So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments

 

 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 

 

Yesterday we read that, following a dispute with the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus went to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon.  And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.  For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.  The woman was Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."  And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."  Then He said to her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."  And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.  Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.  Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him.  And He took him aside from the multitude, and put is fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.  Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."  Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.  Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.  And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well.  He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

 

  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.  This is a second feeding of the multitude, and should not be confused with the first (see this reading).  They are two distinct miracles.  There's a significant variation in the number of loaves, for example.  My study Bible notes that in the first, there were five loaves, which symbolize the Law.  Here, there are seven.  Seven is a number which mystically symbolizes completeness; here my study Bible says it indicates spiritual perfection.  So, in the first instance (the feeding of five thousand men, and more women and children), Christ reveals Himself as fulfilling the Law.  But here He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection.  It's also noteworthy that the crowds had been with Christ for three days, the same number of days He would rest in the tomb.  Participation in Christ's perfection only comes through being united to His death (see Romans 6:3-5).

 

 My study Bible comments on the differences in the numbers given in the readings of the two separate feedings of a multitude in the wilderness.  There is another number that's significant, and that is the number of people.  In the first instance, it was five thousand, a magnification in some sense of the number of the loaves, which, according to traditional commentary, symbolized the Law.  Here this multitude comprises four thousand.  Four is a very significant number in terms of symbolizing the world and even creation.  Four plays a role in terms of the directions on a compass, the directions and dimensions of the world divided into North, South, East, and West.  Of course these also correspond to winds.  Moreover, they correspond to the four points of the Cross.  Christ's life, death, and Resurrection is forever known by the Cross, which leaves its mark on our world, continuing in its effects and ongoing.  This ties in with a pattern we have taken notice of in recent readings, in which Jesus' work has continued -- seemingly unplanned by Him -- in Gentile regions.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus healed the daughter of a Gentile, a Syro-Phoenician woman, after she persisted in making this request, showing herself not only persevering in faith with Him, but also humble but engaging Him with her heart, soul, mind, and strength.  He had gone into a house wanting to be hidden in this place away from the eyes of the Pharisees and scribes that came with public scrutiny among the Jews, but even in Tyre and Sidon "could not be hidden."  So His healing power, perhaps surprisingly to His disciples, has now gone to believing Gentiles, although He Himself said that He was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6; 15:24).  Perhaps the numbers of people in these feedings give us another indication of the shape of Christ's ministry and its own continuing growth and development.  He is not only the fulfillment of the Law, but also the Giver of spiritual perfection, the One to whom every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess (Isaiah 45:23; Romans 14:11).  These are perhaps hints that this ministry is to go out to all the world, both Jews and Gentiles in its fullness, an activity which is ever-renewing and ongoing, for which we have not yet seen its fullness, a mystery we do not yet know.  Those seven large baskets of leftover fragments symbolize that food for spiritual perfection (especially in the Eucharist) that will continue to go out to the world.  Let us keep in mind this mystical reality, that works seemingly even beyond the immediate plans of Jesus when He marvels at developments, or cannot keep Himself hidden, nor prevent people from speaking about Him (see yesterday's reading, above).  For it continues today and is ongoing beyond where we know as well.