them many things. When He had finished His discourse, He cured the sick that were brought to Him.
Now the day was already far spent[1], and His disciples came to Him and said: “Send them away, that going into the next villages and towns, they may buy themselves meat to eat, for we are here in a desert place.” Jesus said: “They have no need to go. Give you[2] them to eat.” He then inquired how much bread they had. Andrew replied that there were only five loaves and two fishes. Jesus said: “Bring them hither to me, and make the men sit down.”
When the multitude, numbering five thousand men, besides women and children, had sat down on the grass, Jesus took the loaves[3] and fishes[4], and, looking up to heaven, blessed them[5], and gave to His apostles to distribute [6] among the people.
Now all the people ate and were satisfied. And Jesus ordered His disciples to gather up the fragments, lest they should be lost They did so, and filled twelve baskets [7] with the remainder of the five loaves and two fishes. The multitude, seeing this wonderful miracle, said among themselves: “This is the Prophet [8] indeed, that is to come into the world.”
Jesus knowing their thoughts, and fearing that they would make Him king[9] by force, told his disciples to sail across the water, while He Himself went up into the mountain to pray.
- ↑ Far spent. Passed by Jesus in teaching and healing the people.
- ↑ Give you. Jesus wished to remind His disciples that, if only they would have faith, they were themselves quite able to relieve the necessities of the people, for they had already received the great gift of miracles (Origen). However, they did not understand what He meant, neither did it occur to them that our Lord would work a miracle.
- ↑ Loaves. The loaves were about as thick as a finger, and round.
- ↑ Fishes. These were dried or baked.
- ↑ Blessed them. While all eyes were fixed expectantly on our Lord.
- ↑ To distribute. The miraculous multiplication began even while our Lord was dividing the loaves and fishes into pieces, and, by the power of His blessing, it continued in the hands of the apostles, who dealt out the food as they stepped from one group of people to another. The portion of food held by them never grew less, and all who were fed saw with astonishment the wondrous miracle repeated thousands of times under their very eyes.
- ↑ Twelve baskets. More, therefore, was left, than had existed at the commencement.
- ↑ The Prophet. The Prophet foretold by Moses, or, in other words, the Messias.
- ↑ Make Him king. The impression made on the people by this stupendous miracle was very great, and, full of ecstasy, they all acknowledged Jesus to be the promised Messias. But, unfortunately, their hopes of the Messias were entirely earthly and political, for they expected that he would come to free them from the yoke of the Romans. They wished, therefore, to proclaim Jesus king of Israel, and make Him march back into Galilee at the head of these five thousand men. Our Lord saw with sorrow how far the people were from faith in Him as a Redeemer from sin, and He went up into the mountain to pray for those who were so miserably blinded.
