The gospel reading today tells of a marvelous meal that Jesus provided for thousands of people: “the feeding of the five thousand.” We just heard the account from Matthew’s gospel, but Mark, Luke and John also tell the story. It’s the only miracle of Jesus that’s described in all four of our gospels. In fact, there are accounts in Matthew and Mark of a similar meal that Jesus provided for four thousand men, and those might be stories of the same thing from different traditions. (After all, no one was really taking attendance.) This story was a major part of the early traditions about Jesus, and it seems clear that something took place that made a very strong impression on his followers.

            Before we continue, we should address a question that many people ask, given our scientific picture of the world. Granted that some historical event lies behind this story, but was it really a “miracle”? Did Jesus really turn a few loaves and fishes into thousands of them?

            Our word “miracle” comes from a Latin word meaning “wonder,” something that causes people to marvel. It needn’t be something at odds with our scientific knowledge. The hockey match in which the United States defeated the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics is often called “The miracle on ice,” but nobody thinks that any violation of scientific laws took place there.

            Maybe what happened when Jesus fed the crowds was “natural” but still “miraculous.” Some commentators suggest tha

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