2nd week in Easter, Friday – 16th April 2021 — Gospel: John 6, 1-15
Recognized Prophetic Fulfillment
Feeding of the five thousand is the fourth of the seven “signs” manifesting Christ’s divinity in John’s Gospel. The people are astounded by this miracle, and immediately recognize His prophetic fulfillment (Jn 6,14). They knew from the OT that a prophet was coming, and they looked for him to deliver them from the control of the Roman Empire. They were waiting for an earthly monarch. But they were not willing to admit that Jesus was the Son of God or to confess their sins and accept Him as Saviour. As a result of this miracle, the people wanted to make Him king. If Jesus were only a man, without doubt He would have submitted readily to their request. But He was not moved by such appeals to vanity and pride. As an omniscient God, Jesus knew their hearts, and the secrets thoughts and purposes of them. As a human person, He understood their words and gestures. Since this was not in the plan of God, Jesus left the crowd immediately. St. Bernard has said, “Jesus always fled when they wanted to make Him King, and presented Himself when they wanted to crucify Him.” Practically, the vast majority of these people didn’t want to make Jesus as their king because they recognized their need for God in Him or they accepted His kingdom message. They were responding to the miracle of free feeding (6,26) since the Jews had often suffered famine under their enemies. Finding that Jesus had the power to multiply a few loaves to feed thousands, they took for granted that if He was their head no evil could possibly happen to them. All the more, if He was their king, He would rid themselves at once of Herod and the Romans. In fact, even His disciples did not fully understand that Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world until after considerable time.
