Hi everyone!
Thanks for an enriching class on October 12. We broke into 3 small groups of six and pondered our four questions, applied to the Beatitudes in Matthew and Luke. Each pod had it's own lively conversations about these teachings from Jesus. At the end of class we heard a few nutshell reports -- one poignant observation was that this passage isn't comfortable in some respect for any of us, and this is a good thing -- Jesus takes us out of our "comfort zone" of complacency, and this is how we grow.
For next week, we'll take a look at the only miraculous event reported in all four Gospels: the feeding of the multitude. There are, actually, two separate feedings of multitudes; let's focus on the "First Event" described in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I am attaching some material from Wikipedia below, which I think is about as concise and helpful as it gets in setting up our study of these sections. For this material and more, go to wikipedia.com and search "Jesus feeding the multitude".
So, to prep for October 19 please read through the material attached, at the least. If you are feeling ambitious, by all means read the separate accounts for yourself and begin pondering. The chapters and verses are included in the first paragraph of wiki notes below.
This story, to me, is one of the most picturesque and compelling in the Bible. I expect we'll have a great time and learn a lot from each other.
I'll miss you all very much on the 19th, as I'll be in Portland on Annual Conference business -- I'm on a committee which oversees our various campus ministries. One of the things I'm sure we'll be talking about is lack of funds . . . kind of like we only have five loaves and two fishes, is what I'm thinking. So maybe this particular story has an application where I'll be! Coincidentally (?) it's also stewardship emphasis day at St. Paul's this Sunday.
God bless
Pastor Dan
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Feeding the multitude (also known as The miracle of the loaves and fish) is the name of two miracles attributed to Jesus, the first of which is reported by all four of the canonical Gospels of the Christian religion (Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15), while the second is reported by Mark (8) and Matthew (15) but neither Luke nor John. The first is the only miracle (apart from the resurrection) present in both the narrative of the Gospel of John and that of the Synoptic Gospels.
First event
According to the narrative of the Gospels, the first event happened after Jesus had been teaching in an area away from the towns, and insisted that the people be fed where they were, rather than sending them to the nearest towns. The Synoptics state that the location was a "desert place" near Bethsaida, while John does not state a specific location, only specifying that it was very grassy.
The canonical Gospels all report that, upon investigating the provisions of the crowd, the disciples were only able to find 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, and the Gospel of John adds that these came from a single boy in the crowd. The Gospels state that Jesus blessed the food, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, who distributed it to the people present - 5000 not counting women and children - all of them being fed. The disciples, therefore, distributed great multitudes of food among the people, much more than the original 5 loaves and 2 fish, implying that Jesus miraculously created more food. The Gospels also state that after the meal was over, the disciples collected the scraps, filling 12 baskets.
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Explanations in the New Testament
The Church of the Multiplication in Tabgha is the site where some Christians believe the miracle to have taken place.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus is described as using the first event to illustrate a lesson to his disciples, arguing that the disciples look for him not because of the miracles, but because they ate the loaves and were filled up, and then instructing the disciples not to seek the meat which perishes but that which endures to everlasting life. This has often been interpreted[citation needed] as a veiled criticism of people who consumed the teachings of Jesus (ate the loaves) but did not value a miraculous nature of Jesus himself.
Mark, however, presents a much more esoteric explanation, implying by emphasis in the text that there is something significant about the numbers involved. After the second event, modern texts of Mark state that the disciples left in a boat for Dalmanutha, but some early texts of Mark state that it was Magdala, home of Mary Magdalene, that they went to, and Matthew states that they went to the similarly named Magadan. Once there, the Pharisees are described as requesting a miracle from Jesus, but Jesus criticises the request, and states that no miraculous sign will be given to that generation. The ancient Gnostics argued that this implied that the resurrection of Jesus was not an actual physical event, since it would otherwise clearly be a miraculous sign, but that it should instead be understood as allegory or doceticly. However, sources not sympathetic to Christianity like Josephus also mention Jesus's ability to perform miracles.
Mark goes on to state that, after this response, Jesus and the disciples leave in a boat and at the other side of the lake discover they have only one loaf of bread with them, to which Jesus responds watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod (Mark 8:15). Mark states that the disciples interpret this as criticism of them for not bringing enough bread, but Jesus soon corrects them, and criticises their lack of understanding. In Mark's gospel Jesus is then described as giving a rather cryptic explanation of the food miracles, by asking the disciples how many baskets of scraps were collected at each event, and then questioning do you still not understand?. This can be viewed as asking how they do not yet understand who he is, given the miracle that has just occurred; this seems appropriate given that Peter's confession of Christ, the turning point in Mark's gospel, occurs just a few verses later.
