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 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 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, after a confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, Jesus went out from there and departed to the Gentile 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 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.  My study bible says that the healing of the multitudes here shows that these Jews actually had less faith than the Canaanite woman (in yesterday's reading, above).  According to St. John Chrysostom, Christ healed the woman's daughter "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."

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 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 second feeding of the multitude is quite distinct from the first (see this reading).  They are two separate miracles (see 16:8-10, in which Jesus specifically mentions them as such).  My study bible says that the variance in the number of loaves is significant.  In the first such miracle of feeding in the wilderness, there were five loaves, which symbolizes the Law (the first five books of Scripture, the Pentateuch or Torah).  But here, there are seven.  Seven is a number that symbolizes completeness or fullness.  Here it indicates spiritual perfection.  Therefore, in the first feeding in the wilderness, Christ reveals Himself as the fulfillment of the Law.  But here He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection.  We must also note that these crowds had been with Christ for three days.  This is significant, as it is the number of days He would rest in the tomb.  Participation in His perfect, my study bible reminds us, can only come through being united to Christ's death (see Romans 6:3-5).

This is twice that Jesus has fulfilled the "type" of the Israelites being fed in the wilderness by God (see Exodus 16).  In the earlier verses in today's reading, we're told, "So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made while, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel."  These words also indicate a fulfillment of the Old Testament, in the words of the prophesy of Isaiah (Isaiah 35:5-6).  These are all a kind of "code" of references to Scripture.  Matthew's Jewish readers will certainly understand.  Even that we are told at the top of today's reading that Jesus went up on the mountain and sat there is a kind of code that refers us not only to Moses but also the sitting position of rabbi or teacher.  These passages affirm to us Christ's mission to Israel, and His fulfillment of prophesies of the Messiah, immediately after the revelation of faith in the Canaanite woman.  But the second feeding miracle also gives us hints of what the fulfillment of this ministry is going to mean -- the New Covenant that will go out not only to Israel but to all the world, and which is given through Him.  The number seven as completion indicates fullness.  That is, it is indicative of eschatological fulfillment, of the telos (meaning "end," as in the fullest point of something, perfection).  In Christ, these "types" have their fulfillment, the whole of Old Testament Scripture and history have their fulfillment.  The second feeding in the wilderness, and the healings that fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah, come after the healing of the Canaanite woman's daughter.  They are indicative of the fullness of God's mercy, spreading into all the world.  Jesus tells us, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  St. Paul writes that Christ is our "wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30).  St. Maximus the Confessor writes that "the essence of all the virtues is our Lord, Jesus Christ."  Those words apply in the broadest and most absolute sense; they are statements of a cosmic nature.  His is the fullness of truth regardless of where we come from or what tradition we already know.  Whatever is true, our early Greek fathers understood, serves the Person Who is Truth.  The One who is the Truth becomes the center for all of us, the compass, the measure of all things -- and it is the Truth to whom we turn, regardless of circumstances, to find our way toward Him.  Let us contemplate this message for today, even (and maybe most especially) when we find ourselves in the midst of confusion.