Reading the Gospels Together The Multiplication of the Bread and Walking on Water – Part 7 At this point John launches into what might best be described as a blending of theology and narrative – with the emphasis on theology. Jesus interprets the meaning of the multiplying of the bread. And in the process Jesus makes powerful claims about himself. The story is closely connected to the OT story of the people of God in the wilderness and the giving of the manna. God gave them bread from heaven. And now Jesus has given them bread – but it is not just bread from heaven since Jesus is himself the bread of life. Jesus reminds his hearers that it was not Moses who gave them the bread but God and thus Jesus is greater than Moses. The story is heavy on theology at this point. No longer are we talking about physical bread to eat but about Jesus as the bread of life. Though the people seem to desire this bread they do not understand. They see only the human Jesus and so they question by what authority he makes the claims he does. Jesus persists and before we know it Jesus has begun to talk about Holy Communion. Unless they eat his flesh and drink his blood they have no part in him. This is a clear allusion to the Lord’s Supper. But, the interesting thing in John’s gospel is that John never tells his readers about the Institution of the Lord’s Supper in the upper room at Passover. In fact we will discover that Jesus is already dead before the Passover meal is celebrated! When Jesus begins to speak about eating his flesh and drinking his blood the crowd becomes angry and many abandon Jesus. They do not understand. Only the Twelve are left. As we noted earlier this is the only reference John makes to the Twelve. Following this John will not mention them again as a group. And the twelve remain more out of desperation than understanding. As was mentioned as we turned to John’s gospel, John has set this whole event in the midst of Passover. And if we think about the synoptic gospels it was in the event of Passover that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. In this Passover John introduces his readers to Holy Communion. We will look closer at Jesus and the Passover later but it is worth noting this connection here. Actually, the synoptic writers had also made an allusion to the Lord’s Supper in their telling of the story of the multiplication of the bread. So, ultimately for John and likely for the synoptic writers too, this story is not so much about the miraculous feeding of the 5000 as it is to make a connection with the OT story of the manna in the wilderness and how God gave bread to his people. The story becomes important for that reason and that is likely why all four gospel writers included this story in their gospels. As we mentioned earlier these stories are dripping in symbolism. John makes that connection clearer for us through his theological interpretation but it is evident in all four gospels. John does not mention a second feeding of the 4000. In fact he mentions nothing directly about any of the other events in the Galilean ministry of Jesus. There may be some other indirect points of contact but they are at best viewed as possible connections. We will look at some of them in our next section.