1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
Chapter six of John’s Gospel follows on the heels of Jesus’ declaration to his opponents in Jerusalem that if they truly believed what Moses had to say, they would believe what he is saying. Jesus is now going to fulfil an act of Moses from the Old Testament.
Jesus leaves Jerusalem and goes to the “other side” of the Sea of Galilee also known as the Sea of Tiberias. The other side would likely be the Northern side as Jerusalem is in the South. It’s double name is a side effect of a multilingual society. If you pay attention to the whole New Testament there are actually a whole variety of names based on the different historical and cultural inputs. If you squint at some Old Testament names you can see how the name changed over time.
In the Book of Numbers and Joshua, we have the “Sea of Chinnereth” or “Sea of Kinneret”. This is the Hebrew/Aramaic name, its origin is either or both of the following explanations. The root of Hebrew “Kinneret” is “Kinor” which means “harp” the Sea of Galilee somewhat resembles a harp. Or the more likely explanation, there was a Canaanite city literally named “Kinneret” and this was the closest body of water to that city.
Kinneret sounds an awful lot like Gennesaret doesn’t it? that’s because it is the Hellenized version of the name. Luke’s Gospel calls this place “Lake of Gennesaret”. That would be the old fashioned name at the time of Jesus’ ministry, Kinneret lost its cultural relevance over the centuries by the time of Jesus so it started to be referred to by the region it was in instead. Making it the “Sea of Galilee”. Matthew and Mark write for a primarily Hebrew audience, so they use the name reflecting the region “Sea of Galilee” and Luke writes for a broader Greek audience that know it by its historical name “Lake of Gennesaret”, remember the Greeks went on quite the conquest throughout this region in centuries previous.
So what about John’s usage of the “Sea of Tiberias”, it’s funny, at least to my autism, this is essentially the modern name when John is writing. Herod Antipas named a city “Tiberias” in honour of the Roman Emperor in 20 AD, ten years before Jesus’ ministry begins and thus the closest body of water became known as the “Sea of Tiberias”.
2 And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased.
Jesus is being followed by thousands of people at this point, especially the poor and sick. They have seen the very real miracles of him curing the unwell and they seek this for themselves.
3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples.
4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
Jesus goes up a mountain and sits with his disciples, likely seeking a moment of peace and prayer before doing his multiplication of loaves miracle. He does this type of thing before big announcements or signs.
John believes it to be of importance to let his audience know the time of year it is. It is the time of Passover, the most important annual feast that the Jew’s are bound to keep to commemorate their Exodus from Egypt and their covenant with God. This will be the feast that Jesus will alter into his own covenental feast, the Last Supper. This means we should be reading these passages of John in light of the Eucharist.
5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”
6 This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”
Jesus can see the thousands of people making their way up to him and his disciples on the mountain. Jesus already knows what he is going to do but almost like he is making sure his disciples are paying attention he asks one of them a question, specifically Philip. The question is more like a hint at the miracle Jesus is going to perform but Philip just takes it as a genuine question and answers like a typical person would, bound by limitation of material.
Jesus asks how they are going to buy enough food for the multitudes to eat? Philip responds that two hundred days of wages could not feed these crowds. To the natural, this is a point of boundary but to the supernatural, this is a point to overcome and demonstrate divinity. It is also important to point out at this whole interaction is so personal and specific that it verifies John as a first hand witness to the event itself. Jesus is speaking to a specific disciple, Philip but is actually testing him. Only an eye witness could know these details.
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,
9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
Another of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, an important figure in his own right as an apostle but John makes it of great importance to relate that he is the brother of Peter. There is no need to do this, there isn’t another Andrew to get him confused with. This is done because of Peter’s primary space among the apostles. The first among bishops. Andrew is mentioned in relation to his brother Peter even though Peter is not even speaking.
Andrew informs Jesus that among the crowds there is a boy with five barley loaves and two fish. We’ve seen the material boundary line set with “not even 200 denarii” could feed these people and now we given the opposing side of the material boundary line, all they have is five loaves and two fish. Barley loaves are the poor peoples bread and fish was common sustenance to all. After Jesus tells them to sit on the grass, John tells us the number of people present. Five thousand men, likely not including the children and women so you could probably double this number to get the actual amount of mouths that need to be fed. All the material boundary lines have been drawn, 5000 men, five loaves, two fish and not even 200 days of wages could feed them. Surely Jesus would accept defeat? Of Course not.
11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.”
13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten.
John focuses on the bread, we should not discount that. The focus is on the bread, in the light of the Passover Feast that Jesus will alter and make his New Covenant sacrificial meal, the Eucharist. Jesus takes the bread and “when he had given thanks…” or in Greek eucharisteō. That’s where we get “Eucharist” from, how cool is that? This miraculous bread of Thanksgiving, Eucharist, that man offered only five loaves of, Jesus has taken and multiplied in order to feed five thousand men and their wives and children. He multiplied so much that after everyone was satisfied, they were able to fill twelve baskets. This is not an accident.
Some Gospel critics point to the two feeding miracles as retellings of the same event but there are crucial differences. The five thousand that are fed are in the Jewish parts of Galilee and twelve baskets are filled. Twelve is the number of tribes of Israel and if you know your Hebrew history, there were not twelve tribes at the time of Jesus, ten tribes were long gone. But in the feeding of five thousand Jews, in itself being a fulfilment of Moses feeding Israel the miraculous bread from heaven, Jesus is reconstituting the fullness of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is the number of fullness to the Hebrews and they’re also literally full from the food they’ve eaten. It’s all kind of funny. The other bread multiplication miracle is of the four thousand, in a Gentile region and the leftovers fill up seven baskets. The number of Covenant. The New Covenant itself is a fulfilment of all the promises that came before which includes the invitation to the Gentiles to a Covenant with God.
14 When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Following the multiplication miracle which the Jews interpreted correctly as a sign, a divine marker that indicates a truth of God they proclaim that Jesus is “indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”
A lot of Christian Commentaries will point out the similarities between Jesus and Moses but most observers might simply say “Okay, but why does it matter?” Judaism is really a modern invention, they are far from what they were before the Temple was destroyed in 70AD, the Yahwehist religion at the time of Jesus. They were explicitly waiting for a Messiah, the Son of Man figure of Daniel and also the figure prophesied by Moses himself.
In Deuteronomy we read “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen ”
By the time of Jesus, the Son of Man figure, this New Moses were the same guy and we as Christians believe it is Jesus of Nazareth. Unfortunately (for Jews) it is near impossible to get away from the blatant similarities, typological fulfilments and references that Jesus makes or does. So they simply neglect their own Scriptures and the original emphasis they used to place on this prophecy. The Jews of Jesus time however, have no such neglect, they are at a Messianic fever pitch and can see almost exactly who Jesus is, they then seek to make him King. Their human ideas of Kingship are remotely on par with the divine royal coronation waiting for Jesus so he withdraws from them, he goes back to the mountain.
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