In the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, at one level we see a compassionate Jesus feeding hungry people who had followed him all that day. As with many of Jesus’ miracles, however, there are deeper and more spiritually significant meanings that are revealed upon thoughtful consideration.
Reminded of Jesus, the bread of life
When we note that at the outset of this miracle Jesus gave thanks, broke the bread and gave to his disciples, we recall Paul’s words about the last supper: “And when [Jesus] had given thanks, he brake [the bread], and said, take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you” (I Cor. 11:24).
Bread is a symbol of Christ’s body which harbored his natural will that was broken for our salvation. On that day in Galilee, the broken bread maintained the life of several thousand, but only for the moment. The bread which we remember and for which we give God thanks is the bread which provides eternal life, to those who believe and obey.
Bread necessary only where there is death
We think of bread as the staple of life. “Give us this day our daily bread” reflects that it was so in Bible times as well as our own.
Interestingly, before the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, there is no mention of bread. They ate food before the fall but they did so according to Genesis 1:29: “I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” After the fall, part of the curse was, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground…” (Gen. 3:19).
The bread we eat in this life has to be produced with effort and trouble. It cannot give eternal life and is, in fact, associated with God’s curse as a result of sin. In a sense, it is the bread of death.
When Christ multiplied the bread without sweat and effort, it was as if, for a moment in time, the curse in Eden had been lifted. They were invited to consider that in Jesus lay the answer to the wages of sin.
The curse suspended 40 years
There was another time when bread was provided without the sweat of those who ate. One month after the exodus from Egypt, God provided Israel on their wilderness journey with a daily portion of bread they called manna.
When we read Exodus 16:4, we note that this was bread from heaven given by God to prove whether or not they would walk in His law. Their reaction to it was, “What is it?” (Ex. 16:15 marg.). For the most part, they showed no understanding or gratitude of this wonderful provision of God. In fact, their reaction was a foretaste of how their ancestors would respond to the true bread of God.
Flesh outside the camp
An important feature to note about the heavenly provision for Israel is revealed in Numbers 11:9: “When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.” The manna was within the camp.
Not being satisfied with God’s provision, Israel desired flesh. So God sent them quails. These fell outside the camp, a day’s journey away! (v.31). Yet they were so anxious for flesh, they spent all night and all the next day gathering quail flesh. Just think of the sadness that God must have been feeling because of their blatant rejection of His provision. To get to the quail, they had to walk right past the manna, counting it as nothing. The next day, as well, the manna would lay unappreciated until it evaporated in the sun.
How foolish Israel seems, yet it is an example from which we can learn. How often do we desire to spend time engaged in the things of this world, outside the ecclesial camp, and in so doing disdain the life-giving provisions of God in Jesus Christ?
The prophet like Moses
The five loaves of bread used by Jesus may also have directed the minds of those who were fed back to the wilderness. The number five would surely have reminded many of them of the five books of the law (Genesis – Deuteronomy). These books should have been part of every Israelites’ daily spiritual food. And in these pages Moses prophesies, “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deut. 18:15).
There, in their midst, was the promised prophet. And, like in the days of Moses, bread was given them to eat in the wilderness. Yet, as in the days of Moses, the people repeated the mistake of rejecting the bread provided by God.
From verse 25 of John 6 onward, Jesus expands on the spiritual significance of the feeding of the 5,000. The people had been exposed to a suspension of the Edenic curse. Bread was produced without their effort. This, said Jesus, was God’s seal upon the one through whom the miracle had occurred; he could give them food which endures to eternal life (vs. 25-29).
Remarkably, they ask some proof that he is speaking truth. That is not their real interest, however; they were obsessed with the material things of life. They wanted their natural desires satisfied (vs. 26, 30-34). When Jesus tried to divert their attention to the spiritual level (vs. 35-40), they murmured (v.41), just like their ancestors did in the wilderness.
Our partaking
We come now to remember our partaking in the “true bread of heaven.” In doing so, we acknowledge that man does not live only by bread but by every word that proceeds from God. We remember that our eternal life is centered in the word made flesh, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of all who believe and follow him.
Because sin and death exist, this bread was produced with much effort and anguish; but the sweat was not from our brow, it was from the Saviors’. Because of that, we rejoice that the curse of Eden is not just reversed for one day; it is destroyed forever, for it is true that: “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die” (vs. 48-50).
That is the hope in which we now rejoice.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One