And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd

 

 Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.  And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while."  For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.  

 

So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.  But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities.  They arrived before them and came together to Him.  And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.  So He began to teach them many things.  

 

When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.  Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat."  But He answered and said to 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 them something to eat?"  But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have?  Go and see."  And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish."  Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties.  And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all.  So they all ate and were filled.  And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish.  Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.

 

Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away.  And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.

 

- Mark 6:30–46 

 

Yesterday we read that, on their first mission, the apostles cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.  Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known.  And he said, "John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."  Others said, "It is Elijah."  And others said, "It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets."  But when Herod heard, he said, "This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!"  For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her.  Because John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."  Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him.  And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.  Then an opportune day came when  Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee.  And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, "Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you."  He also swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom."  So she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?"  And she said, "The head of John the Baptist!"  Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."  And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her.  Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought.  And he went and beheaded him in prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.  When his disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.

 

  Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.  This verse picks up where Tuesday's reading leaves off, with Jesus sending out the apostles on their first mission.  In between, we were given the story of the beheading of John the Baptist, so that we are aware why King Herod has now heard of Christ's ministry, and suspects John the Baptist has returned from the dead with such powers.

 

 And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while."  For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.  My study Bible explains that Christ gives rest to His disciples to show those engaged in preaching and teaching that they must not labor continuously, but must also take rest.  

 

So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.  But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities.  They arrived before them and came together to Him.  And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.  So He began to teach them many things.  Let us note the main ailment of these people as understood by Jesus:  they were like sheep not having a shepherd.  What does the Good Shepherd do in His compassion for them?  He began to teach them many things, for this is their true need.

 

 When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.  Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat."  But He answered and said to 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 them something to eat?"  But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have?  Go and see."  And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish."  Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties.  And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all.  So they all ate and were filled.  And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish.  Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.  Christ's miraculous feeding of five thousand men -- and more women and children -- is reported by all four evangelist.  This miracle shows Christ feeding a great multitude of His people as He, as Lord, fed the Israelites in the desert (Exodus 16).  My study Bible notes that the Church Fathers see in this feeding an image of the Eucharist, which is an idea made clear in John 6.  There is a spiritual interpretation given of the numbers:  that five loaves indicate the five books of the Law (Genesis through Deuteronomy), broken open in Christ and thereby feeding the universe.  The two fish represent the Gospel Book and the Epistle Book, the teaching of the fishermen.  The gathering of the leftovers by the apostles shows that the teachings which the faithful remain unable to grasp are nonetheless held in the consciousness of the Church.  Christ first looking up to heaven, then blessing and breaking the loaves and giving them to His disciples to distribute to the crowd all give the sense of the Eucharist.  In this light the twelve baskets of leftovers suggest the twelve apostles and their successors through whom the Eucharist will continue to be distributed throughout the world. 

 

 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away.  And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.  Once again we observe another great turning point in Christ's ministry.  This feeding of the five thousand men (plus more women and children) prefigures the Eucharist.  Jesus' response is to depart to the mountain to pray.  Every juncture in His ministry is met with communion with the Father.

 

Hospitality forms the core of our faith in a number of ways.   We can start with Abraham at the trees of Mamre when the Lord appeared to him as three men whom Abraham entertains with his hospitality.  By taking in these strangers, we have a great unfolding of the spiritual life we're given as a model in the Bible, the building up of our understanding of faith.  See Genesis 18.  So important is this sense of hospitality encountered in this story that St. Paul also mentions it in the Letter to the Hebrews.  He writes, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels" (Hebrews 13:2).  From the earliest times of monasticism among the desert monks, the sense of hospitality cultivated was considered more important than even prayer.  A knock at the door meant that even prayer would be interrupted to answer to a stranger.  In today's reading, we're given a sense of Christ's movement to hospitality.  The first thing He does from compassion for these people who were "like sheep not having a shepherd" is to teach them many things.  This is the first thing with which they need to be filled.  In some sense, we are all like sheep who need Christ as the Shepherd, like His children who need to be taught what we are to be about, what's good for us, how we must grow.  For this is, indeed, salvation, and for this we come to Christ.  This feeding in the wilderness in today's reading serves to show us an image of hospitality -- and it is, indeed, a miraculous hospitality, and one that takes place in the wilderness.  It teaches us about the importance of relying upon God's "hospitality" when we feel depleted of resources, stranded in the middle of our own "nowhere," like sheep without a shepherd, or deeply in need of guidance and sustenance or structure.  As this miraculous feeding of the multitude gives us a prefiguring of the Eucharist, so we are also meant to see the Eucharist as the very act of hospitality, God feeding us with the spiritual food and drink that we need ("For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed" - John 6:55).  This is the center of our worship, the thing Christ taught us to do in remembrance of Him.  We learn of God's hospitality in Jesus' saying to the disciples, "In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2).  And in the early Church and the development of Christian societies such as that of the Byzantines, the first hospitals and orphanages came from this understanding of hospitality as divine, as that which the Lord has taught us, even among strangers.  Often these days as in times past, entertaining others as a form of hospitality could be considered a way to impress, a social obligation, a kind of quid pro quo in relationships that are simply transactional in nature.  But this is not what the hospitality of God implies, for God cannot hope to receive from us anything equal to God's grace.  In short, God's hospitality shows us a form of love from which we learn and may consider how we live our own lives in welcoming the things of God, and even the Lord Himself into our own hearts.  The parable of the mustard seed teaches us about the great branches that grow the kingdom from faith, so that even "birds of the air" (a metaphor for angels) can rest in their shade.  In the Revelation we read, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).  At the Last Supper, Jesus taught, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me" (John 14:23-24).  Hospitality is at the core of our faith, a mutual love not based on transaction but on grace.  Even forgiveness can be seen as a form of hospitality when we "give up" the debts of others' sins against us and allow Christ to be the judge as well as our guide in how to respond and navigate our lives.  Let us consider the incredible power of Christ's multiplication of the loaves and the fish, and think about this infinite, inexplicable power of grace and what it might create in our lives.