The Feeding of the 5000: Jesus and the New Exodus

Jesus frequently referred to himself as a prophet and behaved as one. He frequently prophesized, performed miracles similar to that of Old Testament prophets, gave prophetic parables, and performed actions that can only be described as enacted parables. Actions such as withering a fig tree, raising the dead, and cleansing the Temple were not just acts of power meant to impress the disciples but pointed towards a higher truth of God’s immediate actions in the world right then and there in Jesus’ ministry.

The main thrust of his prophetic mission, as he understood it, was to enact Yahweh coming to Zion, God returning to his people, the Lord bringing his people out of Exile by the forgiveness of sins. At the same time, Jesus giving the prophetic warning that if the people refused to believe in him (i.e., follow his way of being the people of God) then God would allow the Romans to destroy them (see Matthew 24-25; Luke 21:10-38; Revelation 4-19). God was fulfilling his promises in Jesus but the people were missing it.

So when we come to Jesus’ Feeding of the 5000 people (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14) we can assuredly expect that Jesus is not just feeding people and not simply exhibiting his power to impress the disciples.

For the past few month the Children’s Ministry has been covering many of the miracles of Jesus and explaining to the kids how they show Jesus’ power over creation and how God was supporting Jesus’ ministry. That, of course, is all true and its good milk that tastes like meat for the spiritually young. However, there is, as I’ve suggested, more to Jesus’ action that to build excitement among the faithful.

John, in his Gospel, does the best job of interpreting Jesus’ actions by having him explain in his version that he is “the bread of life” (John 6:35, 48). He further states that “Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world” (John 6:32-33). John is writing his Gospel long after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE but he still maintains the connection to Moses in the wilderness.

When we turn back to a less “spiritual” account as found in the Synoptic Gospels, we are still drawn to the comparison of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. Jesus has been reconstituting Israel around himself by appointing 12 disciples (12 tribes of Israel), giving new commandments ala Moses (the Sermon on the Mount), and eventually holding a new Passover meal (the Last Supper). In feeding the 5000, Jesus assumes another role of Moses: providing the manna from heaven.

For Jesus’ contemporaries, these actions pointed to the idea of Exodus from captivity. The Jews of Jesus’ day still believed that they were in spiritual exile due to their sins and they were waiting for a spiritual exodus when God would return to his people and release them. In enacting these parables, Jesus was associating himself with Moses and declaring that he was the promised deliver, here to bring the people out of captivity.

The prophetic act of feeding 5000 people was not simply an act of wonder performed to amaze the crowds like a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat. This was a pointed declaration that Jesus was a great prophet, a new Moses, sent by God to deliver his people out of their spiritual captivity.