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All four Gospel writers feature the feeding of the five thousand. This multiple attestation underscores the significance of the event. As readers of the fourfold Gospel canon, we have the privilege to benefit from a four-time retelling of the story. On a historical level, the universal coverage of the feeding attests to its historicity. The event truly happened. Jesus really did feed five thousand men, plus women and children, with only five loaves of bread and two fish. This makes one wonder: Who is Jesus? On a literary level, we can read the Gospels both vertically and horizontally. Reading vertically, we ask: How does the feeding of the five thousand fit within the storyline of each gospel? Reading horizontally, the question arises: How do the four Gospels complement each other by providing unique details? On a Christological level, we reflect on the significance of the event, asking: What does the feeding tell us about Jesus and who He is? What should we do in response?

matthew

Matthew provides the context for the feeding of the five thousand in Jesus’ ministry. After teaching a series of parables, Jesus comes to His hometown of Nazareth, where the people reject Him (13:53–58). When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, hears about Jesus, he thinks Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead, which occasions a flashback to Herod’s beheading of John (14:1–12). At this, Jesus withdraws by boat to a quiet place. When the crowd hears that Jesus is in the region and tracks Him down, He heals many people out of compassion. These people, then, become the recipients of Jesus’ miraculous feeding.

Jesus wants to give us so much more than food for a day; He wants to give us life forever.

The disciples tell Jesus that it is late and the place desolate. Jesus should send the crowd away so that people can buy food in the surrounding villages. But Jesus replies that they should give them something to eat. When they respond that they have only five loaves and two fish, Jesus orders the crowd to sit down on the grass. He takes the measly supplies, looks up toward heaven, and says the blessing. Then He takes the loaves and gives them to the disciples, who distribute them to the people. All eat and are satisfied. What’s more, the disciples gather twelve basketfuls of leftovers. There are about five thousand men, plus women and children.

mark

Mark adds further context. Jesus sends out the Twelve to cast out demons and to heal (6:7–13). As in Matthew, we’re told that Herod hears about Jesus and thinks He is the resurrected John the Baptist (vv. 14–29). When the Twelve return from their mission, Jesus takes them away to a desolate place to rest. Later, He heals many people and teaches them. When recording the miraculous feeding, Mark adds the estimated cost of two hundred denarii, a full year’s wages, a detail that John later includes as well. Mark also draws repeated attention to the two fish being multiplied, perhaps because his primary eyewitness source, the Apostle Peter, was a fisherman.

luke

Luke, likewise, tells his readers about Jesus’ sending out the Twelve just before the feeding, as well as about Herod’s supposition that Jesus is John raised from the dead. Upon their return, the Twelve report back to Jesus. Jesus takes them aside to Bethsaida (9:10). He heals the sick and teaches people about the kingdom of God. At the feeding, Jesus tells the disciples to have people sit down in groups of fifty. These unique Lukan references comport well with Luke’s customary precision and attention to factual detail.

john

John, finally, adds that the time is Passover (6:4). He presents the feeding as one of Jesus’ messianic signs (vv. 2, 14, 26, 30). John focuses on Jesus’ sovereign initiative throughout and adds specific details, likely reflecting eyewitness recollection. He records that Jesus asks Philip where to buy bread to feed all the people, and that Philip estimates the two hundred denarii price tag. Then Andrew mentions a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish (note the connection with Elijah and Elisha; see 1 Kings 17:21–22; 2 Kings 4:42–44). John also recalls the plentiful grass. The crowd concludes that Jesus is the Mosaic end-time Prophet and wants to make Him king.


After Jesus withdraws with His disciples and miraculously walks on water, He delivers the Bread of Life Discourse. The people challenge Him to do better than Moses, who gave the Israelites manna, the heavenly bread, in the wilderness after the exodus. Jesus corrects them, saying that it was God, not Moses, who gave the people the manna. He adds that He Himself is that heavenly Bread (the first of seven “I am” sayings in John’s gospel). Thus, John supplements the three earlier Gospels by drawing out the Christological implications of the feeding.

comparison and summary

There is perfect harmony among all four Gospels in the way they record the feeding. While each evangelist adds unique details, they all tell essentially the same story.

Matthew alone mentions that in addition to the five thousand men, there were also women and children. Mark and Luke set the feeding in the context of the mission of the Twelve. Luke alone says that Jesus takes the Twelve to Bethsaida and specifies that Jesus has people sit down in groups of fifty. John adds that the time is Passover and presents the feeding as one of Jesus’ messianic signs.

John significantly adds to the earlier Gospel witness by featuring the Bread of Life Discourse, identifying Jesus as the heavenly bread. Jesus doesn’t merely give people bread; He is the Bread that imparts eternal life to those who believe in Him. In this manner, John points the way toward application. It’s not enough to benefit from Jesus’ miracle; you and I must believe in Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God, and by believing receive eternal life.

Jesus wants to give us so much more than food for a day; He wants to give us life forever. Thus, the feeding becomes an invitation to trust Jesus and to recognize that He is the heaven-sent Son of God.

application

In pondering a final application, we again turn to John’s account. After the feeding, Jesus’ detractors challenge Him: “What sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? . . . Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’” (John 6:30–31). People quote a psalm, which states that the Israelites will “tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord” (Ps. 78:4). Yet the wilderness generation doubted God’s provision (v. 20). Nevertheless, God “opened the doors of heaven, and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven” (vv. 23–24).

Let us, unlike the wilderness generation, trust in God’s saving power and faithfulness to provide. Jesus is that provision. He supremely embodies God’s covenant- keeping faithfulness. He is the life-giving Bread. We can ingest that Bread each and every day as we live in close fellowship with Jesus by the Spirit. While many of Jesus’ disciples grumbled, as their ancestors did in the wilderness, and stopped following Jesus, we can declare with Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68–69).

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