A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
The crowds had a shallow interest in Jesus. They were seeking entertainment more than truth. As we will see, they would be content with an infinitely available earthly bread, and did not know how much better a heavenly food could satisfy them. Noticing the supernatural signs that accompanied Jesus without reading more deeply into the reason for the signs caused the people to attempt to drag Jesus down to the level of an earthly king, rather than allowing themselves to be elevated to participation in a heavenly Kingdom. But this was a problem uniquely affecting the spectators. The disciples who were directly involved had a different set of challenges before them.
When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?"
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Apparently Jesus sometimes allows us to deal with questions that don't have good earthly answers in order that we might respond by placing our trust in him. He allows thoughts about our own insufficiency to arise within us so that we can turn to him in our need. He does not keep the questions from arising in our hearts. But does happily supply us with the answers.
Philip answered him,
"Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little."
Jesus did not immediately and completely resolve the issue, since he wanted to lead his disciples deeper into faith and the circle of grace. Philip hadn't completely surrendered to despair. He had expressed the apparent impossibility of rising to meet the circumstances, but he said so in a way that suggested he may have been open to having his viewpoint corrected. Such a starter place is better than nothing. We tell the Lord that things seem hopeless, at least from our perspective, in order that he can tell us why we're wrong.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?"
Jesus wanted his disciples to do what they could do so that he could then step in and do what was beyond them. But he was always the necessary center of the action. The loaves and fish wouldn't have been worth mentioning in a normal context. Only in the sense of, 'Maybe Jesus can somehow make use of these', did it make sense to refer to them.
Feeding the crowd was a task that was well beyond what the disciples could accomplish utilizing their own abilities and resources. Normally when we hit a wall like that we expect that if it is to happen at all Jesus will step in and do the whole thing for us without us. But it turns out that he often does something different, something which requires more trust on our part. He asks us to be involved, including our own insufficient ideas and resources in his ultimate supernatural solution. He has, of course, no need of us. But he desires us to entrust ourselves to him so completely as to be actually involved in spite of our insecurities.
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.
Jesus became for the crowd the good shepherd who made them to recline in green pastures in order to set a table before them. His heart was moved with compassion for the crowd, shallow and superficial though they were. After all, they were like sheep without a shepherd. They had until then lacked leadership that could guide them to a deeper life. But the way he chose to show his mercy was through the sheep of his flock that were already close to him, who had already begun to learn to hear his voice. Thus, we shouldn't be surprised when he wants show his mercy to others through us, even though we ourselves have no more than five loaves in two fish in the grand scheme of things.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
"Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted."
There is an obvious reference to the Eucharist in the feeding of the five thousand. Though John did not include the Institution Narrative in his Gospel he was obviously familiar with it, and used the same language in his description of what Jesus did here. He alluded to it obliquely by its absence. Thus, gathering the fragments had a particular significance for the consecrated bread, that was no longer ordinary, and ought not be wasted. But it has significance for us as well, for the times when Jesus does intervene in our own lives and use us as agents of his grace. Such events do happen first for the people he desires to bless, but also for sake of the transformative effects that they are meant to have on the people through whom grace is given. Yet this latter is less obvious. We are tempted mostly to remember the difficulty and the effort of being involved. We must learn to treasure the words and actions of Jesus in our hearts, as Mary did, if we are not to take them for granted. We see this in the extreme from the disciples who were persecuted by the Sanhedrin in our reading from Acts:
So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin,
rejoicing that they had been found worthy
to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.
And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes,
they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Christ, Jesus.
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