CHAPTER 8
HE DID IT AGAIN!
1 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied.
6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 9 About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. Mark 8:1-10
This account of the feeding of another large crowd cannot be a mistaken repetition of what had happened previously because Jesus alludes to both events further on in the chapter. Why, then, were the disciples so forgetful that they couldn’t remember what had happened only a few days before? Jesus refused to dismiss a hungry crowd to find food for themselves on their way home. After three days they had exhausted their own supplies and would have run out of energy before they reached home. This was a set-up for another miracle to meet a legitimate need. The bread and fish on hand must have been the last of the disciples’ supply to feed themselves.
Two opposite responses: from Jesus and His disciples. He saw the need; they saw the obstacles. He had compassion on the crowd; they felt nothing for them. He intended to do something about it; they had no answer for the problem. They had forgotten how Jesus has solved the problem once before.
What is the content of Jesus’ thanksgiving prayer? Did He give thanks for the loaves and fishes or did He thank the Father that He had in His hands the potential to feed a multitude? Because His heart was one with the Father, He had no doubt that His compassion expressed the Father’s compassion and that the need of the crowd would be met by a few loaves of bread and a few fish that would not get used up.
This miracle had nothing to do with “Look what I can do.” It was all about “My children are hungry and I must feed them.” There was no need to beg Jesus for food. The Father knew their need before they asked Him. What a lovely illustration of what Jesus taught His disciples about prayer – Matthew 6:8! Although it is perfectly legitimate to ask God to meet our needs, in a sense it is redundant because He actually knows better than we do what we need. It is more about dependence and trust than about moving God to do what we want.