The Lord and Savior, not very long after the beginning of his preaching, called the twelve apostles. He gave the name of apostles to them alone of all his disciples as a special honor.^[1] Later he proclaimed seventy others and sent them also out two by two in advance of himself into every place and city where he himself was to come.

The grace bestowed upon the holy apostles is worthy of all admiration. But the bountifulness of the Giver surpasses all praise and admiration. He gives them, as I said, his own glory. They receive authority over the evil spirits. They reduce to nothing the pride of the devil that was so highly exalted and arrogant. They render ineffectual the demon’s wickedness. By the might and efficacy of the Holy Spirit, burning them as if they were on fire, they make the devil come forth with groans and weeping from those whom he had possessed. . . .

He glorified his disciples, therefore, by giving them authority and power over the evil spirits and over sicknesses. Did he honor them without reason and make them famous without any logical cause? How can this be true? It was necessary, most necessary, that they should be able to work miracles, having been publicly appointed ministers of sacred proclamations. By means of their works, they then could convince men that they were the ministers of God and mediators of all beneath the heaven. The apostles then could invite them all to reconciliation and justification by faith and point out the way of salvation and of life that is this justification.

It was most appropriate for Jesus to instruct his disciples to take nothing with them. He wished them both to be free from all worldly care, and so entirely exempt from the labors that worldly things require, that they would not even worry about obtaining necessary and indispensable food for themselves. Manifestly, One who instructs them to abstain even from things such as these entirely cuts away the love of riches and the desire of gain. For their glory, he said, and, so to speak, their crown, is to possess nothing. He separates them even from such things as are necessary for their use, by commanding them to carry nothing whatsoever, neither staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money nor two coats. Observe, therefore, as I said, that he takes them away from worthless distractions and anxiety about the body. He commands them not to worry about food, repeating to them, as it were, that passage in the psalm: Cast your care upon the Lord, and he shall feed you.^[1] For what Christ says is also true: You are not able to serve God and money. And, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.^[2]

This is a great vision. But if you wish to see it, remove the sandals from your feet.^[1] Remove every chain of sin. Remove the chains of the world. Leave behind earthly sandals. Jesus sent the apostles without sandals, without money, gold and silver, so that they would not carry earthly things with them. The one who seeks to do good is praised not for his sandals but for the swiftness and grace of his feet. The Scripture says, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, of those who bring glad tidings of good things!^[2] Therefore remove the sandals from your feet, that they may be beautiful for preaching the gospel.

He commanded them both to remain in one house, and from it to take their departure. For it was right that those who had once received them should not be defrauded of the gift. It is also right that the holy apostles themselves should not place any impediment in the way of their own zeal and earnestness in preaching God’s message. This would happen if they allowed themselves to be carried off to various houses by those whose object was not to learn some necessary lesson but to set before them a luxurious table, beyond what was moderate and necessary.

So the faith of the church must be sought first and foremost. If Christ is to dwell in a house, it undoubtedly must be chosen. But lest an unbelieving people or a heretical teacher deface its home, the church is commanded that the fellowship of heretics be avoided and the synagogue shunned. The dust is to be shaken off your feet lest when the dryness of barren unbelief crumbles the sole of your mind it is stained as if by a dry and sandy soil. A preacher of the gospel must take on himself the bodily weaknesses of a faithful people, so to speak. He must lift up and remove from his own soles worthless actions as if they were dust. For it is written: Who is weak, and I am not weak?^[1] Any church which rejects faith and does not possess the foundations of apostolic preaching is to be abandoned lest it be able to stain others with unbelief. The apostle also clearly affirmed this by saying Reject a man that is a heretic after the first admonition.^[2]

Christ had the power to set the human race free from all these evils—not only the Romans but also the Persians and simply every race of barbarians. He succeeded in doing this with no force of arms, nor expenditure of money, nor by starting wars of conquest, nor by inflaming men to battle. He had only eleven men to start with, men who were undistinguished, without learning, ill-informed, destitute, poorly clad, without weapons, or sandals, men who had but a single tunic to wear.

You see, our Lord provided encouragement for the multitude that was following him as the Passover, the Jews’ festival day, was drawing near. He did this by his words of salvation, together with the help of his cures. As another Evangelist wrote, he spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who were in need of being cured. When his acts of teaching and healing were completed, he refreshed them most abundantly from a small amount of food.

After the law has passed away, the food of the gospel begins to feed the hungry hearts of the people. . . . It was fitting that those whom he had healed from the pain of wounds he freed from hunger with spiritual nourishment. Thus none receives the food of Christ unless he was first healed, and the calling first heals those who are called to the feast.^[1] If one was lame, he received the ability to walk, so that he came. If one lacked the sight of his eyes, he could indeed not enter the house of the Lord, unless his sight was restored.

The feeding of the multitudes in the desert by Christ is worthy of all admiration. But it is also profitable in another way. We can plainly see that these new miracles are in harmony with those of ancient times. They are the acts of one and the same power. He rained manna in the desert upon the Israelites. He gave them bread from heaven. Man did eat angels’ food,^[1] according to the words of praise in the Psalms. But look! He has again abundantly supplied food to those who needed food in the desert. He brought it down, as it were, from heaven. Multiplying that small amount of food many times and feeding so large a multitude, so to speak, with nothing, is like that first miracle.

The five loaves are understood as the five books of Moses. Rightly, they are not wheat but barley loaves because they belong to the Old Testament. You know that barley was created in such a way that one can scarcely get to its kernel. This kernel is clothed with a covering of husk, and this husk is tenacious and adhering, so that it is stripped off with effort. Such is the letter of the Old Testament, clothed with the coverings of carnal mysteries. If one gets to its kernel, it feeds and satisfies.

For we read that first five thousand are fed with five loaves, then four thousand with seven loaves.^[1] So let us seek the mystery which the miracle represents. Those five thousand, like the body’s five senses, seem to have received from Christ food similar to physical food. But the four thousand^[2] are still in the body and in the world that is known to be of four elements. . . . Seven baskets of fragments remained from the four thousand.^[3] This bread of sabbaths is no ordinary bread. It is sanctified bread. It is a bread of rest. Perhaps, if you will first eat the five loaves with the senses, I shall dare also to say you will not eat bread on earth on the third day, after eating the five loaves and the seven.^[4] You will eat eight loaves above the earth, like those who are in the heavens. As the seven loaves are loaves of rest, so the eight loaves are the loaves of the resurrection. Therefore those who are fed on the seven loaves will persevere to the third day and, perhaps, attain the whole faith and steadfastness of the future resurrection. Then there is the voice of the saints: We will go a three days’ journey, that we may feast with the Lord our God.^[5]

This bread which Jesus breaks is truly the mystical Word of God and a discourse about Christ which is increased while it is distributed. From a few discourses, he ministered abundant nourishment to all peoples. He gave discourses to us like loaves that are doubled when they are poured forth from our mouths. That bread in an incomprehensible fashion is visibly increased when it is broken, when it is distributed, when it is eaten without any understanding of how it is provided. . . . Truly, Christ’s gifts seem small but are very great. They are not bestowed on one person but on peoples, for the food grew in the mouth of those who ate it. This food seemed to be for bodily nourishment but was taken for eternal salvation.

The order of the mystery is preserved everywhere. The first healing is bestowed on wounds through the remission of sins. Then the nourishment of the heavenly table abounds, although this multitude is not yet refreshed with stronger foods, nor do hearts hungry for more solid faith feed on the body and blood of Christ.^[1] He says, I gave you milk to drink, not meat. For you then were not strong, nor are you yet.^[2] The five loaves are like milk, but the more solid meat is the body of Christ, and the stronger drink is the blood of the Lord.^[3] Not immediately at first do we feast on all foods, nor do we drink all drinks. First drink this, he says. Thus there is a first, then a second thing that you drink. There is also a first thing that you eat, then a second, and then a third. At first there are five loaves, then there are seven.^[4] The third loaf is the true body of Christ. So, then, let us never abandon such a Lord. He agrees to bestow on us nourishment according to the strength of each, lest either too strong a food oppress the weak or too meager a nourishment not satisfy the strong.

There is also a mystery in that the people who eat are satisfied. The apostles minister to them.^[1] The sign is given of hunger satisfied forever because one who has received the food of Christ will never hunger again.^[2] The future distribution of the Lord’s body and blood is based in the ministry of the apostles. It is already there in the miracle in the way five loaves are multiplied for five thousand people. It is clear that the people were satisfied not with a little but with an abundance of food.

Place, he said, in these twelve baskets all the fragments that remain.

Thousands at that feast reclining, with abundance had been fed

On the five loaves they had eaten and two fishes multiplied.^[1]

You, our bread, our true refection, neverfailing sweetness are.^[2]

He can nevermore know hunger, who is at your banquet fed,^[3]

Nourishing not our fleshly nature, but imparting lasting life.^[4] HYMNS ^[1]

But what was the result of the miracle? It was the satisfying of a large multitude with food. There were as many as five thousand men besides women and children, according to what another of the holy Evangelists has added to the narrative.^[1] Nor did the miracle end here. There were also gathered twelve baskets of fragments. And what do we infer from this? A plain assurance that hospitality receives a rich recompense from God. The disciples offered five loaves. After a multitude this large had been satisfied, there was gathered for each one of them a basketful of fragments. Let nothing, therefore, prevent willing people from receiving strangers, no matter what there may be likely to blunt the will and readiness of men. Let no one say, I do not possess suitable means. What I can do is altogether trifling and insufficient for many. Receive strangers, my beloved. Overcome that reluctance which wins no reward. The Savior will multiply the little you have many times beyond expectation. Although you give but little, you will receive much. For he that sows blessings shall also reap blessings,^[2] according to the blessed Paul’s words.

God has broken five loaves and two fishes and fed the five thousand

With these foods that satisfy to the fullest their hunger.

Then twice six baskets are filled with the fragments that are left over:

Such is the bounty dispensed from the heavenly table forever. SCENES

[Jesus] offers himself as the bread of life to those who believe in him.^[1] It is he who came down from heaven and gave life to the world.

You see the skillfulness of the question. He did not at once say, Who do you say that I am? He refers to the rumor of those that were outside their company. Then, having rejected it and shown it unsound, he might bring them back to the true opinion. It happened that way. When the disciples had said, Some, John the Baptist, and others, Elijah, and others, that some prophet of those in old time has risen up, he said to them, But you, who do you say that I am? Oh! how full of meaning is that word you! He separates them from all others, that they may also avoid the opinions of others. In this way, they will not conceive an unworthy idea about him or entertain confused and wavering thoughts. Then they will not also imagine that John had risen again, or one of the prophets. You, he says, who have been chosen, who by my decree have been called to the apostleship, who are the witnesses of my miracles. Who do you say that I am?

There are many who have been called Christ, from having in various ways been anointed by God. Some have been anointed as kings. Some have been anointed as prophets. They have been so called because they have been anointed. But he who is God the Father’s Christ is One, and One only. Not as though we are christs, and not God’s christs, belonging to some other person. There is only one Christ, because he and he alone has as his Father God who is in heaven. Since, therefore, most wise Peter, confessing the faith correctly and without error, said, the Christ of God, it is plain that Peter referred to Jesus as God. For Peter confessed Jesus to be God’s sole Christ, distinguishing him from those to whom the appellation generally belongs. For though he be by nature God and shone forth inexpressibly from God the Father as his only-begotten Word, yet he became flesh according to the Scripture.

Although the other apostles know, yet Peter answers for them all, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.^[1] Thus he who manifested both the nature and the name, in whom is the sum of the virtues, encompassed all things. Do we also ask questions about the generation of God, when Paul has judged that he knows nothing, save Christ Jesus and him crucified, and Peter thought nothing else should be confessed, save that he is the Son of God? We also scrutinize when and how he was born and how great he is in the contemplation of human weakness. Paul knew that therein was a stumbling block of a question, rather than the increase of edification, and therefore he judged that he knew nothing but Christ Jesus. Peter knew that all things are in the Son of God, for the Father has given all things to the Son.^[2]

It came to pass that he was alone, praying. His disciples were with him. He asked them, Whom do the multitudes say that I am? Now the first thing we have to examine is what it was which led our Lord Jesus Christ to propose to the holy apostles this question or inquiry. No word or deed of his is either at an unseasonable time or without a fitting reason. Rather, he does all things wisely and in their season. What, therefore, do we say, or what suitable explanation do we find for his present acts? He had fed a vast multitude of five thousand men in the desert. How did he feed them? With five loaves! Breaking two small fish into morsels with them! These so multiplied out of nothing that twelve baskets of fragments even were taken up. The blessed disciples, therefore, were astonished as well as the multitudes, and saw by what had been wrought, that he is in truth God and the Son of God.

The Lord Jesus Christ was at first unwilling to be extolled, lest any murmuring arise. He rebuked his disciples, lest they say this to anyone, because the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. Perhaps he added this because the Lord knew that even the disciples would believe with difficulty in his passion and resurrection. Therefore he preferred to be the defender of his own passion and resurrection, so that faith would be born of action, and not discord of hearsay. Thus Christ refused to boast but preferred to seem unimportant in order to undergo his passion. Do you boast, who are low born? Must you walk the same path that Christ walked, which he himself walked? This is the recognition of him, this is the imitation of him through obscurity and a good reputation,^[1] so that you may glory in the cross as he was glorified. Thus Paul walked and therefore glories, saying, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.^[2]

When the disciple Peter had professed his faith, Jesus charged them, it says, and commanded them to tell it to no one. For the Son of man, he said, is about to suffer many things, and be rejected, and killed, and the third day he shall rise again. Wasn’t it the duty of disciples to proclaim him everywhere? This was the very business of those appointed by him to the apostleship. But, as the sacred Scripture says, There is a time for everything.^[1] There were things yet unfulfilled which must also be included in their preaching about him. They must also proclaim the cross, the passion, and the death in the flesh. They must preach the resurrection of the dead, that great and truly glorious sign by which testimony is borne him that the Emmanuel is truly God and by nature the Son of God the Father. He utterly abolished death and wiped out destruction. He robbed hell, and overthrew the tyranny of the enemy. He took away the sin of the world, opened the gates above to the dwellers upon earth, and united earth to heaven. These things proved him to be, as I said, in truth God. He commanded them, therefore, to guard the mystery by a seasonable silence until the whole plan of the dispensation should arrive at a suitable conclusion.