John 6:1-14

§ 63. FIVE THOUSAND FED, John 6:1-14 .

Matthew 14:13-22; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17.

The miracle of the feeding is one of the few which are recorded by all the Evangelists. They narrate it with that variety of manner, yet agreement in fact, that evinces independence of relation with common truth at bottom. It is, therefore, a well-attested narrative. Unless it can be denied that John wrote this Gospel, the so-called mythical hypothesis (which supposes that the gospel narratives formed and grew from popular imagination) is refuted by this single instance. The sordid character of a certain portion of the multitude gives a severe tone to the entire discourse. The bread with which they are fed, and the body which was upborne upon the sea, blend to form the topic of the allegory which runs through the whole.