Jonah 1:17-2:10

On October 18, 2008 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year Two), the texts were presented and comments were combined, revised and supplement from October 13, 2004 (Wednesday of the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year Two) and March 28, 2005 (Easter Monday, Year One), the latter of which was repeated on January 5, 2006). They are repeated here:

10 Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land. (Jonah 1:17-2:10, NRSV)

The outline imposed on the scripture text of chapter 2 is from Bernard W. Anderson (Out of the Depths; The Psalms Speak for us Today, 2nd ed., 1983, [114], 115-116).

2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,

A. Introduction: Summary of the Psalmist’s [Jonah’s] Testimony

"I called to the LORD out of my distress, / and he answered me;

out of the belly of Sheol I cried, / and you heard my voice.

B. Main Section

     1. Portrayal of Affliction

3 You cast me into the deep, / into the heart of the seas, / and the flood surrounded me;

all your waves and your billows / passed over me.

4 Then I said, 'I am driven away / from your sight;

how shall I look again / upon your holy temple?'

5 The waters closed in over me; / the deep surrounded me;

weeds were wrapped around my head / 6 at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land / whose bars closed upon me forever;

     2. Cry for Help and Answer

yet you brought up my life from the Pit, / O LORD my God. (3. Deliverance)

7 As my life was ebbing away, / I remembered the LORD;

and my prayer came to you, / into your holy temple.

     3. Deliverance (v. 6b above)

C. Conclusion: Acknowledgment of God’s Gracious Act and Promise to Present a Thank Offering

8 Those who worship vain idols / forsake their true loyalty.

9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving / will sacrifice to you;

what I have vowed I will pay. / Deliverance belongs to the LORD!"

10 Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land. (Jonah 2:1-10 NRSV)

As noted above, the following comments are repeated here from October 18, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year Two):

You might think that a book called Out of the Depths would be about Jonah. In his analysis of Psalms, Bernard Anderson includes Jonah, chapter 2, and calls it an “Individual Psalm of Thanksgiving.” (Exodus 15:1-8 is a “Hymn.”) Bernard W. Anderson analyzes the Psalms in the Book of Psalms by categories such as Historical Psalms, Individual Laments, Community Laments, and so forth. His list of “Individual Songs of Thanksgiving” includes thirteen Psalms (or parts of Psalms) and the parenthetical note, “See also the Individual Songs of Thanksgiving in Isa. 38:9-20 and Jonah 2:2-9" (op. cit., 112-113). My first thought upon reading that was, “In chapter two, Jonah is in the fish’s belly! That’s not a time for thanksgiving; it’s a time for lamenting, isn’t it?” But then I noticed the past tense verbs in the report of what had happened. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, / and you heard my voice” (Jonah 2:2b). “The waters closed in over me; / the deep surrounded me; / weeds were wrapped around my head / at the roots of the mountains” (v. 5, 6a). Jonah did not write the poetry in the belly of the fish, of course, but later.

As a Song of Thanksgiving, the poem seems out of place at this point in the story. Jonah was “in the belly of the fish” from Jonah 1:17 to 2:10. You would think that the appropriate prayer would be a cry for help, something like the early part of Psalm 3 or Psalm 12 (called “Laments” by Anderson). But Jonah speaks in the past tense: “I called to the LORD out of my distress, / and he answered me; / out of the belly of Sheol I cried, / and you heard my voice” (Jonah 2:2). Later he says, “yet you brought up my life from the Pit, / O LORD my God (v. 6). He adds a promise to pay his vow and “present a thank offering” (Anderson, 1^st ed., 1970, p. 85, citing vv. 8-9). We are reminded that even in the Lament Psalms, typical features include “confession of trust” and “words of Assurance” (Anderson, p. 57). Are people of faith expected to thank God in advance for what they request? Perhaps not. We have the example of Jesus, who prayed, “not what I want, but what you want” (Mk. 14:36), and of Paul, who announced travel plans “if the Lord permits” (1 Cor. 16:7). But we are encouraged to pray with faith and boldness (James 5:15; Heb. 4:16).

Ehud Ben Zvi has a different perspective. Treating Jonah as a story, he suggests that “the verbs translated here in the past tense are probably better translated in the present. They point to events that are either happening or will happen (thus ‘In my trouble I call to the LORD’ rather than In my trouble I called to the LORD [Jonah 2:3a NJPS; cf. v. 2a NRSV, ‘I called to the LORD out of my distress’]” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Jonah 2:3-10 NJPS = vv. 2-9 NRSV). The Hebrew verbs in question are in the perfect tense, for example, yt9xr!q! (qārā’tî), “I called” (v. 3 Heb. = v. 2 NRSV) which often denotes “actions, events, or states which, after a shorter or longer duration, were terminated in the past, and hence are finally concluded” (Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, ed., E. Kautzsch, transl. A. E. Cowley, 2^nd Engl. ed., 1910, 18^th corrected impression, 1985, sec. 106 b), but can mean something different, for example, “in direct narration to express actions which, although really only in process of accomplishment, are nevertheless meant to be represented as already accomplished in the conception of the speaker, e.g. yt9mor9h3 [harimōtî] I lift up (my hand in ratifying an oath) Gn. 14:22” (Gesenius, sec. 106 i). Ben Zvi calls Jonah’s prayer “a pastiche of different verses taken from Psalms (see v. 3 and cf. Pss. 18:7; 30:3; 118:5 . . . [and several others]. Jonah is thereby presented as a person well versed in the language of Psalms and able to compose a sophisticated prayer on their basis (cf. David or Solomon as described in Chronicles)” (Ben Zvi, loc. cit.).

But the prayer was written on dry land as strong “emotion remembered in tranquility.” “In defense of his unconventional theory of poetry, Wordsworth wrote a ‘Preface’ to the second edition of Ballads, which appeared in 1800 (actual date of publication, 1801). His premise was that the source of poetic truth is the direct experience of the senses. Poetry, he asserted, originates from ‘emotion recollected in tranquillity’” (from an Internet web site page on William Wordsworth, http://www.island-of-freedom.com/WORDSWOR.HTM, accessed again Oct. 13, 2008). Presumably, at the time of writing, Jonah was also over his later pouting, when Nineveh repented and God changed his mind (3:10). Jonah’s experience is a testimony to the way that God has rescued him. Maybe there are times when you feel as “down” as Jonah. Or more like the disciples in a storm on the lake (Mk. 4:35-41; Mt. 8:23-27: Lk. 8:22-25). Is it time to call on the Lord who can say, “Peace be still!” (Mk. 4:39)?

Hosea 13:1-3 (Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions; this passage is not included in the current Book of Common Prayer Daily Office Lectionary series)

13:1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel;

but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

2 And now they keep on sinning

and make a cast image for themselves,

idols of silver made according to their understanding,

all of them the work of artisans.

“Sacrifice to these,” they say.

People are kissing calves!

3 Therefore they shall be like the morning mist

or like the dew that goes away early,

like chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

or like smoke from a window. (Hosea 13:1-3, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here with some editing and supplement from October 18, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year Two):

In this brief stanza, sandwiched between memories of God’s early care for Israel through prophets (Hos. 12:10-14) and his long term direct care for Israel: “Yet I have been the LORD your God / ever since the land of Egypt” (13:4a, b), the prophet marvels at Ephraim’s exalted position in Israel before, but his present continuous sinning. “When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling (tt2r4, r^etēth); he was exalted in Israel” (13:1a, b). Gregory Mobley calls this “an allusion to Ephraim’s relative prosperity during much of the Divided Monarchy” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Hos. 13:1). The recent Jewish translation of the first line is, “When Ephraim spoke piety” (13:1a NJPS 1985, 1999). Could “piety” be an alternative translation of tt2r4 (r^etēth), “trembling” (NRSV, a word that occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible)? The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (1970) apparatus suggests tOrOT (tōrōth, “laws” or “instructions”) or yt9r!OT (tōrātî, “my law” or “my instruction”) on the basis of the Septuagint’s dikaiwvmata (dikaiōmata, “regulations”). But whatever honor there was for Ephraim in that, the prophet quickly strikes down, saying, “but he [Ephraim] incurred guilt through Baal and died” (v. 1c). The recent Jewish translation explains the reference to Baal, “i.e., Baal-peor; cf. 9:10 (NJPS 1985, 1999, text note f on v. 1). At 9:10, this translation refers to Numbers 25:1-13 (text note h), where “while Israel was staying at Shittim [on their journey from Egypt to the promised land], the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab [who] invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods . . . Thus Israel yoked itself to the Baal of Peor, and the LORD’s anger was kindled against Israel” (Num. 25:1-3).

If verse 1 alludes to this earlier unfaithfulness, the prophet continues, speaking of course for the LORD, with reference to his own times. “And now,” he says, “they keep on sinning, / and make a cast image for themselves, / idols of silver made according to their understanding, / all of them the work of artisans” (v. 2a, b, c, d). They use these idols in “worship”: “ ‘Sacrifice to these,’ they say. / People are kissing calves!” (v. 2e, f; cf. 8:5-6). The authors of 1 Kings report that Jeroboam I introduced the worship of calves so that his people could worship in the northern kingdom, and not go to Jerusalem, which “became a sin” (1 Kgs. 12:28-30). Ben Zvi, comments on the reference to “kissing calves”: As elsewhere in the Bible, the book is assuming that the calves are not alternate ways of depicting the LORD, as many northern Israelites likely believed, but represent foreign deities” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Hos. 13:2-4). The consequence, or punishment, says the prophet, is transience. “Therefore they shall be like the morning mist / or like the dew that goes away early, / like chaff that swirls from the threshing floor / or like smoke from a window” (v. 3). Mobley, in reference to “morning mist,” refers to 6:4 (op. cit., on 13:3), “Your love is like a morning cloud, / like the dew that goes away early” (6:4c, d), as does Ben Zvi, who adds that “chaff . . . smoke [are] further images of evanescence” (op. cit., on 13:3).

Acts 27:9-26

9 Since much time had been lost and sailing was now dangerous, because even the Fast had already gone by, Paul advised them, 10 saying, “Sirs, I can see that the voyage will be with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 11 But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. 12 Since the harbor was not suitable for spending the winter, the majority was in favor of putting to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, where they could spend the winter. It was a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest.

The Storm at Sea

13 When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore. 14 But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete. 15 Since the ship was caught and could not be turned head-on into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. 16 By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. 17 After hoisting it up they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and so were driven. 18 We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard, 19 and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss. 22 I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But we will have to run aground on some island.” (Acts 27:9-26, NRSV)

On August 29, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 24, Year One), comments were repeated with some editing from October 18, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year Two), when they were combined with some revision from October 13, 2004, two years ago (Wednesday of the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year Two), and from August 24, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year One). The combined comments are repeated again here:

As yesterday’s reading ended there were signs of the difficult journey ahead. “We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind was against us, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea” (Acts 27:7-8). The ship carrying Paul as a prisoner enters “open waters without the protection of the island” (i.e. Crete) (Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Harper-Collins Study Bible, 1993, on Acts 27:8). Paul is concerned about the delay because of the approaching winter season, “because even the Fast [i.e. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in September or October] had already gone by (Acts 27:9). “Sailing was . . . dangerous after September and ceased from mid-November until mid-March” (Christopher R. Matthews, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on v. 9). Paul gives advice (Acts 27:10) which reflects concern about lost time and the approaching autumn and winter months and the increased likelihood of bad weather. Paul’s warning about possible “loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives” (v. 10) went unheeded (vv. 11-12), but was soon borne out with winds and storms (vv. 13-20) so that “all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned” (v. 20). Note that the first-person pronouns, “we” (v. 18) and “our” (v. 20); some have gone so far as to suggest that Paul’s two years in Caesarea gave Luke the opportunity to do the investigations which he claims underlie his Gospel (Lk. 1:1-4). “For two years,” says William Barclay, Luke “was Paul’s companion in imprisonment in Caesarea. In those long days he had every opportunity for study and research and he must have used them well” (The Gospel of Luke, The Daily Study Bible, rev. ed., 1975, pp. 2-3, in the Introduction). We are not told that Luke was in custody with Paul, but he was with Paul when they arrived in Jerusalem (21:17) and on the journey from Caesarea to Rome (27:1; 28:1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16).

When the storm came they were at the mercy of the wind (v. 14), had difficulty controlling the ship (v. 16), were pounded by the storm (v. 18), and lost hope of being saved (v. 20). Paul’s chance to say, “I told you so” (Acts 27:21) becomes an opportunity for encouragement. Paul says, “I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship” (v. 22). This he says on the authority of the “angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship” who “last night . . . stood by me” (v. 23). The story almost pictures Paul as more competent than the officers in charge of the ship, but of course it attributes Paul’s wisdom to God’s help and the angel’s appearance. But we should also remember that Paul was well-traveled by sea as much as by land in his previous missionary journeys. He mentions three previous shipwrecks, and being “adrift at sea” for “a night and a day,” adding “on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers” (2 Cor. 11:25-26). So while one might not expect him to serve as the ship’s captain, he must have had some experience and knowledge about surviving such conditions as they were now facing. His clear sense of his own apostolic calling and mission, and his trust in God, gave him confidence not only for himself but ability to encourage others who were undoubtedly in great fear for their own lives. As the angel said, “‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we will have to run aground on some island” (vv. 24-26).

Luke 9:1-17

The Mission of the Twelve (Mt 10.5-15)

9:1 Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money-not even an extra tunic. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. 5 Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

Herod’s Perplexity (Mt 14.1-12; Mk 6.14-29)

7 Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8 by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. 9 Herod said, “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he tried to see him.

Feeding the Five Thousand (Mt 14.13-21; Mk 6.30-44; Jn 6.1-15)

10 On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.

12 The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.” 13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish-unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did so and made them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces. (Luke 9:1-17, NRSV)

On May 12, 2007 (Saturday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year One), comments were repeated from October 18, 2006 (Wednesday of the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year Two), when they were repeated with some revision and supplement from October 13, 2004, (Wednesday of the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year Two). The revised comments are repeated here with editing and supplement and additional comments on the feeding of the five thousand from April 13, 2008 (the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year Two), when the Gospel reading was John’s version of the feeding:

Luke’s selection and order of events in chapter 9 is focused on Jesus and the disciples. Some things included here by Matthew and Mark are reported elsewhere by Luke. Jesus’ Rejection at Nazareth (Mk. 6:1-6a; Mt. 13:53-58) is not included here by Luke, but a different version, including the sermon on Isaiah 61, emphasizing the Holy Spirit, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me . . .” (Lk. 4:16-30), sets the tone and inaugurates Jesus’ public ministry. For parallel accounts related to today’s reading, see the separate file, Commissioning the Twelve - 5000 Fed. Today’s reading presents four events. The first is the Mission of the Twelve, when Jesus “sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal” (Lk. 9:2; cf Lk 9:1-6; Mk. 6:6b-13; Mt. 9:35; 10:1, 9-11, 14). We may note that Matthew’s version of Jesus speech commissioning the Twelve (Mt. 10:5-16), is more detailed than the parallels in Mark and Luke, but that Luke has a separate commissioning of the Seventy (Lk. 10:1-12) which incorporates some of the same material. According to Matthew, the Twelve were sent “nowhere among the Gentiles . . . but . . . rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:5-6). This limitation is not explicit in either of the commissionings presented by Luke, but the territory covered by their missions corresponds in general to the scope of Jesus’ ministry as we know it. According to Luke, “Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases” Lk. 9:1; cf. Mk. 6:7; Mt. 10:1). Along with healing, their mission was “to proclaim the kingdom of God” (Lk. 9:2; cf. Mt. 10:7; Mk. 6:12). They were to take limited supplies, for Jesus told them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money–not even an extra tunic” (Lk. 9:3; cf. Mk. 6:8-9; Mt. 10:9-10). They were to find lodging in a single home within each town. “Whatever house you enter,” says Jesus according to Luke, “stay there and leave from there” (Lk. 9:4; cf. Mk. 6:10; Mt. 10:11). Jesus instructs them about how to respond when they are not welcomed. According to Luke, he says, “Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them” (Lk. 9:5; cf. Mk. 6:11; Mt. 10:14). According to Marion Lloyd Soards, “The act of shaking off dust was a graphic demonstration of renunciation of further responsibility for those who did not welcome the twelve; cf. 10:10-12 [similar instruction to the seventy]” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Lk. 9:5). At that, the twelve “departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere” (Lk. 9:6; cf. Mk. 16:11-12).

The second “event” in today’s reading is the report of some opinions about Jesus. “Now Herod the ruler,” Herod Antipas, that is, who ruled Galilee and Perea (4 B.C.-A.D. 39; Francisco O. Garcia-Treto, Harper’s Bible Dictionary, 1985, s.v. Herod), “heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen” (Lk. 9:7-8; cf. Mk. 6:14-15; Mt. 14:1). Mark reports that Herod simply believed that Jesus was John raised from the dead. “But when Herod heard of it [i.e., Jesus’ spreading fame], he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised’ ” (Mk. 6:16; cf. Mt. 14:2). Luke describes Herod as less certain. “John I beheaded,” says Herod according to Luke, “but who i9s this about whom I hear such things?” (Lk. 9:9).

At this point Mark and Matthew present the account of Herod’s birthday dinner and the beheading of John the Baptist (Mk. 6:17-29; Mt. 14:3-12; cf. Lk. 3:19-20), which has already been mentioned as a past event (Mk. 6:14, 16; Mt. 14:2). Luke moves on to the return of the twelve from their mission. “On their return,” says Luke, “the apostles told Jesus all they had done” (Lk. 9:10a; cf. Mk. 6:30). The “parallel” in Matthew, “then they went and told Jesus” (Mt. 14:12b) is about the beheading of John, not the work of the twelve on their mission. Though Matthew makes a point of including the call for laborers in the harvest (Mt. 9:37, 38), the naming of the twelve (10:1-4), and the commissioning speech to send them out (10:5-42, esp. vv. 5-16), he does not report their return as such, nor their account of what they have done.

But at this point the three Synoptic Gospels report the feeding of the five thousand (Mt. 14:133-21; Mk. 6:32-44; Lk. 9:10b-17), which is also reported by John (Jn. 6:1-15). There are a few differences in detail. John puts this event in the spring of the year. “Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews was near” (Jn. 6:4). For the other Gospels, this episode is part of a series of events in Jesus’ Galilean ministry, though Luke omits several of Mark’s events up to Peter’s Confession (Mt. 16:13-20; Mk. 8:27-30; Lk. 9:18-21; cf. Jn. 6:67-71). In Matthew and Mark the location is “a deserted place” (Mk. 6:32; cf. Mt. 14:13), but Luke appears to place the event in Bethsaida (Lk. 9:10). For John, Jesus has gone “to the other side of the Sea of Galilee” (Jn. 6:1), then up a mountain (v. 3). In John, there is no proposal from the disciples of going “into the surrounding country and villages” to buy food (Mk. 6:36; cf. Mt. 14:15; Lk. 9:12), in part because, in John, Jesus raises the question about feeding the multitude. “Jesus said to Phillip, ‘Where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat?’” (Jn. 6:5b). In the other Gospels, the disciples first suggest that it is time to send the crowds away (Mt. 14:15; Mk. 6:35-36; Lk. 9:12). In John, Philip, whom Jesus addresses directly, protests the impossibility of Jesus’ request (Jn. 6:7, cf. vv. 5-6), but Andrew is the one who brings the boy forward with the “five barley loaves and two fish” (Jn. 6:9; cf. Mt. 14:17; Mk. 6:38; Lk. 9:13). The Gospels all agree on the essentials of the miracle, the number of men, “five thousand” (Mt. 14:21a; Mk. 6:44; Lk. 90:14; cf Jn. 6:10, ‘five thousand in all’); but only Matthew adds “besides women and children (Mt. 14:21b). John, of course, differs from the others in making this miracle the basis of an extended discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life. (Jn. 6:22-71).

It appears that with the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Jesus’ ministry in Galilee reaches a certain climax. In Mark, this miracle is followed by Jesus Walking on the Water (Mk. 6:45-52), but further miracles, at least in Jewish territory, are comparatively few. There is the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida (8:22-26), the healing of the boy with seizure symptoms (9:14-29) and of Bartimaeus (10:46-52). The Feeding of the Four Thousand (8:1-10) appears to have been in Gentile territory, after a tour to the region of Tyre (Mk. 7:24-31) from which Jesus returned to the Decapolis (v. 31). After the Feeding, they crossed the lake to “the district of Dalmanutha [NRSV footnote a on Mk. 8:10: Mageda or Magdala],” probably to the west shore of the Sea of Galilee from the Decapolis on the east. This miracle, and the subsequent discussion of the “Bread of Life” in John, chapter six, does bring the Galilean ministry of Jesus as reported by John to a close. The Feeding of the Five Thousand (Jn. 6:1-15) is followed by Jesus Walking on the Sea (6:16-21) and an extended discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life (vv. 22-71), which leads to a crisis when “many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him” (Jn. 6:66). In both Gospels Peter’s Confession soon follows. “We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn. 6:69). “You are the Messiah [footnote: the Christ]” (Mk. 8:29). In both Gospels a significant group of early miracles attracts a significant following for Jesus, but more difficult issues emerge late in the gospels. One must “take up their cross” (Mk. 8:34), and “become great” by becoming a “servant,” the “slave of all” (Mk. 10:43-44). Let none of us who have experienced God’s gracious blessings, we who have eaten at the Lord’s table, so to speak, turn away to what the world has to offer.

“Do you also wish to go away?” (Jesus, Jn. 6:67)

“Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Peter, Jn. 6:68)

According to Marion Lloyd Soards, the language of Luke 9:16, “And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd,” “anticipates the account of the Last Supper in 22:17-20)” (op. cit., on Lk. 9:16).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net