Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),
2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick.
3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.
4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
Jesus crossed over to the "far shore", probably eastern side, of the Sea of Galilee.
As in the other gospels, he has been followed by a large crowd because of his healing ministry. mankind. All four gospels record this event; both Matthew and Mark record a second large feeding, that of 4000. (See this Wikipedia page.)
John notes that the Jewish Passover was about to occur. There are at least three Passover feasts recorded in John. The first is in John 2 and the last is the feast during which Jesus dies, recorded in John from chapter 12 on.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”
6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,
9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there).
11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
Jesus seems to be testing whether Philip has a solution to the problem. Philip can only respond that it would sure cost "200 denarii", which is translated here by the NIV as "half a year's wages." And that would only give each person a bite.
Andrew speaks up that someone nearby has a little bit of food... a comment that appears irrelevant. Yet Jesus has the people sit down and John notes that there were about five thousand men. Presumably, there were also women and children.
Jesus, in distributing food, first gives thanks and then passes out the bread and then the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”
13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
And yet the food keeps going .... When everyone had enough, Jesus tells the disciple to gather up the remainder, almost as if stressing how filling the meal was. What began as five small laves and two small fish turns up with twelve full baskets of leftovers!
No explanation is given for this miracle. The feeding of the five thousand is covered in all four gospels. If this has already been covered in the other gospels, and if John seems to be skipping the major events covered in those other gospels, then why does John cover this event? John wants to make a point. John wants to records some statements Jesus makes about the feeding that are not mentioned in the other gospels. These statements occur after one more strange miracle.
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