(4) The feeding of the five thousand (O""'-).— This miracle is also recorded by the Synoptists, but St. Jolin tells it with a very different purpose. In no other miracle is tlie didactic purpose, referred to by St. Augustine, more apparent. ' Interrogemus ipsa miracula quid nobis loquantur de Christo ; habent enim, si intellegantur, linguam suam. Nam quia ipse Christus Verbum Dei est, etiam factum Verbi verbum nobis est.' How much this miracle is an acted parable is shown by v.**, where, in answer to the challenge of the Jews, Christ does not make any appeal to the miracle as a 'sign.' His answer is, ' My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven " — not only in one miraculous act, but always. In v.** the metaphor is mis- understood by the hearers (a favourite literary device of tlie Evangelist), and tlien comes the great saying in v.**. The device recurs in w.^^'^. The discourse on the Bread of Life does not refer directly to the Eudinrist, which had not yet been instituted ; but tlir K\ aimdi^t undoubtedly wishes, by narrating it. to spiritualize and generalize the Eucharistic doitiinc cuneiil when lie wrote, and to check the tendency to formality and material- ism (cf. esp. v.'^). In v.^'f- there is clearly an allusion to the Paschal lamb, the blood of which was sprinkled on the lintels and doorposts ; and therefore the thought of sacrifice was alreadj' in the mind of Jesus. But the leading idea is that of identifying ourselves with the life of Christ, being reborn into His spirit : this union con- stitutes eternal life. Christ is Himself the ;;ift which He brings; even througli a|i|Knint failure He fulfils His work (vv.*"-^). A s,nr,h,.,l pivpara- tion is needed to understand how a uuni can thus unite earth and heaven (vv.-*^- ■") ; but in part the question is answered in the OT (vv.^*- ■*"), and in part the believer must co-operate (vv.^"'"). Man lives only by participation in the virtues of Christ's life and death, which brings with it a personal union between the believer and Christ (vv.^"). The whole discourse (\670s, not 'saying,' v."") seemed ' harsh ' (irKXijpiSs) to those who heard it : it pointed to self-devotion, and surrender even to death. Accordingly, many even of His disciples left Him. Christ thereupon said (v.'''), 'Does this oBend you? What if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend where he was before ? ' When the bodily presence is withdrawn, and the flesh entirely dis- appears, the meaning of the 'harsh discourse' will be made manifest — viz. that the union with Christ is spiritual, and therefore a truth for all times and; places. Unlike the eating of manna by ' the fathers,' which only nourished their bodily frames for a few hours, the bread from heaven confers eternal life. Tlie Hesh profiteth nothing : the icords which He spoke to them were spirit and life. This language would bring great comfort to the disciples of the Evangelist's own day, when the ' hope deferred ' of the Second Coming was making many hearts sick. It can hardly be an accident that the designation of the traitor, which in the Synoptics occurs at the same hour as the institution of the Eucharist, in this Gospel follows immediately the discourse on the bread of life. The whole passage rr/ireseti/s, under another form, the narrative of the ]>ast Supper.
(5) The walking on the sen (6'"-) is closely con- nected with the more important miracle, and
the
merely illustrates the power of Christ over another element.
(6) The man born blind (ch. 9).— The disciples are confronted by one of the most perplexing pro- blems of life — that of a vie numimee. A beggar lies before them, who has been blind from his birth. Was this crippling infirmity a punishment for his own sins, either in a previous state of existence or in anticipation of those which he was going to commit, or for the sins of his parents ? Je.sus f that neither explanation is the right one ; reason is ' that the works of God might be made manifest in him.' He adds that for all alike ' the night cometh, when no man can work.' The moral difficulty about the justice of human suffering receives no direct answer. The most significant verses in the discourse about the Light of the world are ^- ^'^ ■". Jesus has come into the world for judgment, not only for a discernment of good and bad people, but (as a necessary result) to procure for the first eternal life, and to pardon the last. The blind man typifies .humanity converted to Christianity, coming out of darkness and made to see by ' Christ ; while the representatives of Judaism," proud of their enlightenment, are struck with blindness — ' blind leaders of the blind.'
(7) The raising of Lazarus [ch. 11). — The narra- tive of this, the last and greatest of the seven 'signs,' contains several characteristic features. The suggestion implied in v.* does not induce Jesus to hurry His action at all. He deliberately waits two days before starting for Judiea. Similarly in osf. t],p KvaiiuT-list is anxir.us to show that He did nut ai't iipcii His iiKilli.'i'- su'jui'^lii.ii. Still more instniriivr is 111,. iiiiMni.li.isian.liii.L; of Christ's worils ill V.'-, .■uid I he <-on\ I'lsaticm of Martha (v.^'"-)- She makes a half request, -vvhicli she does not dare to put directly (v.--), to which Christ answers: 'Thy brother shall rise again.' Martha misunderstands this to refer to the resui'rection at the last day. But Christ did not mean either this or that He intended to bring Lazarus to life again. Just as in ch. 6 He refuses to mention the miracle, in reply to the question ' What si™ showest thou ? ' (v.™), but gives as the sign the declaration, ' I am the bread of life' ; so here He does not invite atten- tion to what He is about to do, but to His own Person. ' I am the resurrection and the life.' The deep significance of this is often missed. If the words referred only to the approaching miracle, they would convey but hollow comfort to the Christian moomer, for whom no miracles are wrought ; if we take them to refer to the future resun-ection at the last day, we are forgetting that the words were spoken as a rorrcction of that thought. The words bid us concentrate our thoughts upon the Person of Christ. ' He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live ; and he that liveth and believeth on me shall never die.' This is not a promise of resurrection ; it is a denial of death. The resurrection is a personal communication of the Lord Himself, not a gift to be obtained from another. Martha had .spoken of a gift to be obtained from God and dispensed by Christ. Jesus answers that He Himself i> (not ' will give or procure ') the Kesurrection and the Life. By taking humanity upon Himself He has revealed the permanence of man's indix-iduality and its indestructibility. The Incarnation brought life and immortality to light. Death is abolished ; the grave has been robbed of its victory by the fact that Christ lives, and is the life of the indi- \ idual believer. In Him all that belongs to the completeness of personal being finds its nernianence .■md consummation. Because He is the Life, He must also be the Resurrection ; in other words, our true life is hid with Him in God. The dead in Christ are alive, in virtue of their union with Him