Window 7

In the middle group of three windows on the south side, the left window pictures the Gospel for the fourth Sunday in Lent, John 6:1-15.  A large, red Chi Rho, Christ’s monogram, dominates the window.  It is accompanied by a basket of five loaves and two fishes.

Everyone familiar with the life of Jesus will identify this window as the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. It is a miraculous event recorded in all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Jesus the Christ, the Promised One, stands at the center of the story.  He is first to recognize that the crowd of listeners are in need of food.   He tests the disciples to propose a solution to the problem.  He has the crowd organized into an orderly assembly on the soft cushion of green grass.  He uses the food at hand to feed the people. He offers thanks to the giver of food.  He serves as host of the meal.  He makes sure that, plentiful though it is, no food is wasted.  Finally, he rejects the people’s attempt to make him a king who can satisfy their earthly desires.

The larger lesson of this unusual miraculous sign teaches all who put their faith wholly in Jesus that the far better food he gives is inexhaustible  It is the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.