The Sharing of the 5000 — A Misunderstood Miracle
Every Christian has heard of the miracle called “The Feeding of the 5000”. It’s the only miracle shared in all four Gospels. If you are in a church that follows the lectionary, you hear the story in Year A from Matthew, and in Year B from John. My favorite version is not included in the lectionary. It’s from Mark, the earliest Gospel, in which there appears to be several connections to Psalm 23.
The Synoptic Gospels all include the death of John the Baptist — immediately prior to the Sharing of the 5000. But in lectionary focused congregations, you only hear of this story from Mark in Year B. Unfortunately, the Feeding of the 5000 isn’t read the same week, nor is it read from the same Gospel in the following week. Matthew and Mark include a fuller story about John’s death during Herod’s Birthday party. We tend to miss that these stories were intentionally set in this order, and that we should compare and contrast the worldly feast (with the rich and powerful) to the common feast (with the poor and desperate). We should read the two banquets in the same week, so that we can compare and contrast.
Mark calls Herod a king, in order to contrast the hosts of the two banquets. Matthew has Jesus sharing multiple parables about the “Kingdom of Heaven” preceding the two banquets. Mark focuses on Jesus teaching the gathered people before the meal, while Matthew focuses on Jesus healing the people, as well as on Jesus’ growing recognition, among the people, as the Prophet sent by God. Luke focuses on the identity of Jesus. John has the people recognize Jesus as Prophet and his perceiving, and avoiding, their desire to make him king by force.
There is much going on in these texts. But maybe we have misunderstood the nature of this meal called the Feeding of the 5000, or as “the multiplication of loaves and fishes”. I believe we should rightly call it “the Sharing of the 5000”, and we should still consider it a miracle.
Why do I call it the “Sharing of the 5000?” Because I believe the people shared the food they had with them as part of the journey. Not all had food, but there was more than enough food between them all to feed everyone present.
Jesus would have known from his pilgrimages that people took food with them. And he would have seen that people had food with them as he walked among the crowd, teaching and healing. Jesus took the opportunity to share the only food that the disciples had among them. And that was enough for the people to bring out what they had to also share. With what they had learned from his teaching, and from what they witnessed of healing, how could they not share?
And here’s a little twist. It could be that the Roman military provided some of the food. Mark says Jesus wanted the people to sit down in groups of 50 or 100 on the green grass. (Roman Centurions commanded 100 soldiers.) Luke says groups of 50. Do you really think 5000 people could have gathered back then without drawing the attention of the Roman authorities and military? And the traditional locations for this event were within view of Tiberias, the headquarters of Herod, so if 5000 or more gathered, it was known, and military would be present to make sure the gathering wasn’t a threat to Roman control.
Do any of the disciples think that a miracle of multiplication has taken place? There is no indication of this. Does the huge crowd continue to follow Jesus, knowing that Jesus will multiply the leftovers at any moment and thus on need to leave the side of Jesus? No, they are dismissed and leave, knowing there is no more food, other than the leftovers. They recognize the food is largely gone.
If there is no mention of food being multiplied, or that it was even a miracle, why has this been understood to be multiplication? There is only one source in the Bible that might be taken to suggest multiplication took place, and that is from John’s gospel. “So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten” (John 6:13). John is the only one to suggest by the way he writes his account that it’s a miracle of multiplication. “After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world’” (John 6:14).
You can believe John’s account if you want. I prefer to go with the versions written decades earlier as being closer to what happened (rather than letting the story grow and grow, as an early fish story). John often spiritualizes his telling, so I’m not inclined to take him literally. He uses the story as one of several to point to the “signs” that Jesus is God. He has unique content that isn’t corroborated elsewhere.
We don’t find anywhere in the Bible that the disciples multiplied food, only that they were devoted to the breaking of bread. Most communion liturgies start with the phrase, “On the night in which he was betrayed”, which is the reference to the “Last Supper”. Multiplication isn’t necessary for communion. It’s only John who suggests multiplication happened — that all the leftover pieces were from five loaves of barley.
If it was the sharing of the people, how is that still a miracle? Have you ever tried to get everyone to share what they have for the benefit of others? The early church experienced this, as found in Acts. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need” (Acts 2:42–45).
There is the story of the pastor speaking to the congregation about the building of a new church. He said he had good news and bad news. The good news is that they have all the money needed to build the church. The bad news is that the money was still in their pockets.
Getting the people to share the food they had brought with them, preparing for a potentially even longer journey to find Jesus, well, many are not going to be willing to share what little they and their family have to live upon. And share with those who didn’t bring enough food? And yet, the majority gathered were likely poor, and thus they were more likely to share and less likely to hoard.
I believe the event is better called the Sharing of the 5000. It’s a great example of the people understanding the teaching of Jesus, and living it out. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink… strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness. In everything do to others as you would have them do to you. The tree is known for its fruit. If people are swimming in these teachings, how could they not share what little they had?
Jesus had taught the disciples to depend on others for their sustenance. “He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place” (Mark 6:7–10).
God’s people welcome strangers and provide a meal. Besides presenting the model of Abraham, the Old Testament specifically commanded hospitality. As Israel received the loving care of Yahweh, so Israel was to love and care for the alienated person (Exod 23:9 ; Lev 19:33–34 ; Deut 10:19 ; Isa 58:6–10).
Hospitality and sharing were expected. The people shared the food they brought that day when 5000 ate together in groups. Other than the decades later writing of John’s gospel, and his spiritualizing of the event, there is no suggestion that the bread and fish multiplied in any other way than the people sharing the food they had brought on the journey.
The sharing of the 5000. A miracle in that people actually understood and lived out what they had been taught. I believe that the textual evidence supports this.
