John 6:5-7

“ Jesus therefore, lifting up His eyes and seeing a great multitude coming to Him, says to Philip: Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6. Now this he said to prove him; for, as for himself, he knew what he was going to do. 7. Philip answered him: Two hundred denarii-worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. ”

John does not say how long the confidential interview of Jesus with His disciples, which is mentioned in John 6:3, continued. The term ἐκάθητο, he sat there, John 6:3, which the Sinatic MS. wrongly changes into ἐκαθέζετο proves that He remained for a certain time alone with them while the companies were successively coming up. For it is impossible to imagine five or six thousand persons arriving all at once in the locality into which Jesus had withdrawn (this in answer to Weiss). While Jesus and His disciples came directly by water from Capernaum or the environs, these crowds of people, who had observed from the western shore the point towards which the bark directed its course, made on foot (πεζῇ, Mark 6:33; Matthew 14:13), the circuit of the northern shore of the lake, and thus arrived successively during the day at the scene of action. According to the Synoptics, Jesus went forth from the solitude (Matt. and Mark) and received them with kindness (Luke).

Thus a part of the day was devoted to teaching and healing. Then seeing the crowd which was so eager and was continually increasing (Mark 6:33: “ They ran thither afoot from all the cities ”), Jesus experiences that feeling of profound compassion which Matthew and Mark describe. But another feeling, of which John alone has caught the secret, is predominant in His heart: it is that of joy. No doubt, He had wished to be alone, and this arrival thwarted His purpose. But such earnestness, such perseverance are for Him an irresistible appeal. He enters with eagerness into the new situation which is opened to Him; for He discerns here a thought of the Father and He prepares Himself to give to this body of people the feast for which the opportunity is thus granted Him. Indeed, in John, it is Jesus who takes the initiative; He addresses Himself to Philip: “There are our guests; we must give them supper. Have you already thought of it?”

In the Synoptics, it is the disciples who are disturbed about the multitude, and urge Jesus to dismiss them. The need of food may have occupied the minds of Jesus and the disciples simultaneously as they saw the evening drawing on. But as for Jesus, He had already taken His resolution (John 6:6). The thought of what He was going to do had formed itself in His mind during the work of that day. The narrative of the Synoptics is written from the disciples' point of view, which must very naturally have prevailed in the stories emanating from the Twelve, particularly in those of Peter and Matthew, while John, who had read the heart of the Master, brings out the other point of departure the inward impulse of the Lord. Thus, the disciples address themselves to Jesus and communicate their anxiety to Him. Jesus, having already formed His plan, says to them: “ Give ye them to eat,” and, in speaking thus, addresses Himself especially to Philip, as we have just seen. Why to him, rather than some other? Bengel thinks that he was charged with the care of the res alimentaria. But it seems more probable from John 13:29, that it was Judas who made the purchases. According to Luthardt, Jesus wished to bring an educating influence on Philip, who had a hesitating and over-careful character. This is possible. But the playful tone of Jesus' question: “ Whence shall we buy? ” may lead us to suppose that naivete8 was one of the traits of this disciple's character. This is the reason why Jesus addresses him this question, which was insoluble from the standpoint of natural resources; and he, on his side, answers it with a good-natured simplicity. This slight touch gives an idea of the amenity which prevailed in the relations of Jesus to His disciples; it appertained to the picture of the glory “ full of grace ” of the Word made flesh.

The expression: to prove him, does not have the solemn sense which this term ordinarily has. It signifies merely that Jesus desired to see whether, in this situation, he would know how to find the true answer of faith. Philip makes his calculation with prudence. It is good sense, not faith, which speaks through his mouth. The denarius was a Roman coin worth about fifteen cents; two hundred denarii were, therefore, equivalent to thirty dollars of our money; a large sum, which, however, was still far below the necessity of the case! Mark has also preserved this circumstance respecting the two hundred denarii; only, he puts this calculation in the mouth of the disciples in general. If the connection between the question of Jesus and Philip's answer were not so close in John, we might try to insert here between John 6:6-7 the brief conversation of Jesus with the disciples reported in Mark 6:37. But it is much more probable that the reflection which Mark attributes to the disciples in general is nothing else than the reproduction of Philip's words, which are preserved by John in their most exact historical form.