Feeding the Five Thousand.Mark 6:35-44.
And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. “Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
Dear Royal Priesthood,
The miracles reported by Mark are carefully selected. This one is chosen to show that Jesus is superior even to Moses.
Desolation (vv. 35-36).The place is in the middle of nowhere. Anyone familiar with the Exodus will immediately draw a parallel with the desert. There is no food to be had and no place to buy any. So the disciples suggest the sensible thing – send the people away. They may not have wanted to face a hungry crowd at the end of the day, anyway.
Denarii (vv. 37-38). Jesus suggests that the disciples should give the people something to eat instead. The disciples are incredulous. They wonder if they should buy two hundred denarii worth of bread – never mind that there is no place to buy it in the first place – not to mention that they do have the money. Two hundred denarii (one is a denarius) was the equivalent of eight months’ wages for a laborer, not a sum for people who had abandoned their business to follow Jesus to come by. In John’s account, he adds that even that much bread would not have been enough for each person to get a bite (John 6:7).
Distribution (vv. 39-41). Jesus started with what the disciples had. Five loaves can be misleading. Buns would give us a better idea. John in his account hints that this was one boy’s lunch (John 6:9). Having given thanks, Jesus divided the bread and fish among his disciples to distribute to the people who were now seated in groups.
Demonstration (vv. 42-44). Not only did everyone eat to their fill, the disciples also collected twelve baskets of leftovers. Mark reports that the crowd numbered five thousand men Matthew tells us that this count excluded women and children (Matthew 14:21). Some people have suggested that there may have been as many as twenty thousand people, as women and children outnumber men by more than double. But it is also possible that women and children would have been more restricted in their movement and were far fewer than the men.
It hardly matters. Feeding a hundred people on one boy’s lunch would have been miraculous enough. Whereas Moses was sent manna from heaven, Jesus multiplied the bread right before the eyes of the people. The subtle message is, the one who sent Moses bread from heaven has come from heaven to give the bread himself.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.