3 - The Feeding of the Multitude, and contiguous matter

Summary

The sixth chapter of the Gospel according to John has for centrepiece a long dialogue upon the theme of Bread of Life, to which the evangelist has appended a note that it took place in the synagogue at Capernaum (vi. 25–59). Two shorter dialogues are added, each with brief introductory and explanatory notes (60–5, 66–71). He has provided a setting for the whole, in which we find parallels to two narratives which are contiguous also in Mark–the Feeding of the Multitude (vi. 1–13) and the Walking on the Sea (16–21). We observe further that the second of the short dialogues (66–71) has some similarity to the Marcan pericopé of the Confession at Caesarea Philippi (Mark viii. 27–30), and that in the course of the long dialogue there is a passage (vi. 30) which recalls the Marcan pericopé about the demand for a ‘sign’ (Mark viii. 11–12). In this comparatively short part, therefore, of the Fourth Gospel there is an unusual number of points of contact with Mark, and the parallels are all to be found in Mark vi and viii. In Mark vi the Feeding of the Multitude is immediately followed by the Walking on the Sea, and in Mark viii it is immediately followed by the demand for a ‘sign’, which in turn, after two intervening pericopae, is followed by the Confession at Caesarea Philippi.