And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes

 

 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.  But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.  And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.  When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late.  Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."  But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat."  And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."  He said, "Bring them here to Me."  Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass.  And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. 

 

- Matthew 14:13-21 

 

Yesterday we read that at that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."  For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.  Because John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."  And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.  But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod.  Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.  So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, "Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter."  And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her.  So he sent and had John beheaded in prison.  And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.  Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.  

 

 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.  When Jesus heard it refers to the fact that Jesus has heard that Herod has taken note of Jesus and His ministry with its healings and exorcisms, and that Herod fears Jesus is John the Baptist returned from the dead (see yesterday's reading above).  He goes to a deserted place to avoid the power and paranoid scrutiny of Herod.

 

 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.  When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late.  Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."  But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat."  And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."  He said, "Bring them here to Me."  Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass.  And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.  My study Bible has several comments upon this passage.  First, it's noted that this miracle is reported by all four evangelists; it shows Jesus feeding a great multitude of His people as He fed the Israelites in the desert (see Exodus 16).  According to patristic sources, this feeding is an image of the Eucharist; this idea is made clear in John 6.   Further along in St. Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 15:32-39), there is another feeding miracle in which Jesus feeds four thousand people with seven loaves and a few small fish.  While some modern scholars wish to say these are the same story, my study Bible comments that the witness of the gospel is clear that they are two distinct accounts.  Indeed, Christ explicitly refers to both of them as separate incidents (Matthew 16:8-10).  That He is moved with compassion is used frequently with Jesus (Matthew 20:34; Mark 1:41, 6:34; Luke 7:13), which shows that (in contrast to Herod, by way of note), the Lord's power is extended to those who suffer.  There is yet another spiritual interpretation according to patristic writers, that teaches that the five loaves indicate the five books of the Law (Genesis through Deuteronomy), which are broken open in Christ and thereby feed the universe.  The two fish are representative of the Gospel Book and the Epistle Book, the teaching of the fishermen.  It's also noted that the apostles gather the leftovers, which shows that the teachings which the faithful are unable to grasp are nonetheless held in the consciousness of the Church.  Additionally, we note that Jesus, upon taking the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven and blessed the loaves.  My study Bible comments that He shows us that we should never eat without first giving thanks to God.  The terminology used in today's passage points to the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26), and it leads to a eucharistic interpretation of the miracle.  Just as the disciples distribute the bread to the multitudes, so also Christ feeds the Eucharist to His flock through the hands of His bishops and presbyters.  

 

Today's reading invites us to consider Christ's compassion. Overall, we know that Jesus has come into the world as Incarnate Son in order to be with us (Matthew 1:23).  Note how that verse in St. Matthew's first chapter makes it clear that Christ's Incarnation is in fulfillment of Scripture, something devoutly awaited.  In St. John's Gospel Jesus declares to Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16-17).  So it is out of love, and compassion (for God to be with us) that Jesus has been sent into the world, to be one of us.  In today's reading, the hospitality of the Lord is on full display for all of these who have followed Him into the wilderness, a deserted place.  He doesn't know these people, but they know Him (or at any rate, they have heard about Him).  They are the crowds, the multitudes, who follow Him even as He seeks to escape the eye of Herod, who now fears Him, for Herod thinks He is St. John the Baptist risen from the dead (see yesterday's reading, above).  In today's reading, we note that we are told that He first healed their sick.  But as it continued into the evening, and they had nothing to eat, the disciples reminded Him they should send the people away.  But Jesus doesn't want to do that; He wants them to remain.  Moreover, He wants His disciples to feed them.  He says, "You give them something to eat."  Too often when we consider the Eucharist, we are unaware in a modern context that sacrifice was always a part of a communal meal.  In this case, the Lord Himself wishes a communal meal, but He is the One who will feed the people, and through His disciples.  He sends them to find food, and whatever they can bring to Him, He will make of it a proper meal.  This should be a proper metaphor for all kinds of solutions to problems in our lives.  It is part and parcel of faith to do so, and to wait upon the Lord, to trust and make the best of what we're given, guided by prayer.  Note that Jesus begins with the meager fare, and blesses it.  It's in the breaking of the bread that the miraculous happens, a multiplication of what is.  These people who have desperately followed Him are elsewhere said to be "like sheep without a shepherd" (Mark 6:34).  And, of course, Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18).  But what we observe of Christ, who came into the world as one of us, to be with us, is that His hand is always extended.  These people follow Him, and He simply is not able to be alone.  But they are welcome, and He finds occasion to institute what will become the Eucharist, to share Himself as completely as possible, even with the multitudes.  In all of this we're given the nature of our God, and the expansiveness of God's compassion for us.  Clearly it is extended to all, but realized through faith.  It is said that in the monasteries, and from the times of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, hospitality was the most highly regarded priority.  Even prayers were interrupted to open the door to a knock.  Jesus shows Himself as fulfillment even from Abraham, who "entertained strangers unawares" (Hebrews 13:2; Genesis 18); of course, one of those "strangers" was the Lord.  Christ's hospitality extends to all of us all the time; let us be aware of our response and reception of it.

 

 

 

 

 

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.  

 

 

 

 

How is it that you do not understand?

 

 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."

And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"

 

- Mark 8:11–21 

 

On Saturday, we read that, 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.

 

 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."  Now the Pharisees are beginning to actively pursue Christ, seeking to dispute with Him, and asking for a sign from heaven in order to test Him.  My study bible explains that a sign from heaven means a spectacular display of power.  It says that the time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but these hypocrites (see Matthew 16:1-3) have not recognized the signs which are already being performed by Christ, because their hearts were hardened, and they ignored the works happening all around them.  

And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"  My study Bible explains that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  In Scripture, leaven is used both positively (as Jesus uses it in the parable in Matthew 13:33) and negatively, as He uses it here.  In either case, leaven is symbolic of a force which is powerful enough (and also often subtle enough) to permeate and affect everything around it (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

So what is this allusion to a leaven that permeates things, even which may permeate everything?  Here, Jesus is speaking of the hypocrisy and "hard-heartedness" of the Pharisees.  But leaven as metaphor may also be used to understand sin in general, and especially notions of what sin in an environment can do.  If we think of the "first sin" in the story of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3), what we see in this story is a way in which one sin permeates an environment, and creates a changed condition in the ways that they live and the consequences to that environment.  The word often used for this condition in theological terms is "corruption."  It is not a deep, abiding, integral part of human beings who are created by God, and therefore are essentially good.  But it becomes a kind of subtly permeating influence, which can corrupt the good that is there.  As we have observed in recent readings, such as when Jesus spoke of what "evil things" can truly harm a person (see this reading), this understanding of corruption -- that is, of a subtly corrupting influence -- invites us to act with our own agency, to guard ourselves against such influence by guarding our own thoughts and understanding.  In theological terms, this is frequently called "guarding the heart."  We can see the language of the heart used in today's reading, when Jesus asks the disciples, "Is your heart still hardened?"   In Scriptural language and tradition (and therefore the understanding of the Church), the heart is considered an organ of perception and understanding, separate from the intellect.  It is there in the heart where we know Christ, in a very deep place within us which is unfathomable in its depth.  In the ascetic writings of the Church, my study bible notes, the heart is known as the "seat of knowledge."  But a hardened heart is one which is not permeable to the grace and knowledge of God; that is, it is a heart hardened against it.  This hardening of the heart, Jesus implies by His question to the disciples, can happen through influence, through this "leaven of the Pharisees," a way of thinking that shuts down our openness to the ways of God, and therefore to understanding.  A hardened heart is also a metaphor for one that is unsympathetic, not compassionate for others.  In this case in today's reading, this "leaven" is a narrowed way of looking at life, reducing everything down to some formulae, even abstract "rules" which do not allow for the reality which is right in front of us to be perceived by us.  The Pharisees attempt to draw a line in the sand, so to speak, challenging Jesus to perform some spectacular miracle and "prove" that He really is from God, prove that He is the rumored Messiah.  But marvelous signs are happening all throughout His ministry, just as the multiplication of the loaves was twice done by Christ.  The text in today's reading also opens our eyes to the fact that it's not just the Pharisees who don't want to see or can't accept what is right in front of them, the extraordinary nature of what Christ has done.  It's essentially a brilliant way that the story of Christ and His disciples has of illuminating to us that each of us has this potential weakness.  While the Pharisees are in a league of their own, one could say, the disciples are also vulnerable to this way of thinking that has kept them from truly understanding -- to the point where even Jesus marvels.  And if the disciples are vulnerable to it, then so are we.  In modern popular language, we might find this akin to being in denial about something that is plain as day to others.  The Gospels frequently remind us that the disciples weren't perfect -- they grow in their faith and in the grace that also works as a leaven (as in the parable of Matthew 13:33).  Today's reading is a good illustration of the capabilities that we have for choice.  The disciples are those who are with Christ in order to learn from Him, to be like Him, and with whom He shares His power as He appointed them apostles as well, to be sent out into the world.  They will become the foundation of His Church.  The Pharisees are deeply given over to the leaven of hypocrisy; that is a focus on appearance, and hidden flaws which corrupt well-intentioned law and allow for selfish practices.   They zealously guard their positions.  Again, the Gospels give us those Pharisees and members of the ruling Council who are deeply righteous, such as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who become followers of Christ.  Moreover Acts of the Apostles mentions the great teacher Gamaliel and his righteousness (see Acts 5:33-40), who was also mentioned by St. Paul as his teacher (Acts 22:3).  All of this acts together to help us to understand this dividing line between what is nominally good and nominally evil goes through our hearts, and that we have agency -- that is, we have the capacity -- to make choices about the condition of the heart and its receptivity to the things of God.  We are capable of turning this process around, through repentance, or we can choose to be stubbornly or deliberately blind.  We are all on a road somewhere, but remain capable of discernment, as Christ's seemingly incredulous question to the disciples implies:  "How is it that you do not understand?"  

 

 

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

 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, after a confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees,  Jesus went to the 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 a 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 His 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.  Once again, we are to understand that by now in His ministry, great multitudes follow Jesus.  This particular crowd of people has continued with Him for three days, so that they are out of whatever food they may have brought with them.   We also see expressed Jesus compassion for them.  This is yet another distinct feeding in the wilderness from the previous (see this reading).  My study bible notes the symbolic meanings hidden in this particular incident that differ from the previous:  In the first instance, there were five loaves; here there are seven.  Five symbolizes the Law; seven symbolizes completeness and here, it says, indicates spiritual perfection.  So, in the first instance, Christ revealed Himself as fulfilling the Law, and here He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection, an act of grace.  Telling us symbolically of the significance of this second feeding in the wilderness is the detail that the crowds have been with Him three days, the number of days He will rest in the tomb before Resurrection.   My study bible adds that participation in His perfection can only come through being united to Christ's death (see Romans 6:3-5).  The number 4,000 is an expanded version of four, which frequently symbolizes human identity and the world, here transforming what that will mean:  the four points of the Cross most notably as union of Trinity and human being in the person of Jesus.

Jesus' second feeding in the wilderness shows signs that this is a new thing that has happened in the world.  It is beyond simply Christ's fulfillment of the Law.  Something new is here, something is expanded, like the new wineskins necessary to hold the new wine (Mark 2:22).   The three days "germination" of these crowds being with Him in faith give us a portrayal of the three days Christ Himself will be in the tomb and with those in Hades before Resurrection.  As we have noted in the previous reading, Jesus has now been traveling in Gentile regions, so these crowds are possibly Jews mixed with Gentiles who follow.  His ministry has apparently taken surprising turns -- even surprising to Jesus, such as the Syro-Phoenician woman in yesterday's reading, in that place where He thought He could remain hidden in a house, and therefore withdrawn from ministry for a time.  All of these things can be taken as signs of Resurrection, signs of our spring and of Easter, these little glimmers of something new blossoming that is unexpected.  It is like the time we are in now, as we await Easter, when we begin to see the blooming of buds and bulbs underground springing up daffodils, purple crocus, lilies of every kind.  As we see signs of spring, and we are amid a worldwide quarantine, effectively asking us all to remain "underground" for this time, let us consider the signs God brings us of eventual Resurrection and Easter.  The bulbs give their flowers, emerging from underground, especially lilies which portend of Resurrection.  We, as Christians, must remember our surprising Lord and His ministry.  Who can feed those in the wilderness?  Who can multiply what we have?  Who gives us hope?  Who defies everything, every odd, every certainty of this world, even death?  Our Lord does that, and His surprising, expanding ministry full of new signs of new things.  Let us remember that this is what our prayers are for, to draw upon this surprising quality of our Lord and our faith -- this renewal and new things that will defy every odd and surprise us.  In the Revelation, the Lord says, "Behold, I make all things new" (Revelation 21:5).  In the tense of the original Greek, the literal meaning of that statement is, "I am always making all things new."  This tells us something crucial, that is reflected in today's reading:  that the new is something that typifies Christ's ministry, wherever it may be.  Just as the events in the Gospels reflect the need for an expanding "wineskin" to contain all the new things that are happening and growing, so it remains true where Christ is present in our lives, and in our world.  In our own every day experience in the Church, the saints of all measure, personality, place, and origin confirm the ever-expanding nature of what we understand to be God's work in the world, and our own personal experience in prayer and personal change may also confirm the surprising reality of God's bringing newness to us as well.  Let us consider what Christ's expanding ministry fulfills for us.  How do we become fed?  What are the surprising things that feed you in your own "wilderness" today?  As we are all in some sense isolated right now through quarantine, what can you find within that place you go to pray and experience your faith today?  Are there surprising signs of spring and new growth blooming?

How is it that you do not understand?

 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."

And he left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So he said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"

- Mark 8:11-21

On Saturday, we read that in those days, when Christ was in the Decapolis, 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.

Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."  In our recent readings (of Friday and Saturday), Jesus has been first in the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon, north of Galilee, and then in the Decapolis, a mixed region of Jews and Gentiles.  He traveled there after disputing with the Pharisees and some scribes (see Thursday's reading), in order to avoid further conflict and conspicuousness within the Jewish homelands.  But here, He's clearly back in Jewish territory, and we can see His understanding of what would happen once He returned -- the Pharisees have come out to dispute with Him again.  This time, they're back with another demand, and it calls to the questions about His authority to do what He does, and to teach as He does.   They're demanding a sign from heaven.  A sign from heaven, according to my study bible, means a spectacular display of power.  They want to be convinced by signs that He's the Messiah.  But clearly there have been plenty of signs given in His ministry, all kinds of healings which we've read about so far in Mark's Gospel, and Jesus is not going to perform a special sign just to convince those whose hearts are too hardened to grasp what He's about and what is happening in His ministry.  Once again, they demand, and He responds.  He's looking for faith, not coercion.

And he left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So he said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"   My study bible tells us that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  Now it's Jesus' turn to be incredulous as His disciples still have failed to grasp the miraculous two feedings in the wilderness, of the five thousand, and four thousand.  Do they really think He is complaining because they have no bread, after those two experiences?  Do they think He's literally speaking about lacking bread?   How is it that they do not understand?  As is true of many occasions in the Gospels, the disciples take what He's saying literally and miss the meaning -- this time, to His exasperation.  My study bible says that in Scripture, leaven is used both positively (as in Matthew 13:33) and negatively, as it is here.  In both cases, leaven symbolizes a force which is powerful enough (and frequently subtle enough) to permeate and to affect everything around it (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

We're given a very interesting contrast through today's reading.  There are first of all the Pharisees, who have got hold of a bone to pick with Jesus, and they are not going to let it go.  Over and over again, questions of His authority will come up.  Where does He get the authority to teach in the temple?  When He comes to Jerusalem during Holy Week, and is greeted by the crowds as befits the Messiah, He will go to cleanse the temple -- and again, the demand will arise.  Where does He get the authority to do what He does?   Right from the beginning, Jesus teaches not as a disciple of a famous rabbi, not as a scribe, but speaking with His own authority, and this astonishes people.  It enrages those whose work it is to regulate and guard the faith, especially as He disputes with them and gives back as good as He gets.  He will not back down from His own mission and ministry, and what He's been sent  to do.  Where does that authority come from?  He wants people who will discern the answer to that question through faith, through the spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear with, as the Gospels so often remind us, citing Isaiah (see Isaiah 6:9-10).  The Pharisees demand to be convinced through some spectacular sign, as if there are not already abundant signs in the ministry Christ has been given.  But they don't want to see, and they don't want to hear.  They want to demand conditions, proofs, and assert their own authority to judge Him.  By contrast, we have the apostles.  Growing in faith, they still struggle.  And remarkably -- even to Jesus -- they also fail to grasp things that have been done right in front of them!  They think He's complaining about a lack of bread, when they have just experienced two miraculous feedings in the wilderness from a handful of loaves.  We've given the contrast of the deliberate hard-heartedness of the Pharisees, jealous of any challenge to their authority and position, and the disciples, whose minds simply cannot and will not take in something as stupendous as the multiplication of the loaves in the wilderness -- even though it's happened twice already.  One party demands proofs for belief, the other simply hasn't gotten there yet (even to Jesus' apparent consternation).  The text gives us this contrast in a lack of faith.  One side suffers from hypocrisy and hard-heartedness, and clearly is charged with knowing better.  The other shows us human frailty and limitation -- following Jesus in discipleship, but still failing to grasp what is being plainly shown to them.   But they are on a journey of faith, and what makes the difference is our capacity for enlightenment vs. our hard-hearted refusal to receive a truth that will challenge who we are.  The disciples know they have something to learn, but the leadership as a whole refuses humility in this sense.  Everything depends upon our understanding of mystery -- that there are things beyond what we know and can immediately grasp, and moreover, that we are called to that place of mystery.  We are called to grow in it, to experience it, and to be stretched -- to have our hearts expanded to what we don't expect and don't yet know.  Jesus will carry the disciples on to places they literally could never imagine, to experiences absolutely beyond their expectations.  But that is what our faith is like, if we truly follow them, and in their footsteps.  That is where He calls us as well.  But we need eyes to see and ears to hear, a humility that assumes there is always more we need to learn, from an authority much greater than ourselves -- which does not suit itself to our expectations.   "For," as Isaiah writes, "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.  'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven"

 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, after a confrontation with the Pharisees and some scribes who had come from Jerusalem, Jesus departed from His ministry's "home territory," and went to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon, north of Galilee.  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 a 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 His 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 in the wilderness, and is not meant to be confused with the first, as there are significant details to note.   They are two distinct miracles.  My study bible calls the difference in the number of loaves significant.  In the first miracle, there were five, which symbolizes the Law (the Pentateuch, or Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament).  Here in this feeding in the wilderness there are seven loaves.  Seven is a number symbolizing completeness or fullness; here, my study bible says, it indicates spiritual perfection.  So, in the first feeding miracle, Christ reveals Himself as fulfilling the Law.  Here in the Decapolis, in this mixed region of Gentiles and Jews, He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection.  My study bible notes also that these crowds had been with Christ for three days, the same number of days He would rest in the tomb.  To participate in Christ's perfection, my study bible notes, can only come through being united to His death (see Romans 6:3-5).  Here there are four thousand, a large number symbolizing the world, as in its four directions.  We note once again the details that suggest the Eucharist, as Jesus gave thanks (the meaning of the Greek root from which we derive "Eucharist"), Himself breaking the loaves and distributing them through His disciples.  That there are seven large baskets leftover is once again significant of completion or fullness, that this is the bread that is given for the life of the entire created order, for the world (John 6:51).

As the hostility of the religious leadership begins to be manifest, and the open conflicts with Jesus begin to show as well (see this reading), Jesus withdraws into Gentile territory and seeks to get away from public attention and controversy.  First He went north into Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile region north of Galilee, where He didn't want anyone to know He was there.  But He simply cannot be hidden, and we read of His encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman there in yesterday's reading, above.  He returned to Galilee by way of the Decapolis, a Greek-speaking region (its name meaning "Ten Cities" in Greek) of Greek and Roman culture, and mixed Jewish and Gentile populations.  We can see small changes in His ministry that begin here:  there is first of all the faith and persistence of the Syro-Phoenician woman, although Jesus initially refuses her, making it clear that He was sent to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel"  (Matthew 10:5-6; 15:24).  But we remember that the wind of the Holy Spirit blows where it wishes (John 3:8).   While it is the clear that salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22), the Holy Spirit of God moves among all the people of the world.   This is clearly meant not only for all the people of the world, but the Greek word "cosmos" covers the whole of the created order of things, both visible and invisible.  The sense of completeness or perfection of the  Lord of lords and King of kings (Deuteronomy 10:17; 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14, 19:16) cannot be limited.   What may come from the Jews is meant for all of creation.  This is the working of God's Spirit in the world and the direction begun to be taken in Christ's ministry.  That mysterious wind we can't limit or control rather comes to us, and takes us along with it, if we but respond with our faith.   And faith is the real path of that Spirit and that ministry:  Christ takes root in hearts which are receptive, those who have spiritual eyes and ears, and who hunger and thirst for what He offers.  The feedings in the wilderness give us an image, in the understanding of the Gospels, of people who are like sheep having no shepherd (Mark 6:34), of those who deeply need what He offers, a world in need of  His healing and the food He gives.  The real question becomes whether or not we can recognize that need, or our own woundedness or incompletion, imperfection -- or do we grasp onto other things in our self-declared notions of perfection?  If maturity can be said to be the recognition of our own imperfection, then our response to that maturity is the courage to accept this mystery, this wind, this movement of the Holy Spirit that teaches us a path, a surprising way to go, the places we need to travel to fulfill what is possible through His name and the righteousness He offers.  We may always be surprised at what that kind of perfection looks like, the strangeness of the saints, the deep love of devotion we find in the Scriptures -- but it is meant for each of us, and to find in our own hearts.

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.

How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?

 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 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 Jesus went to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon, after being criticized by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem.   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 a 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 His 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 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.  Although this feeding in the wilderness may seem like a "duplicate" of the feeding of the five thousand which we recently read about, there are distinct differences that make this second feeding separate and significant.  First of all Jesus is now in a country of mixed Gentiles and Jews.  He has gone to Tyre and Sidon, and healed the daughter of a Syro-Phoenician woman.  Yesterday's reading also told us He then came through the Decapolis, a Greek-speaking region of ten cities, to the Sea of Galilee.  It is here, in this mixed territory of populations, that the multitude follows Him and this feeding takes place.  My study bible cites the number of loaves as one of the notable differences in the stories.  In the feeding of five thousand, there were five loaves, which symbolize the Law (the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch).  Here there are seven loaves.  Seven is a number that symbolizes completeness; here it indicates spiritual perfection.  In the first feeding, in Jewish territory, Christ is revealed as fulfilling the Law.  Here, among a mixed population, He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection.   The three days that this crowd had been with Him echoes the number of days He would rest in the tomb.  Perfection comes through uniting with Christ through death and rebirth (especially via baptism, see Romans 6:3-5), manifest in the New Covenant that will come.  Some scholars note the difference in the types of baskets taken up.  In the earlier feeding of five thousand, the Greek indicates a small basket, sometimes translated as "hand-basket" (Mark 6:43-44).  These were twelve, one for each apostle.  But here, they are a different type of basket, translated as large baskets.  (It is the same word for basket, in the Greek, as the one in which St. Paul was lowered through a hole in the wall in Acts 9:25).  Again, seven baskets indicates completeness.  This is the bread of life that will go out to all the world, both Jews and Gentiles.

Jesus has come through the region east of the Sea of Galilee, that of the Decapolis.  He makes His way back from Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile region to which He'd withdrawn after Pharisees and scribes had come from Jerusalem, criticizing His ministry and His disciples (Saturday's reading).  The healing of the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman (yesterday's reading, above), and the healing and feeding of four thousand in the mixed population, Greek-speaking region of the Decapolis tells us a story about the growth of this ministry and its evolution.  The Syro-Phoenician woman said to Jesus, "Even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."  In today's reading, we see the bread that prefigures the Eucharist going to what is likely a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles.  It is an evolution of spiritual understanding, of what is to be offered in salvation to those who may, as my study bible put it, unite with Christ through His death in baptism.  What we observe in Christ's ministry is a fascinating growth and transformation of the ministry itself, as Jesus first goes to the "children" but later will also include those who are not of this fold, and who will also be brought into His flock.  What Christ teaches us, that seems to transcend all other things that we know about Him, is that following the will of God will always be a kind of adventure.  We must prepare for the unexpected.  Even Christ marvels at the unbelief of His townspeople in Nazareth when He comes to His hometown to preach.  Although He is divine, the "Heart-Knower," Christ marvels at the response He finds.  This rejection not only assures us that human will and choices are free, but it also tells us about this ministry.  Christ will go where it is the Father's will He goes, even if that means to His own death - even where His own human will is not in agreement (Luke 22:42).  Christ knows He was sent to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel," and yet we see now a new development beginning in His ministry.  As we watch and walk with Christ, think about one's own life and the many surprises we encounter when things go differently from what we had thought or planned.  Friends fail us, organizations let us down, people turn out to be something unexpected.  Through it all, there is one thing we place first, the one thing necessary that guides us even through storms and the unexpected.

Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while

 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, our reading began by reminding us of the first apostolic mission:  they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.  Now King Herod heard of Jesus, for His name had become well known.  And he said, "John the Baptist is 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.  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.  It is very interesting to me how often Mark's Gospel presents us with the successive events of a particular day, like little vignettes that give us glimpses into the lives of Christ and the disciples.  Here, Christ gives rest to His disciples.  My study bible says that He does so to show those engaged in preaching and teaching that they must not labor continuously, but that they must also take rest.  It reminds us that it's also in Mark's Gospel that Jesus teaches that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

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.  Once again, Jesus' great popularity is made evident.  We note that here Jesus is moved with compassion.  His effort to find rest for Himself and the disciples is interrupted not by an attitude of ascetic labor or duty, but rather sincere compassion.  This beautiful description of the people who seek Him out, they were like sheep not having a shepherd, tells us everything about the need that Christ is responding to.  He responds as a good shepherd, by teaching them many things, for this is their true need.  My study bible says that Jesus is often moved with compassion (see also Matthew 14:14, 20:34; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13) teaches us that His power and authority are extended to those who suffer.

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.  Tradition sees this miracle of feeding a great multitude of His people as an echo of the Lord's feeding of the Israelites in the desert (see Exodus 16).  It is also an image of the Eucharist introduced here in the middle of Christ's ministry, an idea we find expressed in John 6.  One interpretation of this passage teaches that the five loaves indicate the books of the Law (Genesis through Deuteronomy), which are broken open in Christ and thereby feed the universe.  The two fish represent the Gospel Book and the Epistle Book, the teaching of the fishermen.  My study bible adds a beautiful concept:  the gathering of the leftovers by the apostles shows that the teachings that the faithful are unable to grasp are nevertheless held in the consciousness of the Church.

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.   This particular event began with Jesus drawing the disciples aside for rest and for regrouping, to hear about their first mission on which they'd been sent out.  Here, He resumes His consistent return for rest in depth of prayer with our heavenly Father.  His example is for all of us -- as beginning and ending and punctuation of all our "works."

It's interesting to think about Christ's withdrawal to the mountain.  After all, He's in the world to bring His gospel message of salvation to all.  His work is healing, teaching, preparing His disciples to be apostles and to spread the mission of His Church in the world.  Some might wonder why He would even need to pray.  He's divine, after all, the only begotten Son of God.   Why, in the midst of this public ministry, would He need to withdraw alone to a mountain?  And why would He need to make such strong choices for seclusion and solitude in prayer?  Certainly this part of His ministry (as recorded for us in the Gospels) is a teaching for all of us.  If Jesus needs prayer, can you even imagine how much all of the rest of us need it?  What does Jesus get from this prayer?  Could it be a deeper relationship with the Father?  Does He get more firm in His purpose?  One thing we can remember is His struggle with temptation in the wilderness, a hallmark a the very first action of His ministry, right after His baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist, and the pronunciation by the Father that this is His beloved Son.  Mark tells us, "Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness" (see this reading). There, Jesus struggles with worldly temptations for the use of power, for glory, and for bypassing the Father's way, before embarking into the public for His ministry.  In all things, He responds by relying on the Father.  His solitude on the mountain teaches us that all the practices we can use to shore up our faith, to reinforce this ultimate reliance on God, are good for us.  If they are good for Christ, how much more do we need to do them?  Prayer is the way to re-orient ourselves to our faith, to purpose, to bring the rest of our troubles and conflicts for guidance and resolution.  Prayer roots us in the place where we draw the energies of mercy into our lives.  It builds up the pool of life we need to draw from.  Whatever we do, like Christ who has just performed one of the most spectacular signs of His divinity, we should begin and end with prayer.  Even if we need to put off the time when events are too pressing, we make time for this whenever possible.