthians. The bread is indeed a sign of Jesus’ Eucharistic gift.
The Greek verb for “give thanks” is eucharisteo – which gives us the word Eucharist. Jesus is not content to give us earthly bread to satisfy our physical hunger. Out of compassion Jesus offers us the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, to satisfy us eternally.
Only John’s Gospel tells us that this miracle took place around the time of Passover. Only John specifies that Jesus multiplied barley bread. In early Old Testament times, Passover incorporated the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a celebration of the barley harvest. By multiplying barley bread at Passover time, Jesus was foreshadowing the replacement of Passover by the Eucharist.
God Bless,
Msgr. Powell