How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?

In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar." Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?" He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven." So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them. So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

- Mark 8:1-10

In yesterday's reading, we were told about the Syro-Phoenician woman, who begged Christ to heal her daughter of a demon. She was bold and repeatedly pestered Him, although a foreign woman, and even through His goading. Then we read of a man who had a speech impediment and was also deaf -- Jesus commanded "Ephphatha" - "Be opened," and he was "released" from his impediment, the "bondage" that held him mute and deaf. See Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs.

In today's reading, we have yet another feeding miracle. We recall earlier in Mark's Gospel, a reading from last week - You give them something to eat - like sheep without a shepherd, in which Jesus fed five thousand men. (By custom, we are told the number of the men present, but it is also assumed there were women and children in addition.) This second feeding miracle is also reported in Matthew's Gospel.

In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar." In this story, Jesus is in the Decapolis, southeast of the Sea of Galilee, a territory where there are also Gentiles among the population, so many assume that this crowd (as opposed to the previous feeding miracle) includes many Gentiles as well as Jews. They have followed Him, in this case, for three days. I think it's important to note that in each case of this feeding miracle, the crowds have followed Him with great devotion, so much so that this is why they are without food. They have not thought to take provisions for such a long time, and their zeal for what He offers has exceeded their preparation for this journey of faith. Jesus tells us, "I have compassion on the multitude." He feels moved by their plight; this is His empathy for this crowd of people. Not only have they followed Him for three days, but many have also traveled from far away to be with Him in the first place. He feels He cannot send them away in such a condition that may endanger their health.

Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?" My study bible says, "To feed the hungry in the wilderness is a messianic sign, fulfilling the prophecy, 'Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? . . . Can He give bread also?' (Ps. 78:19,20)." If we refer back to the previous reading and commentary on the feeding of the five thousand, and especially the events of the next day (see Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid), we sense the importance and even the perplexity of the fact that it is the disciples who are the skeptics. They just don't seem to get it! In fact, in some ways, they seem to be the last to understand about Jesus.

He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven." So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them. So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. As with the previous feeding of the five thousand men, Jesus asks what there is on hand. And once again, the disciples haven't even enough food for themselves. But whatever is on hand is treated in this way: it is set aside, thanks are given to God and a blessing is given over the food, and it is broken and given to the disciples who then distribute to the multitude - another picture of the Eucharist.

And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha. Jesus does not stay nor linger to get thanks or to dwell on this great miracle of the feeding. He has done what He has hoped to do - to care for these people until they can reach home. Immediately He goes off to a new region, having sent away the multitudes.

We will see in a future reading that Jesus' disciples are still slow to understand anything about these feeding miracles. What may seem obvious to us in hindsight is not so obvious in the real time of the events we read about. The disciples still have no idea about His messianic secret, or His divinity. We haven't yet heard a confession of faith. History (and even apocryphal reading) reveals there were many who practiced forms of "magic" of all kinds, and sorcery and even competitions for who could perform the greatest feats. But Jesus is no magician; He is something quite different. People come to Him for help, and for teaching and preaching. But Mark shows us a slow unfolding of faith in those whom Jesus has picked as His disciples. Their "hardness of heart" teaches us how it is that we perceive - or fail to perceive - what is right before us. This may seem extraordinary to us in the story of Jesus, but if you think about it, it is really not such a great leap of difference from what we see and experience now to this story. To get to know a person, to truly see may take a long time, although the signs were all around us in the first place. With spiritual reality, it is even more important that we cultivate spiritual sight and hearing in order to understand, to know what is or may be going on round about us, in all of our lives. We may be very slow to heed the signs of God's grace, calling for our attention, or to understand the ways in which events may be pulling us in a certain direction. How do we know where God wills us to go, or what God wants us to do? I have found that events in my life pushed me in a certain direction far, far earlier than I understood the direction consciously. I can look back upon experiences in prayer and understand where I was pointed, but only from the vantage point of many decades later. God's grace is at work all around us and in our lives, but we may be always too deaf and blind to know it or understand it. This story, after all, is really not so strange. Pray for the vision of the Spirit in your life, to know God's grace that is all around, and for a heart that can receive it, and perceive God's blessing. Whatever we have, as in this story, is filled with the potential to be used for God's work, by God's grace, in the very nature of God's creation. We have but to be willing to have the faith to go forward with it, as even these apostles would prove they were! In a commentary by Chrysostom, he points out that we only have the Gospels to understand the slowness of the disciples -- and it is those very disciples themselves who gave us these stories! So, we too, though unknowing may go forward, and one day look back and understand what is happening now in our own lives, through grace.