§21 Jesus Feeds 5,000 People (Luke 9:10–17)
Luke’s account of the feeding of the 5,000 is based on the Marcan account (Mark 6:30–44) and is the only miracle found in all four Gospels (Matt. 14:13–21; John 6:1–15). Luke omits, however, Mark’s feeding of the 4,000 (Mark 8:1–10 and see Matt. 15:32–39). Such an omission is due to (1) Luke’s avoidance of repetition and to (2) the fact that the evangelist has omitted a large section of Mark (6:45–8:26, sometimes called Luke’s “Big Omission”) in which the second feeding story occurs (see note below).
Verse 10 takes up where 9:1–6 left off. In 9:1–6 the Twelve had been sent to heal and to preach. The news of their activities spread throughout Galilee so that its ruler, Herod, began to wonder who this person Jesus was. With the return of the apostles and the withdrawal to Bethsaida the stage is set for the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fish, which perhaps in Luke’s mind was a partial answer to Herod’s question in v. 9 (so Fitzmyer, p. 763; Tiede, p. 181) and was the cause for the question in v. 18 (so Marshall, p. 357).
The account is interesting because the apostles themselves are challenged to give the people something to eat. Only shortly before they had received the authority to “drive out all demons and to cure diseases” (9:1); now they are given the opportunity to meet the needs of the hungry crowd. The Twelve wanted Jesus to send the crowd away to find their own supply of food. But Jesus wanted his disciples to feed them. For them, however, the task seemed impossible, since all they had were five loaves of bread and two fish (in John 6:9 we are told that this food belonged to a young lad). But for Jesus this was sufficient, for with it he was able to feed all the people and even have twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over (see note below).
This story teaches that Jesus is more than sufficient to meet every need, even the needs of a large crowd. Whereas the disciples had received authority and power and therefore could do many of the things that Jesus had done, the power of Jesus, nevertheless, far overshadowed their own. Just as God provided bread for the wandering Israelites (Exod. 16:1–36) and to one hundred men in the days of Elisha (2 Kings 4:42–44) so Jesus, in an even mightier way, is able to feed a multitude (see note below).
Although it is not certain that Jesus himself may have intended such a meaning to be attached to the feeding of the 5,000, it is quite possible that for Luke and his readers this miracle foreshadowed the institution of the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:14–23). This can be seen most clearly in the words found in v. 16: Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. These words are quite similar to those found in Luke 22:19: “And he took some bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them [the disciples]” (see also 1 Cor. 11:23–24). Moreover, the eucharistic-like discourse that follows John’s account of the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:30–58) would suggest clearly that at least in one segment of the early church the miracle had been related to the Lord’s Supper.
A major question that always arises from the study of this particular miracle concerns the presence of two feeding miracles in Mark (6:30–44; 8:1–10; both are also found in Matt. 14:13–21; 15:32–39). It is often wondered if what we have in Mark (and in Matthew who has followed Mark) are two accounts of the same miracle story. It is usually suggested that the feeding of the 4,000 is a variant of the feeding of the 5,000, the version that is found in both Luke and John. (Recently, however, Robert M. Fowler [Loaves and Fishes: The Function of the Feeding Stories in the Gospel of Mark, SBLDS 54 (Chico: Scholars, 1981)] has argued that the feeding of the 4,000 was the original story.) At least four reasons argue that Mark’s two feeding stories are actually two accounts of the same episode. First, in view of the first feeding (Mark 6:30–44) the question of the disciples just prior to the second feeding (Mark 8:1–10) seems quite odd: “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” (8:4). That the disciples could ask such a question so soon after Jesus had multiplied loaves and fish seems almost beyond comprehension. Thus, for this reason alone one could argue that the feeding of the 4,000 is no more than another version of the feeding of the 5,000. Second, both feeding episodes have numerous points of similarity: (1) large numbers of people with Jesus and his disciples out in the wilderness; (2) a handful of loaves are multiplied (plus two fish in the first account); (3) the multitudes are made to recline; (4) Jesus blesses, breaks, and multiplies the food; and (5) several baskets of scraps are left over. The similarity of these details could suggest that the accounts are two versions of the same miracle story. Third, immediately after the feeding miracles Jesus enters a boat and crosses over Lake Gennesaret (Mark 6:53–54; 8:10, 13). Fourth, after both feeding accounts the disciples find themselves in their boat, either afraid or confused, because they had not understood the significance of the “loaves” (6:45–52; 8:14–21). These last two parallels place the miracle stories in almost identical historical contexts thus suggesting, once again, that these stories are really two versions of the same episode. Therefore, it is possible that the feeding accounts are indeed two accounts of the same incident. But of equal plausibility is the possibility that Mark (or, less likely, the tradition before him) has deliberately underscored many of the points of similarity that have been observed, thereby creating the impression that the two episodes were virtually identical. It could be that because of the great significance that the evangelist Mark attached to the feeding miracles, understood as revealing something crucial about the nature of Jesus and his messiahship, he wished to emphasize certain common features (such as the disciples’ inability to understand who Jesus really was).
Another interesting aspect to be observed in the comparison of the Marcan and Lucan versions of the feeding of the 5,000 is Luke’s omission of Mark’s allusions to the Moses/wilderness-wandering theme (a theme which becomes prominent in John 6, in which explicit comparison between the multiplied loaves and the manna is made). First, the general setting (out in the wilderness, no food) and the miraculous provision of bread and meat may very well have been an allusion to God’s provision of manna (see Exod. 16:1–36) and meat (see Num. 11:4–32) during the time of Israel’s wilderness wanderings. Tiede (p. 180) suggests that the miracle may have answered the question of Ps. 78:19–20: “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?… Can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?” (RSV). The Psalmist is referring, of course, to Israel’s experience in the wilderness. Second, the phrase, “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34), may allude to Num. 27:17 where Moses prays that the people have a leader so that they “will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” Third, the direction that the people recline “in groups of hundreds and fifties” (Mark 6:39–40) may be an allusion to Moses’ similar division of the people, over which his appointed leaders would supervise (see Exod. 18:21). In the Lucan account most of these details drop out, but it is not because of the evangelist’s lack of interest in Moses, as can be seen in the place of prominence Moses receives in the transfiguration episode (Luke 9:30–31) and the correspondence between Luke 10:1–18:14 and Deuteronomy 1–26. Luke probably sees the feeding of the 5,000 against the backdrop of Elisha’s ministry. It has already been shown that there are numerous points of contact between Jesus and the Elijah/Elisha stories of 1 and 2 Kings (Luke 4:25–27; 7:11–17, 18–35, 36–50; 8:1–3) and more will be seen shortly (9:51–56, 57–62).
In the feeding of the 5,000 Luke may have been thinking of Elisha’s multiplication of the barley loaves for one hundred men (2 Kings 4:42–44; Fitzmyer [pp. 766–67] and Tiede [p. 180] allow for some possible influence). There are several points of contact worth noting: (1) a specific number of loaves (2 Kings 4:42; Luke 9:13); (2) the command to give to the people so that they may eat (2 Kings 4:42; Luke 9:13); (3) food is “set before” the people (2 Kings 4:43; Luke 9:16); (4) having eaten, there was food “left over” (2 Kings 4:44; Luke 9:17); and (5) the food was either taken from or placed into a “basket” (lit. “sack”; 2 Kings 4:42; Luke 9:17). Two other interesting parallels can be seen in John’s account of the feeding: (1) the puzzled question of those told to feed many with a few loaves (2 Kings 4:43; John 6:9) and (2) the specific designation of the loaves as “barley loaves” (2 Kings 4:42; John 6:9). Besides the parallels (which may be due only to their presence in the account taken from Mark), the fact that Luke alludes to Elisha passages immediately surrounding the feeding episode (the raising of the Shunammite widow’s son, 2 Kings 4:29–37; Luke 7:11–17; and the cleansing of Naaman the Syrian, 2 Kings 5:1–14; Luke 4:27) makes it quite plausible to suppose that he had this OT text in mind as he produced his own version of the feeding of the 5,000.
9:10 / they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida: This statement is curious in light of the wilderness setting of the miracle that follows (v. 12). Mark says nothing of a town (6:31, 32, 35). Why Luke mentions a town at all is difficult to understand. Some mss. read “a wilderness place” to bring the Lucan version closer to the Marcan version and to avoid the awkwardness of going to a town and then ending up in a “remote [i.e., uninhabited] place.” In any case, the reference to Bethsaida (Aramaic for “house of hunting” or “fishing”) is probably original. Bethsaida is on the northern shore of Lake Gennesaret, just East of the Jordan River. It is actually not in Galilee as John 12:21 states (the town from which the “Galilean” disciples Peter, Andrew, and Philip come according to John 1:44), but is in the neighboring province of Gaulanitis, at that time ruled by Philip the tetrarch (see Fitzmyer, pp. 765–66).
9:14 / About five thousand men: Matt. 14:21 adds, “besides women and children.” No doubt this was Luke’s understanding as well. Thus, the multitude was indeed a large one.
9:16 / he gave thanks: Lit. “he blessed them” (the loaves). The parallel verse in Mark (6:41, which is followed by Matt. 14:19) reads: “he blessed” (with “God” as the understood object). The Marcan version is in keeping with the Jewish prayer formula, Baruch Adonai (“Blessed be the Lord”). Fitzmyer (p. 768) cites m. Berakoth 6.1, as an example of such a prayer that Jesus may have uttered on such an occasion: “Blessed be you, O Lord our God, King of the world, who causes bread to come forth from the earth” (for more references see Lachs, p. 242). Since Luke has added “them” to the verb “he blessed,” Fitzmyer suspects that Luke has misunderstood the idiom, not knowing that it is God who is blessed (or praised) for the food, not the food itself. Marshall (p. 362), however, suggests that Luke has not misunderstood the usage of the word “bless” and that the text really should be translated, “he blessed [God] for them” (see also Luke 24:30).
9:17 / They all ate and were satisfied: Perhaps Luke perceived this as a fulfillment of the beatitude in Luke 6:21, where the same word (lit. “were filled”) is used. Lachs (p. 241) notes that the phrase comes from Deut. 8:10.
twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over: Fitzmyer (p. 769) suggests that the “twelve” baskets (or sacks) constitute a symbolic reference to the twelve disciples who “now have enough to feed still others.” Perhaps. With regard to the basket (Greek kophinos) Lachs (p. 241) cites Juvenal (Satires 3.114), who states that Jews carried their kosher food in baskets (Latin cophinus).