Again, we have a fuller picture when we blend the reports. For example, these are not people who have been listening to Jesus teach all day. They have spent the day finding him. John assures us that Jesus didn’t make up his plan as he went, but already knew what he was going to do. It seems he triggered the event by asking Phillip for advice. Asked how to feed this many, the disciples’ response was that Jesus should send them away.

When he wouldn’t do that, they were sent to see what they could turn up in the crowd and only found one small boy who had brought a snack. It was five small “rolls” and two fish. There has been much speculation about why no one else had any food. Some have tried to discount this miracle by suggesting that when the boy was generous, the others took out their hidden loaves and fishes and that’s how it was multiplied. (Some may have shared, but it’s always amazing what silliness will be accepted when it fits a predetermined mind-set.)

If this were a group that gathered as the word spread that Jesus was in the area, they wouldn’t have taken time to pack a lunch. The greater mystery is why the disciples brought nothing. Perhaps they had planned to buy something in Bethsaida rather than packing it with them. Another explanation may be that because they were told to take nothing with them earlier, they assumed the same instructions for this trip.

One wonders where the multiplication occurred. It seems to have been while the bread and fish were in the hands of the Apostles.