Friday of the 2nd Week of Easter (Year C)
Ac 5:34-42; Ps 26:1,4,13-14; Jn 6:1-15
Five loaves, two fish, one little lad.
Five thousand fed, all-you-can-eat, twelve baskets of scraps left over.
One unique miracle – it’s the only one worked by Jesus that’s recorded in all four canonical Gospels (Mt 14:13-21; Mk 6:32-44; Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-13). No other feat merited universal coverage; for instance:
- the raising of Jairus’ daughter was omitted from John’s Gospel (Mt 9:18,23-26, Mk 5:21-24,35-43; Lk 8:40-42,49-56)
- Luke passes over Jesus walking on water (Mt 14:22-33; Mk 6:45-52; Jn 6:16-21)
- only John mentioned the miracle at Cana (Jn 2:1-11) and Lazarus (Jn 11:1-45)
What makes this miracle so special that it even trumps raising the dead? I suspect it has something to do with the sheer scale of the miracle, and the basic impact thereof.
If someone came along and raised a young girl from the dead, it’s at least plausible that she might have ingested some plant rich in reserpine, or some similar compound that can temporarily confer death-like symptoms. Recovery might therefore have simply coincided with the resurrection “act”.
Turned water into wine? Someone could argue that it was just some sleight of hand with carefully-hidden wine jugs.
But even the boy with the loaves and fish could tell you that hiding enough food to feed five thousand people out in the desert wilderness…is not going to happen. If you were one of the five thousand, you’d immediately realize that Something Authentically Important just happened, and you’d probably be spreading the news to every one you knew: “This man can feed us for life!” No wonder they wanted to kidnap Jesus and make him king!
Now the gospel authors would have had to pick and choose from the many miracles that Jesus worked:
There are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written. (Jn 21:25)
It’s no surprise, then, that all of them independently decided to include this incredible feat.