when he healed the sick. So he went up into the hills and sat down there with his disciples.
Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Then lifting up his eyes, Jesus saw
the crowds that were coming to him and said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that
these people may eat?” He said this to test Philip, for he himself knew what he was going
to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each
of them to have a piece.” Then one of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said,
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for
so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there so the
“Where shall we buy bread so people, about five thousand men, sat that these people may
eat?” down to rest. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed them to those
who were seated. He did the same with the fish and gave them as much as they wanted.
And when they had eaten enough, he told his disciples, “Gather up the pieces left over, that
nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with bread, that
is with pieces of the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw
this sign that Jesus had just given, they said, “This is really the Prophet, he who is to
come into the world.” Jesus realized that they would come and take him by force to make
him king; so he fled to the hills by himself.

READ: Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Because of his miracles, a huge
crowd followed him. Jesus went up on the hill with his disciples. The Passover was at hand.
Jesus saw the crowd. He asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed the people. Philip
said that bread worth of two hundred silver coins would not be enough. Andrew informed them
of the boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. Out of this meager provision, Jesus fed all
the people . There were twelve baskets of leftover food. The people recognized Jesus as the
prophet. They wanted to make him a king so he fled to the hills by himself.

REFLECT: The feeding of the multitudes is a familiar story. All the four evangelists reported
the event (Mk. 6:34-44; 8:1-10; Mt. 14:13-21; 15:32-39; Lk. 9:10-17; Jn. 6:1-15). In John’s
version, which is the Gospel for today, the people were able to recognize Jesus as the prophet.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus is presented as the prophet who always spoke the truth. We may reflect
on our threefold mission: as king, priest and prophet. In many ways, we are comfortable with the
kingly and priestly components of our mission but not with its prophetic component. After
recognizing Jesus as the prophet, the people wanted to make him king but Jesus did not agree
with their plan.

PRAY: Let us pray that God will grant us courage to do prophetic mission.

ACT: Let us teach our children of the evil of historical denialism.

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