"STAY WITH US, LORD" (Luke 24:29)

Multiplication of the loaves ( John 6:1-15) I welcome you to this week's reflection on the Bible with special reference to the signs in the Gospel of John. Last week we commenced work on the Multiplication of the Loaves. In this same narrative, I would like us to consider the bread that was multiplied and shared. In one's first contact with this text, one may perceive the loaves to be very rich probably because it was Jesus who received them and probably because one might be driven by the assumption that 'the more the quantity, the lesser the quality, and vice versa'. This assumption might be fallacious as it does not apply to all situations. Jesus' life has been one which gets in contact with very 'low-keys', with poverty of resources, as evident from his birth to his death. The resources used, bread and fish, were very poor. The bread was made of barley. Barley was used as a gift of atonement by an adulterer. Barley was considered food for animal...

Multiplication of the Loaves (John 6:1-15) Last week we entered into discussion on the miracle of changing water into wine in Cana in Galilee (cf. John 6:1-15) Today we shall look at the multiplication of loaves. What we ought to know is that this miracle is a nature miracle and a feeding miracle. It appears in all four Gospels but with little variations. This story speaks about immensity, about abundance and God's providence. This miracle occurred at the sea of Tiberias. John used two genitive cases ( i.e., of Galilee of Tiberias). In the New Testament only John gives the town of Tiberias for Herod Antipas completed building the town of Tiberias about 20 A.D. Therefore, the place was known as the Sea of Galilee of Tiberias probably only after Jesus' time. The characters of this miracle were Jesus, the crowd, a lad, Philip, Andrew and other disciples. It is a miracle where Jesus turned a crowd of 'selfish men and women' into a fellowship of sharers. Jesus ne...