The Miracle of the Five Loaves and Two Fish

The Miracle and Its Meaning

1. A great miracle was performed, dearly beloved, when five thousand men were fed with five loaves and two fish, and twelve baskets were filled with the leftover fragments. A great miracle indeed! But we shouldn't be overly amazed at what was done if we pay attention to the One who did it.

Christ multiplied the five loaves in the hands of those who broke them—the same Christ who multiplies the seeds that grow in the earth, so that a few grains are sown and whole barns are filled. But because He does this every year, no one marvels at it. What diminishes our wonder isn't the insignificance of the act but its regularity.

When the Lord performed these miracles, He spoke to those who had understanding, not just through words but through the miracles themselves. The five loaves symbolized the five books of Moses' Law. The old Law is like barley compared to the wheat of the Gospel. In those books are great mysteries concerning Christ. As Jesus Himself says, "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me also, for he wrote about Me" (John 5:46).

But just as in barley the inner kernel is hidden under the husk, so Christ is hidden within the veil of the Law's mysteries. As those mysteries of the Law are unfolded and explained, they increase like those loaves when they were broken. And in explaining this to you, I have broken bread for you.

The five thousand men represent the people living under the five books of the Law. The twelve baskets are the twelve Apostles, who were themselves filled with the fragments of the Law. The two fish are either the two precepts of loving God and loving our neighbor, or the two groups of people—Jews and Gentiles—or the two sacred offices of king and priest. When these things are explained, they are broken; when they are understood, they are eaten.

2. Let's turn our attention to the One who performed these miracles. He Himself is "the Bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:41)—Bread that refreshes the weary but never diminishes, Bread that can be consumed but cannot be used up. The manna also prefigured this Bread. As Scripture says, "He gave them bread from heaven; people ate the food of angels" (Psalm 78:24-25).

Who is the Bread of heaven but Christ? But for humans to eat the food of angels, the Lord of angels became human. If He hadn't become human, we wouldn't have His flesh; if we didn't have His flesh, we wouldn't eat the Bread of the Altar. Let's hasten toward our inheritance, since we've already received such a significant down payment of it.

My brothers and sisters, let's long for the life of Christ, since we already possess the death of Christ as a pledge. How could He not give us His good things when He has already endured our evil things? In this world, in this evil age, what abounds except being born, working, and dying? Examine human existence thoroughly—prove me wrong if I'm mistaken. Consider whether anyone is in this world for any purpose other than to be born, to work, and to die. These are the goods of our country; these things abound here.

It was to this marketplace that the great Merchant descended. Since every merchant gives and receives—giving what he has and receiving what he doesn't have, giving money and receiving what he buys—Christ too engaged in this exchange. What did He receive? What abounds here: being born, working, and dying. And what did He give? Being born again, rising again, and reigning forever.

O Good Merchant, purchase us! But why should I say "purchase us" when we should be thanking You for already buying us? You distribute our Price to us; we drink Your Blood—this is how You give us our Price. We read the Gospel, our title deed. We are Your servants, Your creatures. You made us and You redeemed us.

Anyone can buy a servant, but they cannot create one. The Lord, however, both created and redeemed His servants—created them so they might exist, redeemed them so they wouldn't remain captives forever. We fell into the hands of this world's ruler, who seduced Adam, made him his servant, and began to possess us as his slaves. But the Redeemer came, and the seducer was defeated.

What did our Redeemer do to the one who held us captive? He held out His Cross as a trap for our ransom; He placed His Blood in it as bait. The enemy had the power to shed Christ's Blood, but he wasn't worthy to drink it. By shedding the Blood of One who owed nothing, he was commanded to release those who were in debt. By shedding the innocent One's Blood, he was ordered to withdraw from the guilty.

Christ shed His Blood to wipe away our sins. The bonds by which the enemy held us fast were erased by the Redeemer's Blood, for he held us only by the chains of our own sins. These were the captive's fetters. Christ came and bound the strong one with the bonds of His Passion. He entered the strong one's house—that is, the hearts where he dwelled—and took away his vessels. We are those vessels. The enemy had filled us with his own bitterness. He even offered this bitterness to our Redeemer in the gall. But our Lord, claiming the enemy's vessels and making them His own, poured out the bitterness and filled them with sweetness.

3. Let us love Christ, for He is good. "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8). He is to be feared, but to be loved even more. He is both human and divine—the one Christ is both human and divine. Just as one person is both soul and body, yet God and humanity are not two persons. In Christ there are indeed two natures, divine and human, but one Person—so that the Trinity remains a Trinity, and no fourth person is added by the inclusion of Christ's human nature.

How could God not have mercy on us, for whose sake God became human? What He has already done is immense. What He has done is more wonderful than what He has promised. By what He has done, we should believe what He has promised. We would scarcely believe what He has done if we didn't also see it. Where do we see it? In the peoples who believe, in the multitudes brought to Him.

This fulfills what was promised to Abraham, and from the things we see, we believe what we don't see. Abraham was just one man, yet he was told, "In your seed all nations shall be blessed" (Genesis 22:18). If he had looked only at himself, how would he have believed? He was one solitary man, already old, with a barren wife so advanced in age that she couldn't conceive even if she hadn't been barren. There was nothing from which any hope could be drawn. But Abraham looked to the One who made the promise and believed what he couldn't see.

Now, what he believed, we see. Therefore, from these visible things, we should believe the invisible ones. Abraham fathered Isaac (we didn't see it), Isaac fathered Jacob (we didn't see it), and Jacob fathered twelve sons (we didn't see it). These twelve sons produced the people of Israel—this great nation we do see. I've begun to mention things we can see. From the people of Israel came the Virgin Mary, who gave birth to Christ, and in Christ all nations are blessed.

What could be more true, more certain, more evident? Join me in longing for the world to come, you who have been gathered from among the nations. In this world, God has fulfilled His promise concerning Abraham's offspring. How much more will He give us His eternal promises, since He has made us Abraham's offspring? As the Apostle says, "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed" (Galatians 3:29).

4. We have begun to be something extraordinary; let no one belittle themselves. We were once nothing, but now we are something. We've said to the Lord, "Remember that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14), but from dust God made human beings, gave life to dust, and in Christ our Lord has already brought this same dust to the Kingdom of Heaven. From this dust He took flesh; from this He took earth and raised earth to heaven—He who made both heaven and earth.

If these two unprecedented events were set before us and we were asked, "Which is more wonderful: that God should become human, or that humans should become people of God? Which is more amazing? Which is more difficult?" what would we say?

What has Christ promised us? Something we don't yet see—that we should become His people and reign with Him, never to die. This is indeed difficult to believe: that people, once born, should reach a life where they never die. This is what we believe with hearts cleansed from the world's dust, so this dust doesn't clog the eye of our faith.

This is what we're asked to believe: that after we die, we'll live with our resurrected bodies in a life where we'll never die again. It's wonderful—but what Christ has already done is even more wonderful. Which is harder to believe: that humans should live forever, or that God should die? That people should receive life from God seems more credible; that God should receive death from humans seems more incredible. Yet this has already happened! Let's believe, then, what is to come.

If the more incredible event has already occurred, won't God give us what is more credible? God has the power to make angels out of human beings, since He has made human beings out of earthly and unclean elements. What will we become? Angels. What have we been? I'm ashamed to recall it; I'm forced to consider it, yet I blush to speak of it. What have we been? From what did God make human beings? What were we before we existed at all? We were nothing.

When we were in our mothers' wombs, what were we? It's enough that you remember. Turn your minds away from what you were made from, and think about what you are now. You're alive—but plants and trees are also alive. You have sensations—but cattle also have sensations. You're human; you've surpassed the cattle, you're superior to them, because you understand the great things God has done for you.

You have life, sensations, and understanding; you are human beings. What gift can compare to this additional blessing? You are Christians. If we hadn't received this, what would it profit us to be human? So we are Christians; we belong to Christ. For all the world's rage cannot break us because we belong to Christ. For all the world's enticements cannot seduce us; we belong to Christ.

5. We have found a great Patron, brothers and sisters. You know how much people depend on their patrons. A dependent of a powerful person will answer anyone who threatens them, "You can do nothing to me as long as my lord is safe." How much more boldly and confidently can we say, "You can do nothing to us while our Head is safe!"

Our Patron is our Head. Those who depend on any human patron are his dependents; we are the members of our Patron. Let Him hold us within Himself, and let no one tear us away from Him. Whatever hardships we may endure in this world—all of that passes away and amounts to nothing. The good things that will come will never pass away. Through hardships we arrive at those good things, but once we've arrived, no one can tear us away from them.

The gates of Jerusalem are shut and secured with bolts, fulfilling what is said to that city: "Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you. He has made peace in your borders" (Psalm 147:12-14). When the gates are shut and the bolts are drawn, no friend goes out and no enemy enters in. There we will have true and assured security, if here we haven't abandoned the truth.