Monthly Archives: January 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

The Miracles of Jesus (continued; part xvii)

The Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes; there are likely many who do not believe that this is a real miracle, a real occurrence. Even in the churches some claim otherwise and there are reports of sermons teaching that the whole of this is the miracle of each of the multitude giving willingly of what they have to the rest***. Others relate these miracles with an early representation of the Eucharist¹¹ and yet others find symbolism in the numbers of persons and the numbers of baskets while yet others discuss the possible source of the baskets used to accumulate the uneaten residue. Whatever can be found in the texts regarding these miracles should not detract from the awesome supernatural power that is manifested here by the Master and which can be seen as just shy of moving the mountain.

The first occurrence of this miracle, the feeding of the five thousand, is the only miracle that is recorded in all four of the gospels; the second, the feeding of the four thousand is recorded only by Matthew and Mark. In yesterday’s post we included the rendition from the Gospel of Mark, let us look here at the how this is stated in the Gospel of John:

“When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten (John 6:5-13).

In John’s version we have some interesting points that are not included in the others. Only John mentions that there was the lad who had the loaves and the fishes and John only delves into the Master’s thoughts to tell us that “he himself knew what he would do“. It is also only in John’s Gospel that we see the Master giving instructions to “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost” and it is in John that we find the detail that these are barley loaves which Vincent tells us is an inferior sort of bread ⁴. Vincent also helps us a bit with the fishes which I can remember seeing in one of the Jesus movies as rather large uncooked whole fishes and remember wondering how the multitude cleaned, cooked and cut them up as there is no mention. Vincent tells us in a footnote that Edersheim (“Life of Jesus”) says that the Talmud names certain kinds of fish, specially designated as small fishes, which might be eaten without cooking: that small fishes were recommended for health, and that the lake of Galilee was particularly rich in these, the salting and pickling of which was a special industry among the fishermen⁴. This gives us the added understanding that these were very small fishes that could be eaten readily by the people and were something that they would ordinarily eat in this fashion.

All this aside, this is one of the greatest miracles done by the Master and one that is done in the presence of many. We should remember that the women and children are likely not counted in the five thousand and one can only imagine how many persons there actually are to witness these things. There is nothing to which we can equivocate this miracle and when we consider that Jesus did this two times, there should be yet greater awe. This, for us, should be seen as the changing of the form of matter into what it is that suits the need of the Master. The air and the moisture in the air likely contain every thing that is in the bread and the fish; these elements are commanded by the will of the Master to take on the very nature of what He is producing from them. Out of thin air is likely the Truth as to what the Master did, He made the loaves and the fishes out of thin air. This is a demonstration beyond all demonstrations, one that exceeds even the splitting of the Red Sea at the hand of Moses and the Lord.

We can contrast this idea of the changing of forms and the creation of things out of thin air to the doings of the Master after His resurrection. Here we see that the Master appears in different forms that are not recognizable to even His closets disciples nor to the women that we are told were in the company. We are told also that He appears and He vanishes at will (In the Words of Jesus part 111). Let us look at this story as related to us by the Apostle Luke which tells us of these things:

“Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:12-32)

What do we see here? We see a Jesus that does not look like Jesus but has taken another form. Many believe that the Master rose from the dead bodily and that He ‘veiled’ the eyes of some that they would know Him not. John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible⁸ says of the idea that their eyes were holden that The Ethiopic version adds, “and were covered”; and the Arabic version renders it, “now he had veiled their eyes”, ascribing it to Christ; and the Persic version renders it, “and the eyes of the disciples were shut”: to me it seems, that their eyes: were held downwards; or they kept looking upon the ground as they walked, which was a posture suitable to their melancholy spirits; and there might be a peculiar influence of divine power and providence, so disposing them, that they did not look up to Christ their new fellow traveller, who walked on with them: and this was so ordered, that they should not know him; that so they might not be surprised at once, as they would have been, had they looked at him, and discerned who he was; and that they might converse the more freely with him; and that he might convince them of their stupidity and unbelief, by proper arguments⁸. This seems to be the common belief on what happened with His disciples not knowing Him as the Master.

Mr. Gill has a similar understanding in relation to this from John’s Gospel: “And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master” (John 20:14-16). Gill says of this that: she saw a person, but did not know who he was, by reason of the form of his appearance, the difference of his clothes, and not expecting to see him alive; or through modesty, she might not look wistfully at him; and besides, her eyes were filled with tears, and swollen with weeping; so that she could not see clearly; and her eyes might be holden also, as the disciples were, that as yet she might not know him⁸. One more point here from John Gills commentary and this on Luke’s telling us that “he vanished out of their sight“; Mr. Gill says that: not that he vanished as a spectre, or as smoke vanishes into air; but agility being a property of his risen body, he very suddenly, and swiftly, and in a moment, withdrew himself from them; for if he could withdraw himself from company in a very speedy manner before his resurrection, much more after⁸.

What is it that makes it so hard to accept that the Master, according to our reading of the scripture, appears in different forms and appears as if out of thin air and vanishes again in a similar fashion. The reality of the Master is the same as our own reality, we are Spirits which are manifest as Souls and which give Life to the physical form and the conscious personality. At the death of the body the consciousness continues and, if one is accounted worthy, as we can be sure that the Master is, this consciousness is without the emotional and mental baggage that has been accumulated in a lifetime. Free and clear as a Soul, one can likely do anything but would not be so inclined because of the achievement of that purity that is reached when one is freed from form as the unblemished Soul. This is the Christ, and the Christ Within should one be able to free himself from the mind and the emotions that are a part of one’s physical appearance. The Christ is Pure and Unblemished and stands as the Soul after His resurrection; what became of His body is of no matter; like Enoch and Elijah and perhaps Moses whose body was never found, the physical form is gone, converted again to the energy of which it was composed. Can we see the similarity of these events, the changing of forms as a man and the creation of bread and fishes; in both are the essence of the ability to convert matter to energy and energy to matter and both are testimony to the awesome power of the Soul, the Power of God.

Jesus counts these miracles, the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand, as significant events which should be better understood by His disciples and He chides them for not seeing the reality in what it was that He did. “Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying , It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6-12). Soon after the first miracle of loaves, at the end of the next miracle where the Master walks on the sea to the disciple’s unbelief, Mark observes that: “…they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened” (Mark 6:52).

This observation by Mark is similar to man’s view of this through history. This is a miracle that is beyond all others and not nearly understood by any and it is seldom considered except in passing. We must remember that this is not a unique feat performed by the Christ, the Son of God but this is a thing that each of us can accomplish if we do as we have been instructed. If we believe on the Master, that is, if we follow Him and keep His word; He tells us that “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” and in these words we should not necessarily see ourselves performing such feats but rather we should see ourselves understanding and knowing that all is energy and all is of the substance of God. Healing, curing afflictions, raising the dead, controlling the environment and changing the physical properties of matter are all among the miracles of the Master and some of them have been repeated, with predictable intent, by His disciples. He tells us that we can do all of these things and more and He gives us the rules by which we can raise ourselves to that point of being able to do so.

The Master tells us that “I am not of this world” (John 8:23); He also tells us that “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) and finally He says also that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). It is through these sayings that we can properly deduce our potential; if we are accounted worthy, that is believing on Him, following Him and keeping His words, then we can combine all this together with the idea above of doing “greater works” and see ourselves as Souls, in His Kingdom and having overcome the world, coming to be not of this world and thereby standing with Him forever. This is our destiny and the destiny of every Soul.

We will continue with this theme on miracles in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day