John Calvin Commentary John 6:11

"Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down; likewise also of the fishes as much as they would." — John 6:11 (ASV)

After having given thanks. Christ has, on more than one occasion, instructed us by His example that whenever we take food, we ought to begin with prayer. For those things which God has appointed for our use, being evidences of His infinite goodness and fatherly love towards us, call on us to offer praise to Him; and thanksgiving, as Paul informs us, is a kind of solemn sanctification, through which their use begins to be pure to us (1 Timothy 4:4). It therefore follows that those who swallow them down without thinking of God are guilty of sacrilege and of profaning the gifts of God. This instruction is all the more worthy of attention because we daily see a great part of the world feeding themselves like brute beasts. When Christ determined that the bread given to the disciples should grow in their hands, we are taught by this that God blesses our labor when we serve one another.

Let us now summarize the meaning of the whole miracle. It has this in common with the other miracles: that Christ displayed in it His divine power in union with beneficence. It is also a confirmation to us of that statement by which He exhorts us to seek the kingdom of God, promising that all other things will be added to us (Matthew 6:33). For if He took care of those who were led to Him only by a sudden impulse, how could He desert us if we seek Him with a firm and steady purpose? Indeed, He will sometimes allow His own people, as I have said, to suffer hunger; but He will never deprive them of His aid. In the meantime, He has very good reasons for not assisting us until matters reach an extremity.

Besides, Christ plainly showed that He not only bestows spiritual life on the world, but that His Father also commanded Him to nourish the body. For an abundance of all blessings is committed to His hand, so that, as a channel, He may convey them to us—though I speak incorrectly in calling Him a channel, for He is rather the living fountain flowing from the eternal Father. Accordingly, Paul prays that all blessings may come to us from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ in common (1 Corinthians 1:3); and, in another passage, he shows that in all things we ought to give thanks to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:20).

And not only does this office belong to His eternal Divinity, but even in His human nature, and insofar as He has taken upon Himself our flesh, the Father has appointed Him to be the dispenser, so that by His hands He may feed us. Now, though we do not see miracles before our eyes every day, God displays His power no less bountifully in feeding us. Indeed, we do not read that when He wished to give a supper to His people, He used any new means; therefore, it would be a thoughtless prayer if anyone were to ask that food and drink be given to him by some unusual method.

Again, Christ did not provide great delicacies for the people, but those who saw His amazing power displayed in that supper were obliged to be satisfied with barley bread and fish without sauce. And though He does not now satisfy five thousand men with five loaves, still He does not cease to feed the whole world in a wonderful manner. It sounds to us, no doubt, like a paradox that man liveth not by bread alone, but by the word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God,
(Deuteronomy 8:3).

For we are so strongly attached to outward means that nothing is more difficult than to depend on the providence of God. This is why we tremble so much as soon as we do not have bread at hand. And if we consider everything correctly, we will be compelled to discern the blessing of God in all the creatures that serve for our bodily support; but use and frequency lead us to undervalue the miracles of nature. Yet, in this respect, it is not so much our stupidity as our malignity that hinders us; for where is the person to be found who does not choose to wander astray in his mind, and to encompass heaven and earth a hundred times, rather than look at God who presents Himself to view?