Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?

 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.   And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

- Matthew 15:29-39

Yesterday, we read that Jesus traveled to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is severely demon-possessed.  But He answered her not a word.  And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us."  But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"  But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."  And she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."  Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be to you as you desire."  And her daughter was healed from that very hour. 

 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.  A note in my study bible reads:  "Christ's healing of the multitudes here shows that these Jews actually had less faith than the Canaanite woman [see yesterday's reading].  Christ healed the woman 'with much delay, but these immediately, because she is more faithful than they.  He delays with her to reveal her perseverance, while here He bestows the gift immediately to stop the mouths of the unbelieving Jews' (John Chrysostom)."

Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.   And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.  A note tells us that this second feeding of a multitude that occurs in Matthew's gospel should not be confused with the earlier reported feeding in the wilderness (Matthew 14:22-33).  They are two distinct miracles.  (See 16:8-10 where Jesus refers to each.)  My study bible suggests that the variance in the number of loaves is significant:  in the first occasion, there were five loaves, which symbolize the Law (Pentateuch means "five scrolls" in Greek -- the first five books of the Old Testament, called Torah in the Hebrew, meaning "Law") .  Here in today's reading, there are seven loaves.  It says that seven is a symbol of completeness, meaning spiritual perfection.  Therefore in the first instance, Christ is revealed as the fulfillment of the Law, and here He shows that He is the One who grants spiritual perfection.  It notes also that the crowds had been with Jesus for three days; that is the number of days He would be in the tomb.  It says that "participation in His perfection can only come through being united to Christ's death (see Romans 6:3-5)."

Christ's healing miracles bear witness to the universal nature of salvation, and the ways in which Matthew's gospel is written suggest this to us very frequently.  It is directed toward a Jewish audience, as my study bible tells us, but the message to that audience is not only about Jewish spiritual heritage and its fulfillment in Christ.  Here, we also find the message of the universality of that message, that this Messiah is indeed the Jewish Messiah, but He is also the Messiah for the world -- and among the entire world's peoples and nations He will be known as such.  Matthew's gospel reports many "doubles," stories in which we read not just of two events such as in today's reading, but also two characters healed, or freed from demonic possession, where in other gospels there may be a more-or-less similar story involving a single individual.  We aren't necessarily aware that they are the same event, even though the stories are similar.  But there is certainly a contextual message here, telling us of Christ as both the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world, sent first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles.  This expression of the universal nature of Christ suggests to us a world opened up to new thinking by Christ's intervention in the time of world history:  fulfilling the promise of the God of Israel and also a gift to the entire world via that spiritual heritage. It is Christ who adds an infinite dimension to what has already come; in Him, "fulfillment" comes to mean something of the "new wineskins" that are able to expand to hold the new wine.  That's a message we must take to heart, because it's always at work, here and now, in the ever-present moment at which spiritual reality intersects with our reality, God's time with our time.  In the story today, it was the "time" for this second miraculous feeding, but the message is timeless and at work now in each of us and for each of us.  The Spirit lives and continues to make present this feast, this bread in the wilderness, in every wilderness and at all times for all of us, who remain "the great multitude."