I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat

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 departed to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon, north of Galilee, after confrontation with the Pharisees from Jerusalem.  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.   We've really seen this image several times in recent readings now, where Jesus is going out of His way to somehow withdraw from all the people who follow Him, who have need of Him.  It's as if there are things happening, changes for which He needs withdrawal and prayer, to consider.  But He really can't get away.  He's gone to a deserted place, He's stayed up on a mountain alone after sending the disciples off, and in yesterday's reading He withdrew north into Gentile territory.  Now, He's come down around the Sea of Galilee and gone up the mountain.  But the great multitudes come to Him, bringing all those in need of healing in any way.  These signs of healing are immediate and they are quite explicitly the mark of the Messiah as prophesied in Scripture.  St. John Chrysostom has noted the difference between these multitudes who are Jews (they glorify the God of Israel) and the Canaanite woman of yesterday's reading.  Her faith was great, and also expressed even through a persistence in seeking healing not immediately given.  These multitudes experience immediate healing of all marvelous kinds.  It opens up the question:  whose faith is greater?

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.  This is yet another feeding of the multitude, quite deliberately and clearly indicated in the Gospel as a second feeding of such type.  They are two distinct miracles.  (For the first see this reading.)  My study bible teaches that there is a variance in the number of loaves and that this is significant:  the first had five loaves which symbolized the Law (the Pentateuch, made up of five books).   Here there are seven loaves.  Seven symbolizes completeness, and indicates here spiritual perfection.  So, in the first instance Jesus reveals Himself as fulfilling the Law of Moses, while here He shows that it is He (Christ) who grants spiritual perfection.  These crowds have been with Him for three days -- the number of days He would rest in the tomb.  There is a "type" of Resurrection in the fulfillment of this promise.  My study bible tells us that "perfection can only come through being united to Christ's death (see Romans 6:3-5)."

So -- two feedings in the wilderness.  What can it mean for us?  There is no doubt that this additional experience of feeding the multitudes is distinct and separate.  These two separate events are the only ones in the Gospels to which Jesus refers back (in chapter 16).  Why do we need two?  Perhaps the first makes it clear to us that Jesus is Incarnate the Person who fed the Israelites in the wilderness, the One who led Moses and gave the Law.  This second event, in today's reading, gives us a symbolic number (7) suggestive of completion -- symbolizing the revelation of the New Covenant/New Testament, and thereby two parts that make up a whole piece which are inseparable from one another.  The entire picture is about the true God of Israel who is glorified in the marvelous works of Christ, and who is present here, the Lord.  We have the three days in which the people persist with Him, symbolic of the time in the tomb, the time in which we say Christ went even to all the souls who have come before, in "Hades," the abode of the dead, to give the good news.  Its fulfillment is in the feeding, again a clear prefiguring of the Eucharist in which we are all to be fed with His body and blood, forevermore partaking of His life-giving sacrifice, our permanent Passover.  "Four" in another understanding of symbolism (as part of the four thousand, the thousand giving it that much more significance), are the points on the Cross, symbolizing unity of God (Trinity) and man, and thereby the world -- including, by inference, the God-man Himself, Jesus Christ.  It's the true completeness of the Church.   In its real meaning, it is that which we look forward to, the "New Jerusalem," the fullness of the Church in Him.  Perhaps when we come to see Christ as our real food, we are in that true place of unification, where what He offers us comes first, before all things.  Can we get behind Him and His mission?  Can we grasp its fullness?  It all comes to us in "fragments," but it's all of a whole, essential that none is lost on us just as He will lose none.