John

6:1-21

The signs of the Messiah, 2:1-12:50

3. Jesus the bread of life, 6:1-71

i] Jesus feeds the five thousand

In the story of the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on water, John records two signs which serve to reveal the true nature of Jesus' messiahship. Like the God of Israel's wilderness wandering, Jesus feeds his people with the bread of life and carries them safely to a distant shore.

There is great value comparing the account of the feeding of the five thousand recorded in all four gospels. Numerous theories abound as to which is first and who copied whom. For example, Barrett argues that John uses the synoptic record while Dodd argues that he uses an independent tradition. Of course, the matter is not settled and so we are still left with the possibility that each gospel writer knew of the account from their own oral source, shaping it to suit their own didactic purpose. When John's account is compared with the synoptic records, we can see clearly how he has underlined a number of "wilderness" images in his account of the feeding. This comparison aids in an understanding of John's didactic purpose. See Brown for a full discussion on the relation of John's account with that of the synoptic gospels.

Note also the rather complex structure of chapter 6. The two signs are followed by discussions related to the search for Jesus, v22-26, then the demand for a sign from heaven, v27-31, followed by the central discourse on the bread of life, v32-59, concluding with a word on those disciples who have now abandoned Jesus, v60-65, and a word for those who stay, v66-71.

meta tauta "some time after this" - later on

peran thV qalasshV "crossed to the far shore" - to the shore. Crossed the sea of Galilee. Note the possible conflict that exists in Mark and Luke regarding the actual site of the feeding.

TiberiadoV "Tiberias" - Only John gives this name to lake Galilee, a name that was popular late in the first century.

hkolouqei (akolouqew) imperf. "followed" - were following. Imperfect expressing ongoing action; "kept following", NAB.

de "and" - but, and. This conjunction is used to stitch together the narrative and need not be translated. See v3, 4, 6.

eqewroun (qewrew) imperf. "they saw [the miraculous signs]" - they were seeing [the signs]. The word is used of observing something with continuity and attention, often with the implication that what is observed is something unusual*. In 2:3 the crowd's seeing is not with the eyes of faith. The imperfect, being durative, expresses ongoing action, giving the sense "continually saw."

anhlqen de eiV to oroV "went up on a mountainside" - went up to the mountain, hill. The feeding might have taken place on the side of a hill, but the description of Jesus going up on "the mountain" is a Sinai image. The image serves as a cue to the aware reader, cf. the sermon on the mount. The RSV "the hills", recognizes the presence of the definite article, although the noun is not plural, so "the mountain", NRSV.

ekaqhto (kaqhmai) imperf. "sat down" - [there] he was sitting down. In typical rabbinic fashion, Jesus sits down to teach, although John does not mention that he was actually teaching anything, unlike the synoptic gospels. "He was sitting there with his disciples."

to pasca "the Passover" - The second Passover in John's chronology, although the shape of his book defies chronology. Assuming that Dodd is correct when he describes the book as a collection of signs with related discourses, each in itself a statement of the gospel, then trying to trace a chronology through a collection of signs is a waste of time. Note how the desire for a geographical sequence has prompted numerous theories for the rearrangement of the gospel. There is a great temptation to move this chapter to the beginning of chapter 5 so that we have Jesus at Canna in chapter 4, then on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in chapter 6, then going up to Jerusalem in chapter 5 and off around Judea in chapter 7. All this is rather futile if John has little interest in a sequential chronology of Jesus' ministry. See Introduction.

hn (eimi) imperf. "was" - "Was drawing near."

eparaV (epairw) aor. part. "when [Jesus] looked up" - having lifted up [the eyes]. The participle probably forms a temporal clause, as NIV. "When he looked around", Weymouth.

qeasamenoV (qeaomai) aor. part. "[when Jesus looked up and] saw" - having seen, caught sight of. The participle continues the temporal clause.

ercetai proV auton "coming toward him" - Was there a crowd already with him and this is an extra one (note "crowd" is anarthrous, without an article - "a great crowd") or was the crowd following him and had only now caught up? Again, descriptive detail may not be the point of the reference. The people come to Jesus as they came to Moses at the mountain.

agoraswmen (agorazw) aor. subj. "[where] shall we buy [bread for these people to eat?]" - may we buy. Deliberative subjunctive. Matthew records a similar question. Note again the use of Sinai imagery. Moses asks "where am I to get meat to give all these people?" Num.11:13. cf. other cues, Num.11:1, 7-9, 13, 22. "Where shall we ever by bread for these people to eat?"

iJna + subj. "for" - that. Expressing purpose, "in order that these ones (people) may eat." Or, making the subject, "these", the object, "where are we to buy bread to (in order that we may) feed these people?", REB.

peirazwn (peirazw) pres. part. "[he asked this only] to test [him]" - testing. The participle is adverbial, final expressing purpose, "in order to test". Taking the sense: try to learn the nature or character of someone or something by submitting such to thorough and extensive testing*. Yet, the word also carries a sense of trickery, or temptation, but it seems unlikely that Jesus is trying wrong-foot Philip. What we have here is an editorial note allaying any implication that Jesus' question implies he didn't know what to do about the situation. Possibly "he said this to Philip to test his trust and creativity", Junkins.

h/dei (oida) pluperf. "[he] already had in mind" - [he himself] knew. "The truth is that Jesus knew what he would do even before he asked Philip", TH.

diakosiwn dhnariwn (on) "eight months' wages" - of two hundred denarii. Genitive of value. A denarius was the standard pay for a day's work. The NIV equivalent is best, given the way inflation devalues a financial equivalent, eg. "ten pounds", Phillips.

iJna + subj. "for" - that [each one may take a little]. Forming a final / purpose clause. "To buy only a little bread for each of these people", CEV.

legei autw/ "spoke up" - said to him. "Said to Him", Weymouth.

paidarion (on) "a boy" - a boy, servant. If an allusion to Gehazi, Elisha's servant, is intended, then "servant", rather than "boy, little boy" is possibly in John's mind; "servant", Moffatt.

artouV kriqinouV "barley loaves" - barley breads. Barley bread was the staple for the poor. Wheat bread was more expensive. The boy (lad, servant) had five loaves/rolls, probably flat breads. Luke implies three was a staple meal, Lk.9:5.

oyaria (on) "fish" - dried or preserved fish for eating with bread.

ti "how far" - what [are these to so many]? Rhetorical question. "What use is that for a crowd like this?", Barclay.

anapesein (anapiptw) aor. inf. "sit down" - to lie down, recline. Forming a dependent statement of commanding, expressing the content of Jesus' command. Reclining was the normal posture for eating, but not necessarily a good posture for digesting! "Tell the people to sit down", TH.

oun "then" - therefore. Here taking a temporal sense.

eucaristhsaV (eucaristew) aor. part. "gave thanks" - giving thanks. The participle is probably simply attendant circumstance, expressing action accompanying the main verb "he took", and so translated as a finite verb, "Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, ....", Moffatt, but possibly temporal, "Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks ..." Audet argues that John is using the word with its particular Jewish meaning of "blessing". Jesus is performing the accustomed Jewish blessing over the bread, prior to eating, eg. "blessed are you, O Lord, king of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth." None-the-less, an act of thanksgiving is more likely. There is strong pressure to maintain the idea of "thanksgiving" in that the Lord's Supper is often seen as a thanksgiving. In fact, a number of words in this account of the feeding appear in early communion services, but this does not mean John is drawing from the eucharistic tradition of his day, the evidence of which we only have from the second century. The opposite is obviously the case - the key liturgical phrases are sourced from John, not the other way around. "He thanked God for them", Barclay.

diedwken (diadidwmi) 3rd. sing. aor. "distributed" - he distributed. Used in the sense of give something to a series of persons*. In the synoptic gospels the disciples help in the distribution, and from a practical point of view this would be necessary. John is telling the story to emphasize Jesus as the one who gives the bread of life, in the same way that God gave the bread to Israel in the wilderness.

eneplhsqhsan (empiplhmi) aor. pas. "they had all had enough" - they were satisfied with food, filled with food. A different verb is used in verse 26 where "eaten your fill" takes a negative sense. Here the sense is positive. The crowd is fully satisfied by the bread that Jesus provides. "When they had their fill", NAB.

sunagagete (sunagw) aor. imp. "gather" - gather up. The aorist is possibly ingressive where the focus is on the beginning of the action - "start gathering." Another allusion to the wilderness wanderings of Israel and the provision of manna, Ex.16:16ff. Only found in John.

klasmata (a atoV) "pieces" - fragment or piece resulting from the action of breaking*. The disciples are probably not cleaning up the scraps, but rather unused portions of the broken bread.

iJna + subj. "-" - in order that [nothing be lost]. Introducing a purpose clause. "So that nothing may be wasted", Moffatt.

sunhgagon (sunagw) aor. "they gathered them" - they gathered. There is no object in the Greek, but for meaning "them" is often supplied.

dwdeka "twelve" - Were these twelve baskets for the twelve apostles? This is unlikely. Again John is interested in the symbolic weight attached to the fact - twelve baskets for twelve tribes. Note also how the bread gets a repeat performance, but the fish fades into obscurity. The discourse is about the bread of life with allusions to the wilderness manna. A fish has no symbolic value, certainly not till someone thought up the fish acrostic (A friend of mine always advised, never stay long behind a car driven by a person with a bald head, wearing a hat, or a fish symbol on the back of their car!).

idonteV (eidon) aor. part. "after [the people] saw" - seeing. The participle is probably forming a temporal clause, as NIV, although causal is possible, "because the people saw."

shmeion (on) "the miraculous sign" - miracle, sign. Some texts have the plural, such that the feeding was one sign (obviously a chief sign) among many.

elegon (legw) imperf. "they began to say" - were saying. The imperfect is probably inceptive, as NIV, where the focus is on the beginning of the action.

oJ profhthV "the prophet" - Given the context, the crowd probably thought in terms of the prophet like unto Moses, rather than the promised Elijah.

"Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world" - truly this one is the prophet, the coming one into the world. With no verb in the second clause, so translations supply a verb to-be, although there is no agreement as to the tense. "This must be the prophet, the one who the scriptures say, will come into the world."

gnous (ginwskw) aor. part. "knowing" - having known. The participle is possibly causal, "because Jesus knew that."

iJna + subj. "-" - that [to make a king]. Forming a purpose clause, "in order that".

basilea (basileuV) "king" - If the crowd thought Jesus was the promised prophet, why try to crown him king? It is possible that they combined the roles of prophet and king in their understanding of the messiah, although not probable. It is likely that they failed to recognize Jesus as the messiah, but made a simple move from a Moses type leader to a popular messianic freedom-fighter who would lead a revolution against Rome. They failed to see that someone greater than Moses stood before them. Their failure was of "Golden Calf" proportions and caused Jesus to "flee" back up the mountain.

anecwrhsen (anacwrew) "withdrew" - went back. Note that a variant text exists which may well be original: "fled back", NJB, "escaped", JB.

to oroV "a mountain" - the mountain, hill. The definite article may serve to identify a particular hill, or the hill they are already on the side of, or possibly an allusion to Mount Sinai.

oyia adj. "evening" - Probably the disciples set off late afternoon.

embanteV (embainw) "got into a boat" - embarking. The meaning of the verb here is more likely "embark"; "embarked on a boat", Barclay.

hrconto (ercomai) imperf. "set off" - they were in the process of [crossing], they were trying to [cross]. Either action is possible, "made their way across the lake", Phillips; "intending to cross the lake", NAB.

elhluqei (ercomai) pluperf. "[Jesus] had [not yet] joined [them]" - This phrase, along with "by now it was dark", explains why they embarked, not that they were expecting Jesus to come to them while they were sailing in the boat.

"And the sea was getting up under a strong wind", Moffatt.

elhlakonteV (elaunw) perf. part. "when they rowed" - drive or set in motion through striving. The participle most likely forms a temporal clause, as NIV. cf.Lk.8:29.

peripatounta epi ehV qallasshV "walking on the water" - walking to the sea. The present tense of "walking" indicates ongoing action. The preposition "over, on, at, to" is rather indecisive and therefore has prompted some to suggest that John is not describing a miracle, but rather that Jesus is walking on the edge of the lake, "by the seashore." Of course, if this was so, the whole point of the story is lost.

efobhqhsan (fobew) aor. pas. "they were terrified" - they were afraid. The aorist is probably ingressive, where a slight stress is placed on the beginning of the action; "fear gripped them", Barclay.

egw eimi "it is I" - I am. Possibly being used to emphasize that the miracle was a theophany; an allusion to the great "I am." See Bultmann's commentary where he canvases all the possible meanings.

hqelon oun labein auton "they were willing to take him [into the boat]" - they wanted/were willing to take/receive him. There is debate over whether this is a fulfilled, or unfilled, wish, ie. did Jesus actually get into the boat? "They gladly took him aboard", Phillips.

euqewV "immediately" - Barrett suggests that John is recording another miracle, but this is unlikely. He is surely just emphasizing that the boat reached the shore unheeded. So, rather than "the boat instantly reached the land", Moffatt, we would do better to go with "and the boat quickly reached the shore."

John Introduction

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