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The Sustainer of life and the Economist of the universe is Christ.  He is so pictured by all four gospel writers in the account of the feeding of five thousand people with just five loaves and two fishes (Matt. 14:13-21; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:5-14; and out text).  The people did eat (Mark 6:42). This is history an cannot be denied by skeptics.  From when came this bread? It came from the “only begotten Son of God,” showing the dignity of the “God-man” and the crucial issue of following Him along for life eternal (cf. Mark6:52; 8:17-21). Yet the miracle was not fully appreciated by those who partook of it for they only perceived Jesus to be a mere prophet (John 6:15).  How much trust does one need to put in God?

Many of the people had been listening to Christ on one side of the sea of Galilee and had followed Him to the other (Mark. 6:30-33; Matt. 4:13).  They needed rest and had come to the one who had compassion on them and knew their needs (Mark 6:34). They were sheep in a deserted place and they had no shepherd (cf. Num. 27:17; Ezek. 34:5, 23, 25).  The “feeding” narrative follows.

Some have misunderstood this “desert” setting to be an arid, sandy place. Mark pictured it as having green grass and a place to which Jesus and His disciples had traveled by boat (Mark 6:39,32).  This should help one understand how the eunuch could find enough water in a “desert” place to be immersed for the remission of sins (Acts 8:26,36).

Christ would prove how much the disciples trusted Him by asking how to solve the problems of feeding the multitude (John 6:6).  The human solution was to send the crowd away (John 6:36).  This kind of answer came from a little faith which did not know how to avoid the faulty and the harmful.  The blessing would have been in immediately turning to Christ and letting him satisfy the need (cf. Matt. 6:33).  Jesus desires to help.  He has the wisdom and the power to help. The “little” one may will never to do great things until it is given to Christ. The Jews had a superstition that demons lived in bread crumbs.  Jesus commanded the fragments be saved for future use. This not only denied their superstition but showed that the blessings of Christ are not limited and that nothing in this life is evil if used according to God’s purposes. It is sad to imagine that all these ate, that most of them just left, and all thought (except for the twelve) that Christ was too “hard” a teacher (John 6:60,66).

Mark juxtaposed Herod’s drunken feast (John 6:18-29) with this banquet in a rural scene. Debauchery and bread in the desert are contrasted. For what does the world usually seek? The Psalmist wrote: “Thou openest Thine han and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (Ps. 14:16). No one eats today without air to breath (sic), sunshine and rain to grow food, and the blessing of health. Yet where are those who bless their daily bread (Mark 6:41)? And further, where are those who seek the true Bread from heaven, Jesus the Christ? The people seemed to follow Jesus just  for the miracle, just for the “good times” (Mark 6:52). Christianity is not a carnal activity. Who will be willing, dear reader, only to follow the Christ for the spiritual bread?

Keith Mosher, The Spiritual Sword, Vol. 20, No. 3 January 1989

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