John 6:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

But what He had on earth was all humble, so that His power might be manifested all the more. He came also to teach us to despise what is worldly.

He taught us never to be carried away or struck by the glitter of life, but to reject all this and strive in heart toward the things to come.

Whoever is carried away by things here will no longer be enraptured by heavenly things. Therefore He also said to Pilate: “My Kingdom is not of this world” (Jn 18:36).

He said this so that no one would think He used fear and force to inspire faith in Himself. But how did the prophet say: “Behold, your King comes to you, meek, sitting on a young donkey, the foal of a beast of burden” (Zech 9:9)?

There the prophet speaks of another Kingdom, a heavenly one, not an earthly one. For this reason Christ also said: “I do not receive glory from men” (Jn 5:41).

Let us learn, beloved, to despise human honors and not desire them. We have been honored with the greatest honor.

Compared with it, earthly honor is truly dishonor, laughter, and mockery. As earthly wealth, compared with heavenly wealth, is poverty, and this life without that life is death.

For Christ says, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Mt 8:22). So also the glory here, compared with that glory, is shame and laughter.

Let us not pursue it. If even those who give it to others are more insignificant than shadows and dreams, much more is glory itself.

“The glory of man is like the flower of grass” (1 Pet 1:24). And what can be more insignificant than the flower of grass?

But even if earthly glory were long-lasting, what benefit could it bring to the soul? None at all.

It even causes the greatest harm, making men slaves worse than bondmen. It makes them slaves who obey not one master, but two, three, and countless masters, who give different commands.

How much better it is to be free than to be a slave: free from slavery to men, and a slave to the dominion of God.

Finally, if you wish to love glory, love it, but love immortal glory. It is more radiant, and its benefit is greater.

Men command you to please them to your own harm. Christ, however, repays every gift of yours a hundredfold, and adds eternal life besides.

Which is better: to be glorified on earth or in heaven? By men or by God? With harm to yourself or with benefit? To be crowned for one day or for endless ages?

Give to the needy, and do not give to the dancer, so that you do not destroy his soul along with your money. Through ill-placed generosity you become the cause of his ruin.

If dancers knew that their art would remain without profit, they would long ago have ceased practicing it. But they see that you applaud, run to them, enter into expenses, and spend all your substance on them.

Therefore, even if they did not wish to continue their work, they are nevertheless drawn by the desire for profit.

If they knew that no one would praise their trade, they would immediately abandon their labors as unprofitable. But when they see that their work is an object of admiration for many, the praise of others becomes bait for them.

Let us abandon useless expenses. Let us learn on what and when we must spend our possessions, lest we anger God in both ways.

We anger Him by gathering from where we should not, and by squandering on what we should not. What wrath do you not deserve when you give money to a prostitute, but pass by the poor man without attention?

Even if you gave from righteous labors, would it not still be sinful to give a reward for vice and honor for what ought to be punished?

But when you feed your sensuality by robbing orphans and wronging widows, consider what fire awaits those who dare such things.

Listen to what Paul says: “They not only do them, but also approve those who do them” (Rom 1:32).

Perhaps we are rebuking you too much. Yet even if we did not rebuke you, punishments still await uncorrected sinners.

What benefit is there in pleasing with words those who are in fact subject to punishments? Do you approve the dancer? Do you praise and admire him?

Then you are worse than he is. He may excuse himself by poverty, though not soundly, but you do not have even this excuse.

If I ask him why he abandoned other occupations and turned to this contemptible and shameful one, he will say that in this occupation he can gain much with little labor.

But if I ask you why you admire a dissolute man who lives for the ruin of others, you cannot resort to the same excuse.

You will be compelled to hang your head, be ashamed, and blush. If you have nothing to say when we ask you to give an account, how shall we stand when that dread and inexorable tribunal is revealed?

There we must give account for thoughts, deeds, and everything. With what eyes shall we look upon the Judge?

What shall we say? How shall we justify ourselves? What excuse shall we present, whether plausible or implausible?

Will we plead expenses, pleasure, or the ruin of others, whom we destroy by supporting their trade? Nothing can be said.

We shall inevitably undergo punishment that has no end and knows no limit. So that this may not happen to us, let us from now on be cautious in every way.

Thus, after departing from here with a good hope, we shall attain the eternal good things. May we all receive them by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through Him and with Him, to the Father with the Holy Spirit be glory, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

It is good not to be carried away by honors in this life or world, even if they come of themselves, so that we may ascend to honor from God.

Indeed, love of shining with such honors is wholly unfitting for those who strive toward divine grace and thirst for eternal glory.

Therefore we must withdraw from vainglory, which is akin and adjacent to arrogance, and not far removed from it. Let us avoid, as harmful, distinction through honors in the present life.

Rather, let us seek glory in humiliation, yielding to one another, as blessed Paul also instructed us in these words.

“Let this mind be in each of you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped.

“But He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

“Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:5-9).

Do you see how voluntary humiliation has a splendid end, and how humility is the root of many good things for us?

The Only-begotten, existing in the form of God and the Father, humbled Himself by becoming man for our sake. Yet although He appeared in this life with flesh, He did not remain humbled.

He ascends to His original dignity and to God-befitting glory, although He became man. We must think in exactly the same way about ourselves.

When we free ourselves from the emptiness of high positions in the present life and strive toward humility, then we shall receive the glory from above.

We shall be raised to become gods by grace, receiving, in likeness to the true and natural Son, the title of children of God (Jn 1:12-13).

To say something related to the subject, let us, if need be, refuse even the highest source of honor on earth, if we mind heavenly things and serve what is above more than what is earthly.

Yet this saying is not without spiritual contemplations. Therefore we shall again set them forth, giving, as it were, a general survey of the whole meaning of the event.

We shall repeat from the beginning the content of the section being interpreted. In that case it will be clear to us what must be said.

This is especially so since the blessed Evangelist, as though indicating something necessary and unavoidable, added the remark: “He withdrew to the mountain alone.”

Therefore, turning away from the inhumanity of the Jews, Christ departs from Jerusalem. This is plainly indicated by: “I have left My house, I have forsaken My inheritance” (Jer 12:7).

Having crossed the Sea of Tiberias and separated Himself far from their madness, He goes up the mountain with His disciples.

As we have said, this indicates that the way to Him is inaccessible and impassable for the Jews. It also indicates Christ’s withdrawal for a time because of wrath over His sufferings.

That time was plainly the fitting one. It also indicates that Christ will be glorified together with His disciples when He departs from Judea and comes to the Gentiles, transferring grace to them.

From the mountain He looked upon those who followed Him, and there He also cared for their food. This again, we said, indicates in figure the regard from above of which the saints are counted worthy.

This accords with the saying: “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous” (Ps 34:15). It also indicates that Christ has providential care for those who honor Him.

Then many people are wondrously filled by means of five loaves and two baked fish. By this, we thought, one must understand the holy writings, old and new, given by the Apostles to those who love Christ.

In addition, all the disciples will receive from God rich fruit from their ministry to us. After them, the presidents of the holy churches of God will receive it, for in the Apostles the pattern for all was first contained.

Then the spectators marvel at the sign and wish to take “Jesus” and make Him “king.” Understanding this, “He withdraws alone to the mountain,” as it is written.

For when Christ, as Wonderworker and God, called forth wonder toward Himself among the Gentiles, and when all acknowledged Him as king and Lord, then He ascended “alone” into heaven.

No one at all followed Him there. As the firstfruits of the dead, He ascended wholly “alone” to the great and truest mountain, according to what is written by the Psalmist.

“Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He who is innocent in hands and pure in heart” (Ps 24:3-4).

Such a one will follow Christ and will ascend “the mountain” that is spiritual, at the time of the Kingdom of Heaven.

He “withdrew” “to the mountain,” that is, He ascended into heaven, not refusing to reign over those who believe in Him.

Rather, He postpones the time of the glorious revelation of the Kingdom until His return to us from heaven.

Then He will descend in the glory of the Father. He will no longer be acknowledged as Lord by nature through signs, as before, but will be confessed without contradiction as king because of His God-befitting glory.

Therefore I shall say once more, briefly summing up everything said. When, through signs, they believed and recognized Him as God, at His withdrawal from the Jewish people, all strive to take Him even as king.

But He ascends alone into the heavens, preserving until the fitting time the revelation of the glorious Kingdom.

The disciples and the crowds who believed in Him thought that He had come in order already to reign. That is, they wished to seize Him and make Him king. They wished to anticipate His time, which He Himself kept hidden in Himself, so that He might reveal it at the proper season and make it manifest at the end of the ages.

After yesterday’s Gospel reading comes today’s, on which today’s discourse must be built. After Jesus performed the miracle by which He fed five thousand men with five loaves, the multitude was amazed and called Him the great Prophet who had come into the world. Then this follows: “Jesus, knowing that they were about to come and take Him to make Him king, again fled to the mountain alone.”

In the Latin citation from the Gospel the verb fugere is used, meaning “to flee,” “to run away,” or “to slip away.” It gives the phrase greater dynamism than a milder translation can convey. Jesus did not merely withdraw. He fled, so that they might not take Him or seize Him. This flight of Jesus becomes the subject of Augustine’s further reflection.

Now it is given to be understood that the Lord was sitting with His disciples on the mountain and saw the multitude coming to Him. After this He descended from the mountain and fed the multitude in the lower places.

For how could it be that He fled there again, if He had not first descended from the mountain? Therefore the fact that the Lord descended from the heights to feed the multitude carries a certain meaning. He fed them and ascended.

Why, then, did He ascend when He knew that they wanted to take Him and make Him king? What then? Was He not a King, that He should fear becoming king? He was unquestionably a King. Yet He was not the kind of king who can be established by men, but the One who grants the Kingdom to men.

Perhaps here too Jesus, whose deeds are words, gives us a certain sign. The Lord revealed the future not only through words, but also through acts, which thus play the role of words. Elsewhere Augustine contrasts a parable of fishing given by the Savior in speech, when He conversed with the disciples (cf. Mt 13:47-48), with a parable of fishing as enacted by the disciples (cf. Jn 21:3-11). He calls the conversation with the disciples a parabola verbi, a “parable in word,” and the disciples’ fishing a parabola rei gestae, a “parable in deed.”

What then? Does His act say nothing? When the people wished to take Him and make Him king, and for this reason He fled alone to the mountain, does this tell us nothing or symbolize nothing? Or perhaps “to take Him” meant “to anticipate the time of His Kingdom.”

For He had not then come to reign as He will reign later, in the sense in which we say, “Thy Kingdom come” (Mt 6:10). Certainly He reigns eternally with the Father according to the fact that He is the Son of God, the Word through whom all things were made.

But the prophets also foretold His kingdom according to the fact that Christ would become man and make Christians His subjects. Therefore the Kingdom of Christians will come. It is still being gathered, still being prepared, still being redeemed by the blood of Christ.

His Kingdom will come and will one day be visible, when the glory of His saints is revealed after the Judgment He will perform. Concerning this Judgment He Himself said above that the Son of Man would perform it (cf. Jn 5:22).

Of this Kingdom the Apostle also said: “When He delivers the Kingdom to God and the Father” (1 Cor 15:24). Therefore He Himself says: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34).

But the disciples and the multitude who believed in Him thought that He had come so as already to reign. Therefore the desire to take Him and make Him king was a desire to anticipate His time. He kept this time hidden with Himself, so that it might be proclaimed in its season and manifested at the end of the world.

To show you that the desire to make Him king meant to establish before the appointed time and already to have visible the Kingdom of Christ, who first had to undergo judgment and then perform Judgment, consider this. After He was crucified, those who had hoped in Him lost hope in His resurrection. When He rose from the dead, He found two of His disciples speaking with one another, filled with despair and discussing with sighs what had happened.

Appearing to them as if unknown, because their eyes were held from recognizing Him, He entered their conversation. When they told Him the subject of their discussion, they said that Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in deed and word, had been killed by the chief priests. They said to Him: “But we had hoped that He was the One who would redeem Israel” (cf. Lk 24:13-21).

You hoped rightly. What you hoped was true. In Him is the redemption of Israel. But why do you hurry? You want to take Him (cf. Jn 6:15).

What follows also shows us this desire. The disciples asked about the end and said to Him: “Will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). They were already thirsting for this kingdom and already desired it. That is, they wanted to take Him and make Him king.

But He answered the disciples, for He still had to ascend alone: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set in His own authority. But you shall receive power from above when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8).

“You want Me to establish the kingdom already now. Let Me first gather what I shall establish. You love the things above, and you shall obtain the things above. But follow Me through humility.”

Thus it was foretold of Him: “A congregation of peoples shall surround You. Over it return on high” (Ps 7:8). That is, the gathering of peoples will surround You, so that You may gather many. Return on high. And He did this. He fed them and ascended.

Why, then, is it said that He “fled”? The One who could remain unknown, if that had been His will, could neither be seized against His will nor held against His will.

So that you may understand that this was done with mystical meaning, and not from necessity, precisely in order to give a sign, look at what is said next. He appeared to the same multitude who were seeking Him. He spoke with them and said many things to them. He explained much to them concerning the heavenly bread.

Did He not speak about the heavenly bread with those from whom He had fled, supposedly lest they hold Him? Could He not have acted then, after feeding them with the loaves, in the same way that He acted afterward when He spoke with them?

In effect, Augustine asks this. Could Jesus not have remained where He was after those whom He fed wanted to make Him king, and still not have been “taken,” just as a little later He preached to the same people and was not “taken” by them?

Therefore by His departure He expressed something particular. What does “He fled” mean? It means that His height could not be understood. When you do not understand something, you say: “This has escaped me.” Literally, fugit me means, “It has fled from me.”

Thus He again fled to the mountain alone, the Firstborn from the dead, who ascended above all the heavens and intercedes for us (cf. Jn 6:15; Col 1:18; Rom 8:34).

Meanwhile, when that great High Priest was alone on high, He entered within the veil, while the people remained outside. He symbolized the priest in the Old Law, who acted so once a year. While He was within the sanctuary, what did the disciples suffer in the boat?

When He was on high, that boat prefigured the Church. If we do not understand what the boat suffered in relation to the Church, what happened will prove not symbolic but merely ordinary. But if we see that the true meaning of these events concerns the Church, it will become clear that the deeds of Christ are a kind of speech.

Why, then, does He delay declaring Himself King? Behold, Passover is near, and for this feast Jews from all the ends of the world will gather in Jerusalem. Let us take Him, lead Him to Jerusalem for the feast, proclaim Him King there, and overthrow the hated yoke of the Romans.

So, probably, reasoned the crowd surrounding Jesus. The crowd was in such an exalted mood that it was ready to begin carrying out its plan. But Jesus calmed it and dismissed it in peace.

As soon as this agitation began among the people, Jesus immediately constrained His disciples to enter the boat and go ahead to the other side of the sea. He Himself went to the crowd, calmed it, and dismissed it. Only afterward did He go up the mountain to pray alone.

From the narrative of the Evangelist John, one might conclude that Jesus withdrew to the mountain as soon as He learned that they wished to proclaim Him King: "When Jesus therefore perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain alone."

But such a conclusion would contradict the accounts of the other evangelists, who transmit certain details of Jesus' departure to the mountain. Thus the Evangelists Matthew and Mark say that Jesus constrained the apostles to enter the boat and sail to the other side of the sea. He Himself remained on the shore to dismiss the people, Mt 14:22; Mk 6:45.

After He had dismissed the people, He went up the mountain to pray alone, as the Evangelist Matthew says. Or, as the Evangelist Mark says, "When He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray," Mt 14:23; Mk 6:46.

Moreover, it cannot be admitted at all that Jesus Christ, who came to save men from sin and lay down His life for them, could hide Himself from an enthusiastic crowd. In such a condition, that crowd was capable of many rash actions.

We must suppose that He who could feed a crowd of many thousands with five loaves and two fish could also calm it. He whose word was obeyed by raging waves and storms, and who passed unharmed through the savage crowd of Nazarenes gathered to throw Him from the cliff, could surely go fearlessly now to the people standing on the shore. By His word He could bring their agitated feelings into calm.

So He did. First He dismissed the people, and then He went up the mountain to pray.

On the other hand, it was easier for Him to dismiss the people when they saw that even His closest followers and disciples had been sent away. Thus, as twilight thickened, He succeeded in gently and gradually persuading the people to leave Him.

When all, except the most enthusiastic, had gone to their homes or caravans, He suddenly left the rest also. He quickly withdrew from them to the summit of the mountain, that He might pray there alone.

He felt that a fearful and solemn turning point was approaching in His life on earth. By communion with His heavenly Father, He wished to strengthen His soul for the difficult work of the next day and the heavy hardships of the many following weeks.

Earlier also He had spent a night in mountain silence, in solitary prayer. But that was before the choosing of the beloved apostles, and before the good signs of the first and joyful period of His ministry.

With wholly different feelings, the divine High Priest ascended the rocky ledges to this majestic mountain altar. In the temple of the night, it seemed to raise Him nearer to the stars of God.

The murder of His beloved Forerunner brought nearer to His consciousness the thought of His own approaching death. The storm that began to howl in the mountains, the wind rushing with a roar through the ravines, the lake raging before Him with foaming waters, and the boat, which He could see in the moonlight breaking here and there through the clouds, tossed by fierce waves, all corresponded strikingly to His present state of soul.

But there, on the deserted summit of the mountain, in that stormy night, He could receive strengthening, peace, and ineffable blessedness. For there He was alone with God.

Κοφινος, a small basket, by our measure equals a quarter of a bucket. Twelve baskets are three buckets, or two chetveriks. Therefore in the Russian translation one should have put twelve baskets, or hampers, not twelve boxes.

When Jews had to pass through Gentile or Samaritan villages, they would stock up on bread and carry it in baskets, Mt 16:7; Mt 8:14; Deut 26:2, 4. They did this chiefly from fear of being defiled by unclean food. Juvenal says: "Here is a grove for the Jews, with a sacred spring and their beggar's basket" (Sat. 3.15). Thus all the baskets of the twelve disciples were filled with the remnants of the miraculous meal.

"Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world." The miraculous multiplication of the five loaves, says St. Hilary, made visible the almighty power of the divine Author of nature.

The witnesses of the deed, the five thousand people, recognized the miracle accomplished before their eyes. They said that He who performed this miracle was none other than the expected messenger of God, the Messiah. So the people spoke of Jesus on other occasions also, Mt 16:13; Mt 21:11; Lk 7:16.

The neologists, Paulus and others, unwilling to acknowledge a miracle in this event, say that the people were not fed by the five loaves alone, but had their own food with them. But this means speaking of a historical event not as eyewitnesses speak of it, but amusing oneself with fables.

The eyewitnesses said to Jesus, "Send them away, for they have nothing to eat," Mk 6:36; Lk 9:12. The apostles sought food for the people and found only five loaves and two fish with one boy, Mk 6:38. Philip was questioned precisely to guard the great event being prepared against doubts.

Finally, the evangelists say plainly that all five thousand were satisfied by those five loaves set before them. And all five thousand said the same in their judgment about the event.

"Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone." The miracle so struck the people and so convinced them that Jesus was the Messiah that they wanted to proclaim Him king immediately. For if He was the Messiah, then, according to their mistaken belief, He was also an earthly king, the restorer of the mighty kingdom of the kings of Israel. They were ready, if necessary, to use force.

But the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is not a worldly kingdom, Jn 18:36. He came to earth to fulfill the will of the heavenly Father, not to seek earthly glory for Himself. Therefore He hid from the people on the solitary mountain where He had earlier been with the disciples, verse 3. He withdrew in order to occupy Himself in prayer in solitude, Mt 14:23; Mk 6:46.

The miracle on the lake and the discourse on the heavenly bread, Jn 6:16-71.