Five barley loaves and two fish
Among the people of Jesus’ time, bread was the essential, basic food. To eat bread was to have a meal. The poor ate bread made of barley, which manages to survive heat as well as water shortage better than wheat, and ripens in less time. The well-to-do usually ate wheat bread. Vegetables were part of the diet. As meat was considered a luxury, people would eat meat on feast days. Fish was more common. It was derived from Lake Tiberias or from the Mediterranean Sea.
Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and fish to feed the hungry crowd is reported in all four Gospels. The Fourth Gospel specifies that the loaves were of barley. There are parallels in the account to the story of Elisha’s feeding of 100 men (2 Kgs 4:42-44). Elisha’s servant voices out an impossibility: how can a hundred people be satisfied with 20 barley loaves? Here the disciples tell Jesus that five loaves and two fish are all they have.
The parallelism tells us that with Jesus, the time of miracles associated with the prophets Elijah and Elisha has come again.
Gospel • John 6:1-15
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.”
One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.