Five barley loaves and two fish. Homily for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B.

The story of the feeding of the multitude is the only miracle story to be found in all four of the gospels, and there are two stories of Jesus feeding a multitude in Mark and Matthew. This highlights the extraordinary significance of this miracle story for all four of the evangelists. Today we reflect upon John’s account of the miracle, although John prefers to use the word sign rather than miracle.