MARK 6:30-44

30 The apostles gathered together with Jesus and they reported all they had done and taught.  31 He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while."  People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.  32 So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.  33 People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.  They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.  34 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.  35 By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, "This place is a deserted place and it is already very late.  36 Dismiss them so that they can go into the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat."  37 He said to them in reply, "Give them some food yourselves."  But they said to him, "Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?"  38 He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?  Go and see!"  And when they had found out they said, "Five loaves and two fish."  39 So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass.  40 The people took their places in rows by hundreds and of fifties.  41 Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to [his] disciples to set before the people; he also divided up the two fish among them all.  42 They all ate and were satisfied.  43 And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish.  44 Those who ate [of the loaves] were five thousand men. (NAB)

STATE OF THE RESEARCH

            The passage of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes has in the past century been under attack by rationalists whose agenda is to diminish the divine miracles of Jesus.  They state that the people listening to Jesus were motivated to sharing their food with the other people in the crowd.  Even though this skewed view of the miracle now has a footing in conventional Christian preaching, modern scholarship of this narrative portrays Jesus as a person who took up the responsibility to teach and feed a group of people who were in need of a leader.

            Also, the duplication of the story about the multiplication of loaves and fishes feeding, which one feeds five thousand (6:32-44) and the other feeds four thousand (8:1-10) has been debated amongst scholars.  Some theories state that the stories were written from different sources of the same event and some argue the validity of both.  The biggest source of confusion for many is the reaction of the apostles during the second feeding which reflect an unawareness of the same miracle Jesus had performed earlier.  Anyway, by the reader-response approach, we must focus our consideration on the meaning and reasons for the inclusion of these stories in the gospel of Mark.

I.          6:30-32 Jesus takes the apostles after their return to a deserted place to rest and eat.

The great miracle of the Jesus feeding the five thousand with only fives loaves and two fish starts with the return of the twelve disciples whom Jesus also dubbed apostles.  These apostles, who were Peter, James, John, Andrew, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Thaddeus, Simon, and Judas Iscariot (3:16-19), were appointed by Jesus to remain closely with him throughout his ministry.  Also, Jesus enabled them with the ability to advocate and exorcise demons (3:14-15).   Earlier Jesus doubled them up and sent these twelve apostles, which literally means “one who is sent”[i], on a mission while facilitating them with power over unclean spirits (6:7).  When they returned from the mission, they assembled with Jesus to convey all they have accomplished (6:30).  They did many acts of authority as extensions of the power and ministry of Jesus. 

In imitation of his own ministry by the addressing of the people about the imminence of the kingdom of God to help the people realize the need for repentance (1:15) and the expelling of demons from men (1:23-27, 32, 34, 39; 3:11; 5:6-13), the apostles also “preached repentance and drove out demons” (6:12-13).  Plus, the apostles “anointed many with oil and cured the sick” just as Jesus cured the sick of many illnesses and ailments (1:30-31, 41-42; 2:11-12; 3:5, 10; 5:27-29, 41; 6:5).  Even though oil has never been used by Jesus in his healing miracles, it was viewed as a means of propelling the healing force of God and it was frequently used as a therapeutic medication.[ii]  As they gathered together closely around their leader, they do not gather to just share their encounters, but the apostles gather close to Jesus to listen to the deeper meanings and lessons in their experiences by the teaching of Jesus like he has done before so many times (2:2, 2:13; 3:20; 4:1, 10; 5:21).  To Jesus, this mission was not just in order to give his closest disciples divine power or to receive some assistance in his ministry, but Jesus used this mission as an opportunity for experience, instruction, and exposure to the ministry that they will have to continue when Jesus is no longer there.

After Jesus gathered the apostles to explain all that they had completed during their mission and to learn from the teacher, Jesus requested that they replicate his prayerful life by retreating to a deserted place and relaxing (1:35, 45; 6:31).   Jesus wanted them to have a chance to get away to rest and eat (6:31), because people were arriving in such vast numbers (1:45; 3:8-9, 20; 4:1; 5:21).  Moreover, Jesus is continuing the lesson of his ministry.  In his ministry, Jesus performed many deeds for the people, but he did not want to be known (1:34, 44; 3:12; 5:43).  Every time Jesus retreated to a deserted place, it was following a pronouncement to tell no one of him (1:35, 45).  Jesus withdrew to prayer in a deserted place to reaffirm himself in his mission to be the suffering Son of God.[iii]  When it could be easy to get caught up in the fame that surrounded him, Jesus maintained focus by going off to pray in a deserted place.  The deserted place reaffirms the true model of discipleship, because it is a place of self-sacrifice.[iv]  Jesus continued his teaching by sending them to a deserted place, because it would be easy for the apostles to get caught up in the power given to them and the deeds that they performed.  Jesus wanted the apostles to maintain their focus and reaffirm the mission that they are to embark upon by going to a place of self-sacrifice, a deserted place.

II.         6:33-34 Jesus feels pity for the people who hastened to see him.

As they departed by boat to the deserted place (6:32), many of the followers of Jesus noticed them leaving.  As repeatedly done before, the people followed them (1:36-37; 3:7; 5:24; 6:33) from every place by land and ended up reaching the place of arrival before Jesus and the apostles (6:33).  As their boat reached the destination, the large crowd approached them (1:45; 3:8-9, 20; 4:1; 5:21).  Even though the huge assembly disrupted the plan of Jesus and the apostles to depart “to a deserted place and rest a while” (6:31), Jesus once again neglected his arrangement of isolation in order to serve the people (1:35-37; 6:34).  He is lead to “pity” (1:41; 5:19; 6:34) for the people, because “they were like sheep without a shepherd” (6:34).

Jesus in his mercy had pity on them when he saw the crowd from the boat, so he willingly fulfills the promise made by God and shepherds the people by teaching them many things (Ezek 34:23-24; 6:34).  For God vowed that he will be their shepherd by tending his flock through his own Davidic servant (Ezek 34:7-24).[v]    To the sheep without a shepherd, he gave them “new teachings with authority” (1:27) which were never heard before from the scribes (1:22).  Jesus became their shepherd, because he saw these people without a leader dispersed throughout the land searching for truth and unity.  Throughout their history, the leaders of Israel have been a constant failure to be the selfless shepherds that watch over the sheep of God (Ezek 34:8).  These leaders of Israel including King Herod have shepherded by their own selfish concerns and pastured their desires while letting their flock go astray (6:17-29; Ezek 34:2-3, 8, 10).  As a result, these people have been disbanded and “scattered” by exiles to numerous areas (Duet 30:3-4; Tob 13:5), but God has fulfilled his promised to provide a leader that will unify them together as a community of God while directing and rescuing them from harm (Ezek 34:1-6, 12).  For in ancient scripture, the people of God have been hungering for a “leader in all things” to gather them together and to direct them in all that they do, so they may not be “like sheep without a shepherd” any longer (Num 27:17; 1 Kgs 22:17). 

By now, it is obvious Jesus has accepted the role as the shepherd of the people.  As shepherd, he will tend the sheep by strengthening the weak, healing the sick, bringing back the stray, and protecting the endangered with all his deeds and teachings (Ezek. 34:4, 11).  Although Jesus has accepted this responsibility, he must also prepare the apostles to continue his ministry and his role as shepherd after his time on earth is done.  Originally, Jesus took the twelve apostles to a deserted place to rest and eat (6:31), but most importantly he took them to teach them how to maintain their focus and reaffirm themselves in his ministry by going to a place of self-sacrifice, a deserted place.  As it turns out, the original plan had to be changed due to a greater need for the crowd to have a shepherd (1:35-38; 6:34).

III.        6:35-38 Jesus discusses with the apostles on how to feed the hungry crowd.

  As Jesus continues to instruct the crowd, the apostles inform him of two items; the fact that they are at a deserted place and that the time is very late (6:35).  According to the outlook of the apostles, they recommended that Jesus dismiss the crowd, so they could buy food at the nearby farms and villages (6:36).  By the apostles pointing out the need for the people to eat, it also shows the desire of the apostles to have the meal that they had planned with Jesus.  A problem arose for the crowd, who were not prepared to have a meal due to rushing by foot to reach the deserted place (6:33), unlike the apostles, who came to the deserted place expecting to have a meal (6:31).  How can the crowd get food to eat at such a late time in a deserted place?  The apostles advise Jesus to dismiss them at that moment, so the people will have time to purchase enough for a meal somewhere away from the deserted place (6:36), but dismissing the crowd presents a dilemma for Jesus as the shepherd.  By scattering the flock without food, he would be hampering his purpose as the shepherd of the people of God to restore, preserve the unity of his people, and provide them with food (Ezek. 1-24).[vi]

Just as God nourished the Israelites in the deserted place during their exodus from Egypt (Exod. 16), Jesus ordered the apostles to provide a meal themselves for the crowd (6:37).  Shocked by the absurdity of the demand given to them by Jesus, the apostles rhetorically asked if they were expected “to buy two hundred day’s wages worth of food and give it to them to eat” (6:37).  In response, Jesus takes control of the situation and adjusts the perspective of the apostles from trying to obtaining enough food for the people eat to giving the people the food that they already hold by asking about the amount of food that they have in their possession (6:38).  Curiosity of how the shepherd will feed crowd continually rises throughout the exchanges between Jesus and the apostles; it reaches the climax when the apostles report that they possess only “five loaves and two fish” to feed the whole crowd (6:38).

IV.       6:39-44 Jesus miraculously feeds the five thousand men.

After inquiring about the amount of food, Jesus tells the apostles to organize the people by sitting them down in the green grass “in rows by hundreds and of fifties” (6:39-40).  As Jesus starts the preparation of the meal in correlation to Jewish rituals, he took their small amount of food while looked toward heaven and blessed God as the source of the food (6:41).[vii]  Jesus humbly shows that not by mere man is such a miracle possible, but it is only through the power given to him by God who is the source of all that is good.   Jesus broke the bread and divided the fish amongst the apostle to give out to the people (6:41).  Even though the amount of food was insufficient to feed the large crowd, “they all ate and were satisfied” (6:42).  The people did not just receive a tiny portion of the five loaves and two fish, but they received enough that “all” the people were hungry no more (Ps. 132:15; 37:19; 78:29; 22:26; Joel 2:26).  In past miracles with the multiplication of food, God provided food for a widow and her son through Elijah (1 Kgs. 17:8-16) and enabled a hundred men to be feed on twenty loaves with some left over through a doubtful servant by Elisha (2 Kgs. 4:42-44).  But nothing can compare to the miraculous feat of not only feeding five thousand men (6:44), but the greatness of the power of God accumulating twelve wicker baskets full of the remains of the feast (6:43). 

In comparison, this feast for five thousand contrasts the deathly feast of Herod (6:14-29).  The feast of Herod is a birthday celebration presumably in a palace for the elite class of the land, but the feast of Jesus is held on the green grass for every class of people.  The feast of Herod starts with the grudge of Herodias against John, but Jesus begins his feast with pity for the hungry people.  Herod commands his servants to kill John, but Jesus commands his servants to feed the people.  These stories of the feasts of Herod and Jesus turn out to be the narrative quintessence of the disparity between the followers of Jesus and the leaders of the people.[viii]

In the end, Jesus not only succeeded in helping the apostles keep focus on the mission and teaching about give of oneself in self-sacrifice, but through it all Jesus remained a shepherd to his flock.  Throughout the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Jesus exemplifies the fulfillment of the true shepherd for the people of God by restoring unification among the people and abundantly feeding them.  He united and organized the scattered people from all different places in numerated groups (6:33, 40) and copiously ended their hunger by setting his flock upon the “good pasture” of the green grass (Ps. 23:2; Ezek.:34:14; Isa. 49:9).    Through Jesus, the people of God will be fully satisfied of their hunger for a “leader in all things” to gather them together and to direct them in all that they do, so now they are not “like sheep without a shepherd” any more (Num 27:17; 1 Kgs 22:17).

Pragmatics on Mark 6:30-44

Throughout the story of the feeding of the five thousand, we grow into a deeper understanding of Jesus, his teachings, and the gifts that he offers us.  As we live our lives spreading the gospel of Christ, we must never forget that all good that we do is from God.   We may be able to say that God is the source of that is good in our lives, but we often fail many times to remember that in our actions and attitudes.  We tend to view ourselves as the one who has the power or the talent, but we must work to maintain our focus on the ministry of Jesus.  In imitation of Jesus, we should find time in our day to be alone to pray and even schedule silent retreats, so we may be able to keep focus on his ministry in our deserted place. 

Even though rest and prayer are important, we must not neglect our responsibility to help others that are in need.  Will we only see our own needs or will we give of ourselves, even if we have little to offer, for the needs of others?  We must work to be a shepherd to people like Jesus and gather the lost, feed the hungry, and fill the needs of people.  Is there something or someone in our life that we feel pity for but we stand idle due to feeling incapable of doing something?  Even when the tasks look impossible and overwhelming, through the divine power of Jesus, we can overcome any obstacle no matter what we are able to offer. 

Lastly, Jesus is our shepherd.  We must never forget that no matter how far we might stray, he is always there to gather us back in.  He is there to take care of us, lead, and direct us.  Will we remain difficult or follow?  What is it that we lack in our life either it being physical or spiritual?  Take all we lack and hurry to offer it to Jesus, so that he may have pity on us.  His grace and blessing will not only fill our need to the point of satisfaction, but it will overflow in abundance.