The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (118 page)

5:14 Sin no more:
The Bible reveals a link between sin and suffering, with the former being the cause of the latter (Ps 107:17). This general truth, however, does not extend to every individual case (9:3). 
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5:17 My Father is working:
God the Son imitates God the Father and obeys all that he hears from him (5:19-21). Jesus thus depicts himself as the apprentice of Yahweh, drawing on the familiar custom of sons learning by observation and imitation the trade skills of their fathers. 
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5:18 equal with God:
By calling God his Father, Jesus kilkJ claims a status of divine Sonship for himself. • The three Persons of the Trinity equally possess the same fullness of divine life and Being. Although the Son is less than the Father in his humanity (14:28), he is equal to the Father in his divinity (10:33) (CCC 253-54). 
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5:24 from death to life:
Signifies a spiritual transfer from the curses of the Old Covenant to the blessing of the New (Deut 30:15-20; Eph 2:1-5). Believers are rescued from the fallen family of Adam and reinstated in the divine family of God (Rom 5:12-21) (CCC 580, 1470). 
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5:26 life in himself:
The Father is the first link in a chain of supernatural life, since he alone has not received divine life from anyone else. His capacity to give life, however, is shared by Christ, who receives life from the Father and gives it to the world through the sacraments (6:53; 10:10). 
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5:27 execute judgment:
The Son is given absolute sovereignty over life and death, being authorized by the Father to judge the living and the dead and decide their eternal destiny (Mt 25:31-46; Acts 10:42; CCC 679). 
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5:29 the resurrection:
Christ claims the authority to raise all men from death, the righteous and wicked alike (Acts 24:15). • Two oracles from the OT stand in the background of Jesus' teaching.
(1)
Dan 12:2 envisions a final separation of saints and sinners once their bodies have awakened from the sleep of bodily death.
(2)
Ezek 37:1-4 envisions the resurrection, where bones and flesh are reassembled and made to live again. Rising from the grave is made possible by the spoken words of Ezekiel, called the Son of man, and the life-giving breath of the Spirit. Jesus casts himself in the lead role of these prophetic narratives: he is the "Son of man" (5:27) whose powerful "voice" (5:25) raises the dead from their "tombs" (5:28) and separates them for everlasting "life" or eternal "judgment" (5:29) (CCC 997-1001). 
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5:30-47
Jewish legal tradition required two or three witnesses to sustain a claim in court (Deut 19:15). Jesus has a list of witnesses beyond the required number:
(1)
John the Baptist (5:33),
(2)
his miracles (5:36),
(3)
the Father (5:37),
(4)
the Scriptures (5:39),
(5)
and Moses (5:46) all bear witness to his divine authority and mission. 
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5:35 burning and shining lamp:
The ministry of John the Baptist lights the way for Israel to see and accept its Messiah (1:31). • Elijah is similarly depicted as a fiery torch in Sir 48:1.
See note on Jn 1:21
. 
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5:46 he wrote of me:
Jesus follows the Jewish tradition that Moses authored the Pentateuch (Gen—Deut). Moses thus described the Messiah as a Redeemer (Gen 3:15), a universal King (Gen 49:10), and a Prophet like himself (Deut 18:15-19). 
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6:1-14
The multiplication of the loaves is the only miracle, kilkJ besides the Resurrection, that is recorded in all four Gospels. John's account forms the preface to Jesus' extensive discourse on the "bread of life" in 6:35-59. • The two food miracles in John involve bread (6:1-14) and wine (2:1-11). Together they anticipate the eucharistic liturgy, where Jesus gives himself as food under the visible signs of bread and wine (CCC 1335). 
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6:1 Sea of Tiberias:
Also known as the "Sea of Galilee" (Mk 1:16) or the "lake of Gennesaret" (Lk 5:1). The city of Tiberias, then the administrative capital of Galilee, was built by Herod Antipas on its western shore about
A.D.
20 in honor of the Roman emperor Tiberias Caesar. 
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6:4 the Passover:
Three times this feast is mentioned in John (2:13; 11:55). It was celebrated annually in Jerusalem to commemorate Israel's deliverance from Egyptian slavery (Ex 12). Central to the feast is a liturgical meal, called a seder, in which the story of the Exodus is retold, psalms are sung, and a lamb is eaten with unleavened bread and other condiments. The evangelist mentions this upcoming feast to hint that Jesus will give new and greater meaning to the Passover. He is the true "Lamb of God" (1:29), whose redeeming work will accomplish a new deliverance from the slavery of sin (8:31-36) in a sacramental and liturgical meal (6:53-58; 1 Cor 5:7-8). The significance of Passover, here placed in the background of John 6, will move to the foreground when Jesus transforms this feast into the memorial meal of the New Covenant at the Last Supper (Mt 26:17-29; CCC 1340).
See note on Jn 19:36
. 
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6:7 Two hundred denarii:
About 200 days' wages for a laborer (Mt 20:2). 
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6:9 barley loaves:
The food of the poor. • This detail recalls the similar miracle of Elisha, who multiplied 20 loaves of barley for 100 men with some left over (2 Kings 4:42-44). The miracle of Jesus is comparatively greater: he begins with fewer loaves
(5),
multiplies them for a larger crowd (5,000), and likewise has bread left over (6:13). •
Allegorically
(St. Bede,
Hom. in Evan.):
the five loaves are the five books of the Torah, the two fish are the Prophets and Psalms, and the young boy is the Jewish people. When Jesus receives these OT Scriptures from the Jews, he breaks open their deeper, spiritual meanings to refresh the multitudes. 
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6:11 given thanks:
Renders the Greek verb
eucharisteō,
from which the English word "Eucharist" is derived. The miracle of the loaves thus foreshadows the institution of this sacrament at the Last Supper.
See note on Mk 6:35-44
. 
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6:14 the prophet:
i.e., the messianic prophet foretold by Moses.
See note on Jn 1:21
. 
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6:15 make him king:
Israel hoped for a militant Messiah to overthrow the Romans and reestablish their national independence in Palestine. Jesus backs away from these aspirations, knowing that his kingdom is heavenly and spiritual (CCC 439).
See note on Jn 18:36
. 
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6:20 It is I:
Or "I am". • The reassurance that Jesus gives to the disciples is also an act of self-revelation. His words recall the holy name "I am" that Yahweh revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Ex 3:14). The claim to divinity inherent in this name is substantiated by Jesus' exhibition of power over the laws of nature (6:19; Job 9:8). Several times Jesus claims this divine name for himself in the Fourth Gospel (8:24, 58; 13:19; 18:6) (CCC 213).
do not be afraid:
Words often spoken when God reveals himself to his people, whether directly or through an angel (Gen 26:24; Judg 6:22-23; Lk 1:30). 
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