Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.(Mark 6:41)
Breaking the loaves Jesus gave them to the disciples to be distributed to the crowd gathered there. He also divided the two fish among them all. Here are the five loaves. The account of the five loaves and two fish does not explain in detail to show whether Jesus gave the loaves and fish without dividing into halves or three parts. We do not also know whether the disciples distributed the bread and fish to the crowd without dividing them into small pieces. The pieces of bread might not be very big ones. According to the tradition of John’s gospel, this bread and fishes were brought by a child. Why John’s gospel did particularly mentioned about a child that the synoptic never mentions about? It signifies the fact that “Five loaves and two fish” might not be a big food material, as they are prepared for a meal or two of a child. Though the child brought it to the disciples instructed by his father, “Five loaves and two fish” is nothing but a meal of a family. The size of bread might not be bigger than a big dumpling. It is not easy to divide in a small piece for serving the public.
The author of the Bible does not report a certain historical incident in a demonstrative manner. It reports some incredible incidents that had happened to Jesus through memory, tradition and also some theological interpretation. Report and interpretation are the two pillars of the Bible. The Bible is a report one side and interpretation on the other. Report has more factual information while interpretation provides information on events. Despite this apparent differences report and interpretation serve the same purpose. These are complementary to each other. At this point, the story of “Five loaves and two fish” also is a fact on the one hand and an event on the other.
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