from Rev. Dr. Ron Allen

JOHN 6:1-15:

The story of the feeding of the five thousand must have touched very deep nerves in the earliest communities of Jesus’ followers. It is the only story told in each gospel (Mk. 6:32-44; Mt. 14:13-21; Lk..9:10-17; Jn. 6:1-15) and occurs in slightly altered form in Mk. 8:1-10 and Mt. 15:32-39. However, while many of the same details recur from version to version, each story has different literary and theological meanings.

Today, we concentrate on the story in the Fourth Gospel. The world view of John differs from that of Mark, Matthew and Luke. Whereas the first three gospels presuppose an apocalyptic dualism of two ages, John thinks more of a dualism of force fields that exist alongside one another in the same space: the force fields of the devil (and “the world”) and those of God (and “heaven”).

For John the term “world” (kosmos) seldom refers to the physical creation, but rather to existence alienated from God’s purposes. The “world” is characterized by darkness, falsehood, blindness, slavery, scarcity, fractiousness, hatred, loss of direction, misperception, death, and the devil. The Johannine “world” is a sphere in which people hunger both for food and for meaning in life. A person who is filled with food can suffer from spiritual hunger. Conversely, one who is without food can perceive the deeper meanings in life.

The miracles in John are called “signs.” The “signs” reveal God sending Jesus into the “world” to provide a way for persons to experience life as God intends: light, truth, sight, freedom, abundance, community, love, direction, trust, eternal life, and full communion with God. John calls this force field “heaven.” Through the ministry of Jesus, God opens a window of heaven into the “world.” The “signs” demonstrate that God loves the “world” (3:16). John wants those who see the signs to believe, i.e., to trust the revelation of God in Jesus and to live the quality of existence marked by light, truth, freedom, abundance, etc.

The signs in the Fourth Gospel embody life shaped by God’s love for the “world.” They model the work of Jesus by revealing the way to live in light, truth, freedom, abundance, etc. While John 6:1-15 is such a sign, it is also a staging ground for 6:22-59. To honor the literary integrity of John, the preacher must consider John 6:1-59.

John caricatures aspects of Judaism (e.g., Passover with its sacred meal, manna in the wilderness) as inferior to the revelation of God through Jesus. The preacher can highlight the positive teaching here without defaming Jewish people or tradition.

As the story opens, a large crowd in need of provision is with Jesus. When the writer of John has Jesus ask Philip where they will get bread to feed the crowd, the writer puts the same question to the reader. Although Philip is a disciple, he responds from the perspective of one who lives in the “world” by saying that six months wages would not provide enough bread. Andrew notices a young person who has five loaves and two fish (symbols of scarcity in the old age) that Jesus multiplies for the crowd. The sign shows that from small gifts, God can accomplish big things.

Neither the crowd nor the disciples fully understand the sign. John 6:1-15 contains two elements that anticipate the next stages in the chapter. (1) The verb “give thanks” translates eucharisteo, a verb often associated with the Supper. (2) Some people in the early church ate the Supper with bread and fish.

When the story picks up in 6:22, a day has passed. According to John, the crowd seeks Jesus because he had fed them previously. They do not recognize the feeding as a sign. They think the feeding is a contemporary analogue of Moses providing manna for the Israelites. The giving of the manna is, to Jewish people, a prototype of God’s provision. However, the Johannine Jesus criticizes the manna in the wilderness as inadequate. It allowed them to survive in the “world” but not to “live” in the abundant Johannine sense. “Your ancestors,” Jesus says, “ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.” Jesus admonishes the people to work for the bread that truly comes down from heaven and gives life to the “world.” (6:25-34, 41-51).

Jesus, according to John, is the bread of life, i.e., the one who releases people from the limitations of the “world” and allows them to dwell in the force field called “eternal life.” Eternal life is the character of life from heaven and, for John, begins in the present and climaxes in the next sphere of existence (6:35-41).

The language of 6:51-59 connects eating the bread of life with the Supper. This part of the text has a double message that is directly pertinent to preaching and the Week of Compassion. On the one hand, one way those who believe in Jesus partake of the bread of life is by participating in the Supper. Eating the bread assures those who eat that they live in the sphere of eternal life. Even more, when they eat the bread and come into the force field of Jesus, they realize that darkness, falsehood, slavery, hunger, homelessness, poverty and injustice are modes of human existence inimical to God’s purposes. Indeed, such ways of life are “of the world.”

On the other hand, those who eat the bread of life through the supper are empowered to continue the work of Jesus. They are to work signs akin to the ones Jesus performed. The Johannine Jesus says, explicitly, “The one who believes in me will do the works that I do, and, in fact, will do greater works than these because I go to [God]” (Jn. 14:12). Jesus gives the disciples the Holy Spirit to empower them in these works (Jn. 20:22). Participating in the Week of Compassion is such a gracious work.

Partaking of communion is a very small thing (a pinch of bread, a thimble of grape juice). But through it God empowers us for great things, even feeding hungry multitudes.

Ron Allen teaches preaching and Second Testament at Christian Theological Seminary. His most recent book is Wholly Scripture: Preaching Biblical Themes (Chalice Press, 2003) from www.chalicepress.com.