And he said to them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a little. For those coming and those going were many, and they had not leisure even to eat.
The twelve come back from their first mission full of news. At the same time word arrives that John the Baptist has been murdered. And the crowds press so hard that meals are impossible. Into that mix of success, grief and pressure the Lord tells them to come away and rest.
In verse 30 the apostles tell Jesus everything. Much depends on who hears the report of our work.
We do go out in service. But we should also come back and tell Jesus all that we have had to do or say. There may be times when it is right and fitting to cheer others with the wonderful works of God. But it is always good and healthy to go to the Lord about it. In His presence there is no danger of being puffed up, and thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. There we learn how small we are, and the defects even in what we most desire for the building up of one another.
Notice what is missing from His reply.
The Lord does not say anything about their success. There was danger of the messengers exalting themselves. The silence of the Lord puts a check on it. It was His own power which in goodness and mercy had done all this. Instead we hear Him say, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." Mark alone records this. How necessary it is for all servants to heed this loving word.
The pressure came from the house itself. The older phrase "no leisure" can also mislead.
An Eastern house is open to anyone who wants to enter. Meal-times are no exception to the freedom of access everyone expects. So the apostles had no leisure — or rather, they had no convenient opportunity to eat, because the people kept intruding. "Leisure" may suggest having nothing to do. But the sense here seems to be that there was no suitable moment even for meals, because of persistent interruption.
One writer sets three reasons for the withdrawal side by side.
First, the Lord retired into the desert because of the murder of His witness. That murder was a sure sign of His own rejection and crucifixion. Second, another reason for the Lord taking an outside place has to do with the service of His disciples. Naturally this has a prominent place in the Gospel of Mark. Their service had taken them into the world and had created such a stir that "many were coming and going." In such a case the servant needs to be drawn apart from the restless spirit of the world, to be with Him and rest a while. The third reason appears in Luke's Gospel. There we learn that the Lord draws the disciples apart to teach them.
The rest He offers has a limit, and that limit points to a rest still to come.
"Going" and "coming" speak of the changing circumstances that mark a world of unrest... In His compassionate care the Lord will give us times of rest "apart" from the busy world. But down here it will only be "rest a while" — words that show we must be on the move again. For the eternal rest we must look ahead. "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God." Of the one who enters that blessed rest we read, "Never shall he go out of it."
The apostles were not the only ones arriving that day.
On one road come the sad disciples of John, who had lost their master. On the other road the disciples of Jesus return, flushed with success from their first missionary tour. The two companies meet in the Lord's presence. The Lord says to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." How morally lovely this call is! The call comes alike to successful workers and to disheartened disciples. Each alike needed it, but a desert with Jesus can be no desert.
The rest He gives is more than time off.
There was more than rest for the body: with Him what rest for the soul! It is good at times to be alone, and yet not alone — alone from man, so that we may be with the only One who can give us fresh strength, and at the same time the lowliness we need to serve better.
- Return — After service, go back and tell Him everything. His presence is the safest place to weigh your own work.
- Report — He answers their success with silence, not applause. The power was His.
- Retreat — The desolate place pulls the servant out of the restless traffic of "many coming and going," where there was no convenient moment to eat.
- Refresh — The call reaches the joyful and the grieving alike. A desert with Him is no desert.
- Resume — It is rest "a while," not the final rest. He means us to move again, and the Sabbath rest that never ends is still ahead.
And they went away apart into a desert place by ship.
The twelve apostles are back from their preaching tour, Herod has killed John the Baptist, and the crowds leave no room even to eat. So the Lord puts His workers in a boat and takes them across the water to an empty place.
They go by boat, and they go privately. One writer finds in that arrangement proof of a care most of us never credit the Lord with.
They depart, then, into a desert place by boat privately. Now, it is the Lord's way of goodness that I think so worthy of note here. We do not make enough of the Lord. We are not quite simple in our thoughts of His interest in us in all the details of circumstances day by day. We do not always think of Him as a real, living, tender friend. We forget that He is taken up with us, set on our good, and willing to care for our bodies as well as our souls. Here is the proof of it as to the Twelve.
The apostles came back full of what they had done and taught. The Lord gives them no review of their results, only an invitation to withdraw.
The Lord does not say anything about their success (verse 13). The messengers were in danger of exalting themselves. The Lord's silence puts a check on it. It was His own power that had done all this, in goodness and mercy. Instead we hear Him say, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." Again, only Mark records this. Every servant needs to heed this loving word. In constant service it is easy for a servant to grow proud and take some credit to himself.
More than one Gospel writer reports this withdrawal, and each gives a different reason for it.
First, the Lord withdrew into the desert because His witness had been murdered. That was a sure sign that He Himself would be rejected and crucified. It showed that the age was about to change, and so the Lord takes a place outside and apart from the guilty nation… Second, He also took an outside place because of the service of His disciples. Naturally this has a prominent place in the Gospel of Mark. Their service had taken them into the world and had stirred it up so much that "there were many coming and going." At such times the servant needs to be drawn away from the restless spirit of the world, to be with Him and rest a while. Luke's Gospel gives the third reason: the disciples are drawn apart so that the Lord can teach them.
The rest offered here has a limit built into the wording, and it points beyond itself.
In His compassionate care the Lord will give us times of rest "apart" from the busy world. But down here it will only be "rest a while" — words that show we must be moving again. For the eternal rest we must look ahead. "There remains… a rest for the people of God." Of the one who enters that blessed rest we read, "He shall go out no more" (Heb. 4:9; Rev. 3:12).
The planned quiet did not survive the crossing. What the Lord did when it was broken is the point.
At the Lord's word they depart into the desert place privately. But "the people saw them going," and in their eagerness to reach Christ they got there ahead of them and gathered to Him. It seemed the disciples would lose their rest after all. Yet the Lord had tender care for His own and compassion for the crowd. He came out from His place of retreat to meet them. There might be rest for His disciples: there was no rest for Him.
Two groups came to Jesus that day. John's disciples had just buried their master. The apostles were back from a successful tour. The same invitation covered both.
The two companies meet in the Lord's presence. The Lord says to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." How lovely this call is! He makes it alike to successful workers and to disheartened disciples. Both alike needed it, but a desert with Jesus can be no desert.
- Report — the servants come back to Christ first, not to an audience. His silence about their results keeps them from taking credit for His power.
- Retreat — the boat and the empty place are a deliberate withdrawal. He draws them away from a nation that had just killed His witness, out of the world's restless stir, and into His teaching.
- Rest — the rest is real, and it covers their bodies too. He is a friend who cares about the details of daily life, not only about souls.
- Reminder — "a while" is the measure of it here; the rest that never ends is still ahead.
- Return — when the crowd broke in, He gave His disciples their rest and took none Himself. He went out again in compassion to teach.
And many saw them going, and recognised them, and ran together there on foot, out of all the cities, and got [there] before them.
The twelve disciples had just come back from their mission. The Lord took them away by boat to a quiet place, so they could rest and eat. The plan failed at once. The crowd saw them leave, knew who they were, and ran round the shore on foot. They reached the landing place first.
The Lord could have gone by land. One writer explains why He chose the boat, and what the crowd's eagerness did to that choice.
The Lord went by boat, though He might have gone by land. He wanted privacy, and rest for the twelve, so He chose the voyage instead of the walk. His thoughtful care for them was clear. But they did not get the rest they wanted. The crowd, in their eagerness, went after Him on foot and "got there ahead of them," says Mark.
Mark records not only that the crowd came, but how they came. One writer traces the effort it took them.
They did not depart unnoticed. The people were too much alert. They had received many benefits through the mercy of the Master, and some seem to have kept watch on His movements. They saw the little group get into the boat, and many "knew Him." They recognised their Benefactor. With their usual impulsiveness, and at the cost of real effort and tiredness, they followed the boat along the shore for some ten or twelve miles. Many others from the nearby villages joined them. Mark, with his usual vivid detail, records that the people "ran" — such was their earnestness. He adds that they ran "on foot."
The word behind "recognized" here is a strengthened one, and it carries more than a glance of curiosity.
In some passages the compound word, especially in its verb form, means "certain personal knowledge, and the recognition of the truth of a thing that follows from it" — "recognising because we know." See Matthew 14:35; Mark 5:30; Mark 6:33, 54.
Who did they recognize — the Lord, or His disciples? Old copies differ. The main ones read "recognized them," some read "him," and a few have neither word (William Kelly).
after
The crowd had spoiled the rest the Lord planned. Watch how He met them.
This is very sweet. His purpose in withdrawing was to give His disciples rest, for they had no time so much as to eat. The haste of the crowd was really an intrusion, and yet the Lord at once turns to them in love. Here again there is not the slightest sign of disturbed feeling. He showed no coldness to the intruders. On the contrary, He takes up this fresh service with the same eagerness with which He had turned aside with His disciples to give them a little rest along the way.
The Lord planned the quiet for His disciples. When the crowd got there first, He did not keep any of it for Himself.
It seemed then that, after all, they would lose their rest. But the Lord came out from His place of retirement to meet the people. He acted in tender care for His own, and in compassion for the crowd. There might be rest for His disciples: there was no rest for Him. His compassion would not let Him rest.
Something larger is happening here. This withdrawal marks a change in how the Lord stands toward the people.
It was not that the people stopped coming to the Lord. Nor did He stop being gracious — He could not. But He now stood, as it were, at a distance from them. He dealt with them at that distance, not as one who lived among them and was one of themselves. As He had come and been rejected, He went away — they had to seek Him now; He had sought them. They followed Him, and came to Him out of all the towns.
- Withdrawal. The Lord chose the boat over the road to give His disciples privacy and rest. The crowd's run overturned the plan before the boat landed.
- Recognition. "Many recognized them" uses a strengthened word for certain personal knowledge. These were people who had received mercy from Him. They knew who was in that boat.
- Reach. They ran some ten or twelve miles round the lake on foot. Others joined them from the villages, and they arrived first.
- Reception. The crowd's arrival was an intrusion, yet He showed them no coldness. He took up fresh service with the same eagerness with which He had turned aside for rest.
- Result. There was rest for the disciples and none for Him — and from now on the crowds must seek Him, where once He had sought them.
And on leaving [the ship] [Jesus] saw a great crowd, and he was moved with compassion for them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
The apostles have just come back from their mission, and John the Baptist has been killed. Jesus takes His disciples away by boat to rest. But the crowd runs ahead on foot and is waiting when He lands. What He does with that interruption tells us more about His heart than almost any other line in Mark.
The crowd arrived at the very moment Jesus was seeking quiet for tired workers.
This is very sweet. His object in retiring had been to give His disciples rest — they had not even had time to eat — and the haste of the crowd really was an intrusion. Yet the Lord at once turns to them in love. Here again there is not the slightest expression of disturbed feeling. He showed no coldness to the intruders. He enters on this fresh service with the same eagerness with which He had turned aside with His disciples to give them a little rest.
Beside Him, the disciples look small.
How forbidding their selfishness looks in the light of His magnificent grace! He had gone to a desert place to give His disciples rest. But the moment human need appeared, the deep flowing tide of compassion rolled out from His tender heart.
Israel had rulers, priests and teachers at that time. Not one of them was caring for the people.
Who in all the earth cared for these poor ones of the flock of Israel? A Gentile emperor at Rome ruled them with a rod of iron. An Edomite sat on the throne of David. Were Annas and Caiaphas the high priests the people needed — men who would deal gently with the ignorant and the wayward? The scribes and Pharisees had no compassion in their hearts. They devoured widows' houses and loaded men's shoulders with heavy burdens hard to bear. The grave had only just closed over the body of the last of God's prophets. Truly Israel was without prophet, priest, or king.
Religious activity was everywhere. That is what makes the verdict so searching.
It is full of solemn meaning for us today that the Lord in that day looked on Israel as an unkept, unfed flock… And yet there was much religion then. There were many sects. People kept the feast days. There was a great stir in everything that might mark a day of public religious decency and devotion… There were plenty of teachers, and plenty of zeal. Yet under the eye of Him who saw them as God saw them, Israel was without a shepherd, an unkept, unfed flock.
Mark does not only say what Jesus felt. He says what the feeling produced. The next writer quotes an older translation: "moved with compassion."
The heart of the great Servant comes out most beautifully in verse 34. There we are told He was "moved with compassion." The sight of them, like sheep without a shepherd, stirred only compassion in Him — not, as so often with us, feelings of annoyance or contempt. And He was moved by the compassion He felt; that is the wonder of it.
The love was already there, waiting for somewhere to go.
His heart went out to them, and flowed out. It was never held back from doing good; it only needed a channel… "He began to teach them many things." They now appeared before His soul in some measure as "the poor of the flock," and He would feed them.
He met two kinds of need that day, and the order matters.
His compassion moved Him in two directions. First, to minister to them in spiritual things. Second, to minister to them in material things. Notice the order: the spiritual came first. "He began to teach them many things," though what He said is not recorded; then when evening came He relieved their hunger. Let us learn from this how to act. If people have bodily needs, it is good that we meet them as far as we are able. But let us always keep the Word of God in the first place.
He was rejected by the very people He came to.
Jehovah was the true Shepherd of Israel. He was present there in the person of Christ, who was in truth rejected. Still, the people's ingratitude did not weaken His compassion and His love.
What He was then, He still is:
No failure on the part of Israel can wither up the kindness and compassion of the heart of Jehovah… He is the same today. Despite all our weaknesses and many failures He cares for our souls and provides for our bodies.
- Sight — the crowd broke into His rest, and He saw need, not nuisance. The disciples saw intruders; He saw sheep.
- Shepherdless — Israel had rulers, priests, teachers and plenty of religion, but no one feeding the flock. That gap is what moved Him.
- Stirred — the wonder is not just that He felt compassion, but that He acted on it. The love needed only a channel.
- Sustenance — He taught first and fed second. That order is our pattern: never let bodily needs crowd out the soul's.
- Steadfast — ingratitude did not weaken His compassion then. Our failures do not wither it now.
And when it was already late in the day, his disciples coming to him say, The place is desert, and it is already late in the day;
It is late in the day, and the disciples come to Jesus with a plan for the crowd. Writers find in that plan a mirror of our own hearts, because it starts by sending people away from Christ.
The ESV says the hour "grew late." Older translations read "late in the day." One writer fixes the exact range.
"Late in the day" — that is, between three and six in the afternoon, a time the French still describe as soir, the first of the two Jewish evenings. In verse 47 we have the second evening, from six o'clock to dusk.
The disciples describe where they are standing. In fact, they are describing what they think they have.
The Lord had taken them away for rest, but the people still follow Him. He occupies Himself with them in mercy and grace. The disciples served only as instruments of that grace, and they knew nothing of the resources now about to appear. Those resources answered to another promise made to the Jews: "I will satisfy her poor with bread." "We are here in a desolate place" was their consciousness — that is, we have no resources.
As human planning, the suggestion was sound. Measured by the law, it was not.
The suggestion of the apostles was wise enough, perhaps, as a piece of purely human policy. Common sense is much praised in the affairs of life. Yet it could invent nothing better than self-help to supply the needed food in these unusual circumstances. The proposed scheme relieved the disciples of any responsibility for the welfare of the people. But it fell far short of the compassionate spirit taught in the law: "You shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need" (Deuteronomy 15:7-8).
Their plan begins with two words: "send them away." One writer turns those words into a mirror.
Oh, do we not see the reflection of ourselves here? "Send them away." Was that all the disciples could think or say? Had they not profited more from their Master's past ways? Had they not profited from the grace the Lord had been showing for so long to poor, shepherdless Israel? "Send them away." Send them away from Jesus! Without refreshment from Jesus! This is what even disciples could propose to the Lord Himself. Is this not what we learn about our own hearts? Do we not keep discovering how little we are able to count on grace? Its resources have no limit, yet we fail to turn them to the difficulty in front of us. Here the lack was in others. But what a lack in themselves, when the unbelief of disciples speaks out to the Lord like this!
The Lord had taken the disciples aside to rest. That shapes how they now see the crowd.
When the day was far gone, the disciples came from their rest and said to the Lord, "Send them away." It seems the disciples saw the crowd as intruders on their rest. They wanted to be rid of them. But the Lord will not send them away hungry, for is it not written, "I will satisfy her poor with bread"? No failure on Israel's part can dry up the kindness and compassion in the heart of Jehovah. […] He is the same today. In spite of all our weaknesses and many failures, He cares for our souls and provides for our bodies.
Their words did not stop the feeding of the crowd. But they cost the disciples something.
So there was a moral breach between Him and them. Their selfishness, their narrowness of heart, had caused it. He cannot take the course they prescribe. He feeds the crowd instead of dismissing them. […] Their selfishness would have been glad to separate Him from the people. So His discipline must now separate them from the joy and strength of His presence.
- Late — Mark's "late in the day" is the first evening, about three to six in the afternoon. A second evening comes in verse 47.
- Empty — "a desolate place" was a confession, not just a location. The disciples believed they had no resources. Over the scene stood the promise, "I will satisfy her poor with bread."
- Sensible — the plan passed as good human policy. But it removed the disciples' responsibility for the people, and the law asked for open hands.
- Away — the fatal words are "send them away," since sending the crowd off meant sending them away from the only One who could feed them.
- Costly — He will not dismiss the hungry. And the narrow heart that pushed people away from Him cost the disciples the joy and strength of His presence.
send them away that they may go into the country and villages around, and buy themselves bread, for they have not anything they can eat.
The crowd has followed Jesus into an empty place, and the day is almost gone. So the twelve disciples come to Him with a practical plan: let the people go and buy their own food. It sounds sensible. Commentators find in it something deeper about their hearts, and about the Lord who answered them.
The words sound like simple crowd management. One writer hears in them something far worse, and sees the same reflex in himself.
"Send them away." Was that all the disciples could think or say? Had they not gained more from their past experience of their Master? Had they not gained from the grace the Lord had been showing for so long to poor Israel, a people with no shepherd? "Send them away." Send them away from Jesus! Without refreshment from Jesus! This was what even disciples could propose to the Lord Himself. Is not this what we learn of our own hearts? Do we not keep discovering how little we can count on grace, and how little we can turn its endless resources to meet the difficulty in front of us? ... Here the lack was in others. But what a lack in themselves, when the unbelief of the disciples pours itself out like this to the Lord!
The plan sounds caring. One writer weighs what was hiding under it.
In Matthew 14 the suggestion begins with the disciples, but it is to send the crowd away rather than to feed them. This was a wretched suggestion of their heart. It was, as we say, one word for the crowd and two for themselves. They wanted to be left alone, and they felt the people were intruding. (See Mark 6.) There was something both of hypocrisy and coldheartedness in it. It was a wretched sample of the common selfishness.
Judged as advice, the plan was not stupid. Judged by the law God had already given Israel, it failed.
As a piece of human policy, the suggestion of the apostles was perhaps wise enough. Common sense is praised highly in the affairs of life. Yet here it could think of nothing better than self-help to supply the food needed in such unusual circumstances. The plan freed the disciples of all responsibility for the welfare of the people. But it fell far short of the compassion the law taught: "If there is a poor man among you... you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother" (Deut. 15:7-11).
They had just come back from a mission, still full of their own work. That is exactly when they ran out of answers.
The Lord, however, corrects everything with grace. He takes them away into a deserted place, and there His love never tires. A hungry crowd was there. Only a little while before, these disciples had been full of what they had taught and what they had done. Was this not a crisis worthy of their labours now? Could they not help in the present distress? They seem not so much as to have thought of it... They were at their wits' end. They did not know what to do. Strange to say, they never thought of the Lord.
Jesus refuses the plan. He answers with a promise made long before to Israel, and with a task handed back to the men who wanted out.
It would seem as if the disciples looked upon them as intruders on their rest and would gladly be rid of them. But the Lord will not send them away hungry, for is it not written, "I will satisfy her poor with bread"? No failure on the part of Israel can dry up the kindness and compassion of the heart of Jehovah... Moreover, in carrying out this work of love, He uses others. He can say to the disciples, "Give them something to eat." But their faith was not able to use His power — as is so often true of us.
Both plans ended with the crowd leaving. What the people carried home was not the same.
Then comes the feeding of the crowds, and the way the Lord sends them away. It was very different from what it would have been if the disciples had had their way. They would have sent the people off to buy bread for themselves. Thousands would have gone away hungry, witnesses, as it were, against Christ. He sent those many thousands away happy and satisfied — so many witnesses to the tenderness of His heart and the divine glory of His person.
- Away. The disciples' plan sent needy people away from the one person able to meet the need. Good human sense can hide unbelief.
- Self. The crowd had broken into their rest. Commentators call the plan one word for the crowd and two for themselves.
- Standard. The plan handed the problem back to the hungry. It fell short of the compassion the law itself required.
- Give. Christ's counter-word is not "buy" but "give" — and He puts the giving into the hands of the men who wanted to be rid of the work.
- Sent. He did send them away in the end: not empty and hungry as witnesses against Him, but filled, as witnesses to His heart.
And he answering said to them, Give *ye* them to eat. And they say to him, Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them to eat?
The disciples wanted to send the hungry crowd away to buy food, and the Lord told them to feed the crowd themselves. Their answer — a price they could not pay — shows what they had not yet learned about the One standing beside them.
Their plan to send the crowd away came out of their own hearts. The Lord would not take that road.
There was a moral breach between Him and them. Their selfishness, their narrowness of heart, had caused it. He cannot take the course they suggest. He feeds, instead of dismissing, the multitude.
He did not simply hand them a job. He expected them to see who was standing there.
The Lord expects them to recognise the power present with them: "Give them something to eat." They count on the resources they have right now, as unbelief always does. That shows their darkness about who was there. But it did not hinder Jehovah's love, nor Jesus' power as such.
They answer with a price. One writer does the sums, then sets them against Israel's own history.
The one who did the sums for the group worked out that two hundred denarii spent on bread would only give a little to each person. That is a penny's worth of bread for every twenty-five men in the crowd, and nothing for the women and children. Besides, where could they find so much bread in a country place with so few people living there? Yet did they not know the Scriptures? Had they forgotten what Jehovah had done in the days of Elisha? He multiplied the loaves of a man from Baal-shalisha, and a hundred men had enough (2 Kings 4:42-44).
Their problem was not a missing supply. It was a failure to count on the supply they had.
In carrying out this work of love, He uses others. He can say to the disciples, "Give them something to eat." But their faith could not use His power. It is so often the same with us. They can only think of how much they would need, forgetting the vast resources they had in Christ.
The Lord asked what they already had. He likes to use what looks too small to matter.
The Lord works in His own power, yet He loves to use what human wisdom might despise. Moses may plead his inability, but the Lord will use that man of slow speech... So now our Lord draws on the resources already in the hands of the disciples. What they had could never have been enough without Him. But He is always with us, in one way or another, ready to work and bless with His almighty power and goodness.
He refused their plan, but He did not push them aside and act alone.
He does not distribute the bread directly, as if He took no account of His servants. He meant to show His disciples that the love of Christ delights to work through human channels. The same unbelief works two ways. On one side it sees nothing in Jesus. On the other it overlooks and denies the fitting instruments Jesus uses to hand out His blessings in this world. But Jesus alone was the source of it all, so the disciples were to be the channels. They both learned and taught what grace could do to them, and through them.
That distinction between source and channel shaped the whole of their later work.
The apostles could not multiply the five loaves into plenty for five thousand men. But they could carry the supply, as it grew, to the hungry mouths of their brothers in Israel. They did this service under their Master's eye. It matched their later spiritual service as the "fellow workers of God" (1 Cor. 3:9). The apostles, though forming the foundation of the church, were never originators. They acted in the name of the Lord.
The command still stands over anyone who feels too poor to be useful.
Our resources may feel small. Yet in having Christ Himself we have just what everyone needs. Let us not hold back, but give what we are able. Too often we look in the wrong direction, as they did. We act as if some lesser source than Christ Himself might offer hope of meeting the need.
- Compassion — Their narrow hearts opened a moral breach with the Lord. He would not send the hungry away; He fed them.
- Command — "Give them something to eat" was a call to recognise the power already standing among them.
- Calculation — They answered the need with a budget. Two hundred denarii would leave each man a scrap and the women and children nothing.
- Contribution — He drew on the little already in their hands, just as He once used a man of slow speech. Small means, and the power plainly His.
- Channel — He chose to pass the bread through His servants. They were never the source; they carried what they received.
And he says to them, How many loaves have ye? Go [and] see. And when they knew they say, Five, and two fishes.
The disciples wanted the hungry crowd sent away to buy food. The Lord told them to do the feeding instead, then asked how much bread they already had — five loaves and two fish.
The question follows a command from the verse before. That command was aimed at the disciples themselves.
The Lord had now to share His own thoughts and feelings with them. He does it in this way: "You give them something to eat." They do not need to go. They do not need to buy. What Jesus tells them is to give.
He does not tell them how little they have. He sends them to count it, so they must face their own poverty first.
But, as so often with ourselves, their faith was not able to use His power. They could only think of how much they would need. They forgot the vast resources they had in Christ. The Lord first makes it plain that their own resources fall far short. Then He brings their little — the five loaves and the two fishes — into touch with heaven's plenty. The result: five thousand men "all ate and were satisfied."
Some have used this question to argue that Christ knew only what any man could know. One writer answers by pointing to another Gospel account of the same miracle.
People give three references to prove that Christ's knowledge and understanding were of the ordinary human order. One is Mark 6:38, "How many loaves do you have?" He asked the question, they say, "because He did not know!" He asked for information because He needed it! So we are told that for ordinary knowledge of ordinary things He had to use our ordinary channels of information! But another of the Gospel writers, an eyewitness of the miracle too, has told us: "He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do." Remembering that, this is far too childish to detain us.
The Lord works in His own power. Yet He builds the miracle on the little already in the disciples' hands.
The Lord loves to make use of what human wisdom might look down on as worthless, even while He works in His own power. Moses may plead that he cannot speak, but the Lord will use that man of slow speech... So now our Lord draws on the resources that were already in the hands of the disciples. Not that what they had could have been any use without Him. But He is always with us, in one way or another, ready to work and bless, according to His almighty power and goodness.
The same question turns up elsewhere in Scripture. God asks it when He is about to act through someone who has almost nothing.
"What do you have in the house?" said the prophet to the woman. Jesus later said to His disciples, "How many loaves do you have?" He had said to Moses at the hill, "What is that in your hand?" It is fitting that we use whatever we have. It may be quite unequal to the need, but we should still put it to work. It may be only a shepherd's staff, and Israel has to be redeemed. It may be only a jar of oil, and the creditor has to be paid, who has the right to sell the children and everything else. It may be only five barley loaves, and five thousand hungry people have to be fed.
The two items in their answer are not random food. One writer traces what each says about Christ.
Of course the bread is a picture of Christ as the bread of life. It is the result of a grain of wheat dying, springing up, being cut down, threshed and ground into flour. Then it is mixed with other ingredients, kneaded and exposed to the heat of the fire. It is Christ passing through suffering and death to be the spiritual food we need. The fishes also picture Christ as the One who has passed through the waters of judgment to bring us eternal blessing. Just present Christ and Him crucified to the world, and the results may make us marvel. For it is God who gives the increase.
- Command. "You give them something to eat" comes first. The question about loaves trains disciples who wanted to send the crowd away to give instead.
- Count. "Go and see" makes them measure their own supply. They own their weakness before He shows His power.
- Knowledge. The question is not evidence of ignorance. Another Gospel writer records that He knew what He would do and spoke to test.
- Littleness. Five loaves and two fish are just what He loves to use. It was the same with Moses' staff and the jar of oil. Bring forward what is in your hand, however small.
- Christ. The bread and the fish speak of One who went through death and judgment; present Him, and God gives the increase.
And he ordered them to make them all sit down by companies on the green grass.
Thousands of hungry people are gathered in a lonely place, and before a single loaf is broken the Lord gives a strange instruction: seat them. What He does with that crowd — where He puts them, how He groups them, and why Mark alone notes the colour of the grass — turns out to carry as much meaning as the miracle that follows.
The Lord did not leave the crowd to sort itself out. He chose where each person sat.
The Lord would not allow any such confusion. He was preparing a table in the wilderness for these people of Galilee, and He arranged the guests according to a definite plan. He would have no haste, no disorder. He Himself knew what He would do. He commanded the gathered thousands to sit down as at a table — not where they wanted, but where and how He wanted. He was the Lord of the feast, and He would say to one, Sit here, and to another, Sit there, as it pleased Him.
The seating was more than tidy management. It set the scene so the crowd would see who was about to feed them.
He commands that they should sit down by companies upon the green grass. They sat down in ranks by hundreds and fifties. The Lord does not ignore outward order and what is fitting in His arrangements. He was about to work a tremendous miracle. So He arranges the people carefully, setting before their eyes what there was in Him to meet the need of man. He was really there, the promised One, who was to feed His poor with bread (Ps. 132:15).
In a scramble the strongest eat first. Seated in companies, the weakest were as safe as anyone.
A wonderful generosity is the divine habit. So we read that at this feast in the wilderness, "they all ate and were satisfied." Not one was overlooked. Selfish men did not crowd out the weak women and children. All had plenty, and they could eat it with ease and comfort as they sat upon the green grass. Philip's way would have been to provide just enough bread for the meal, so that each might take "a little." The Lord's way was to provide more than enough, so that everyone might have "as much as they wanted."
The green grass fixes the season. The same moment shows the disciples acting on a bare word of command.
Five barley loaves, and two small fish! That was all. Now came the word of command, "Have the people sit down." Nobody objected. No apostle ventured another word. Christ's word was enough… They made the crowd sit down on the green grass, for it was springtime, shortly before the Passover. Mark notes that they sat in companies, in a very orderly and methodical way, just as the Lord had directed (Mark 6:39-40).
Notice the order: rest first, then food. That is how a shepherd handles his flock.
What a scene it must have been! Five thousand men, besides women and children, were crowding around Him. At His loving command they lay down upon the grass, and once they had rest He feeds them with His bread. Looking at that blessed picture we think of Him as the Lord, my Shepherd. "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures." It is fulfilled here… Rest and food in Him and through Him are still His precious gifts to all who put their trust in Him. He Himself is our Rest and our Bread.
Sitting is the posture of someone who has stopped working. One writer finds a further picture in the grass itself.
The crowd was told to sit down by companies on the green grass. 1 Peter 1:24 tells us that "all flesh is like grass." With the flesh subdued under them, and all its activity stopped, they were ready to receive freely what the Lord alone could freely give. The orderly way in which this was done (in ranks of hundreds and by fifties) is a fitting comment on the wisdom of Him who is a God of order.
- Command — Before any bread multiplied, He spoke and the disciples obeyed at once. His word was enough, though they could not see what was coming.
- Order — He was Lord of the feast. He told one to sit here and another there, so no haste or disorder spoiled the meal.
- Place — Grouped in companies and ranks, the crowd could see for themselves what was in Him to meet the need of man.
- Grass — The green grass marks the spring, just before the Passover. It is where the Shepherd makes His flock lie down before He feeds them.
- Portion — Seated, with their own activity stopped, they were ready to receive. No one missed out: all ate as much as they wanted.
And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties.
Mark describes the shape of the crowd on that hillside more closely than any other Gospel: not a scattered mass, but measured blocks of people sitting on the grass before a single loaf was handed out. Why does he pause to record the dimensions of a seating plan?
One writer works out the shape of the rows from Luke's account of the same scene.
Mark 6:40. — The description here is explained by Luke 9:14. The people were arranged as one hundred in front and fifty deep.
The detail is sharp enough to picture. That raises the question of who saw it.
On the green grass, as Mark takes care to state, the whole crowd sat down, arranged in perfect order, in rows, by hundreds and by fifties. So we can picture the scene: no disorder, no confusion, but everyone seated... It is remarkable that neither Matthew nor John gives us the least clue about how the huge crowd was arranged. Mark and Luke tell us instead, and Mark's account is the most detailed, like that of an eyewitness.
The Lord Himself decided where each person sat.
The Lord would not permit any such confusion. He was preparing a table in the wilderness for these people of Galilee, and He arranged the guests according to a definite plan. He would have no haste, no disorder. He Himself knew what He would do. He told the thousands gathered there to sit down as if at a table — not where they wanted, but where and how He wanted. He was the Lord of the feast, and He would say to one, Sit here, and to another, Sit there, as it pleased Him.
The order came before the miracle, and it served what the miracle was meant to show.
The Lord pays attention to outward order and fitting behaviour in His arrangements. He was about to work an astonishing miracle, and He arranges the people carefully. Their own eyes would convince them of what there was in Him to meet the need of man.
The rows also solved a practical problem for the disciples who had to hand the food out.
This arrangement prevented confusion. It let the bread and the fish reach everyone with equal fairness, and it made the work of handing them out less heavy for the disciples. Even so, it took real physical effort to handle the amount of food needed to satisfy the hunger of the whole crowd.
The disciples were not the only ones helped:
The plan made in advance greatly lightened their work. It also let the people eat their meal without being disturbed.
One writer finds meaning in what they sat on, reading it alongside a line from Peter's letter about grass.
The crowd was told to sit down by companies on the green grass. 1 Peter 1:24 tells us that "all flesh is like grass." So with the flesh put down under them, and all activity of the flesh stopped, they were ready to receive freely what only the Lord could freely give. The orderly way this was done, in rows of hundreds and of fifties, fits the wisdom of Him who is a God of order.
God's love of order was not limited to that hillside. One writer applies it to everyday habits.
Our God loves regularity. Unpunctuality and disorderly ways do not please Him. When the Lord fed five thousand men besides women and children, He commanded them to sit down "in groups, by hundreds and by fifties" (Mark 6:40). Any reader who tends to be unpunctual and careless should remember these facts.
- Order first. Before the miracle, the Lord set the crowd in rows — about a hundred across and fifty deep, as Luke's account shows.
- Order is His. Nobody sat where they pleased; as Lord of the feast He said to one, "Sit here," and to another, "Sit there."
- Order reveals. The arrangement let every pair of eyes see what was in Him to meet human need.
- Order serves. The ranks meant fair shares for all, lighter work for the disciples, and a meal eaten without distraction.
- Order instructs. God loves regularity. Careless, unpunctual habits are out of step with the One who seated five thousand in rows.
And having taken the five loaves and the two fishes, looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave [them] to his disciples that they might set [them] before them. And the two fishes he divided among all.
A crowd of five thousand sits on the grass in a deserted place, and all the food in hand is five loaves and two fish. What follows is a chain of simple actions: taking, looking up, blessing, breaking, giving. Commentators find something in each one — who Jesus is, how He works, and what He does with the little we bring Him.
Count the crowd, then count the food. One writer finds the greater wonder in the two fish, not the loaves.
To make the five loaves meet the need of all was wonderful. But to make two little fish enough for all, with pieces of them left over too, seems more wonderful still. Jehovah was there.
The lifted eyes belong to a pattern that returns whenever Jesus meets human need.
He is the Son, but always seen in the place He had taken as Man. So He stands on earth and looks up to heaven, as fits the dependent Man. All through His perfect path He proved by many a word and deed that He was a Divine Person — the Son. Yet as the perfect servant in Manhood, heaven was always His resource. When meeting the needs of the five thousand, "He looked up to heaven" (Mark 6:41). When healing the man who was deaf and could not speak, and relieving our sicknesses, He did so "looking up to heaven" (Mark 7:34). When meeting our sorrows He "lifted up His eyes" to the Father (John 11:41).
The direction of His gaze also matches the kind of gift He is about to hand out.
He was dispensing the bounty of heaven, and so He looked up to heaven as He blessed.
Did Jesus bless the food, or bless God? The answer turns on one small added word.
To bless here is to bless God, or to give thanks to Him. (See Mark 8:6; Luke 22:17-19; John 6:11.) Inserting the word "it" after "bless" has hidden this meaning. It has also opened the way to the practice among priests of consecrating the bread and the cup before handing them out.
The disciples first counted what they had, and it came nowhere near. Only then does the food change hands.
They could only think of how much they would need, forgetting the vast resources they had in Christ. The Lord first made plain how far short their own resources fell. Then He brings their little — the five loaves and the two fish — into touch with heaven's plenty, and five thousand men "all ate and were satisfied."
He could have fed the crowd with His own hand. His choice not to says something about how He values His servants.
He does not hand out the bread directly, as if He took no account of His servants. He meant to show His disciples that the love of Christ delights to work through human channels. The same unbelief works two ways. On one side it sees nothing in Jesus. On the other it tends to overlook and deny the use Jesus makes of fitting instruments to give out His blessings in this world. Jesus alone was the source of it all, so the disciples were to be the channels. They would both learn and teach what grace could do to them and through them.
The division of labour in that meal became the shape of their later work.
The apostles could not multiply the five loaves into a feast for five thousand men. But they could carry the supply, as it grew, to the hungry mouths of their brothers in Israel... The apostles, though forming the foundation of the church, were never originators. They acted in the name of the Lord. As with the physical food, so with the spiritual: what they received of the Lord, they delivered to others.
- Look up. The lifted eyes mark Him as the dependent Man. Heaven was always His resource, in healing and in sorrow alike.
- Bless. To bless here is to bless God, to give thanks; the food is not consecrated by a word spoken over it.
- Break. He did not despise their little or replace it. He brought their five loaves and two fish into touch with heaven's plenty, and that was enough.
- Give. He passed the bread through the hands of the disciples on purpose. The love of Christ delights to work through human channels, and He alone is the source.
- Deliver. Servants never start anything of their own. They carry to others what they first received from Him.
And they all ate and were satisfied.
In a deserted place, thousands of people ate their fill from five loaves and two fish. The short line raises three questions: who was really feeding them, why the twelve handed out the food, and why He made far more than the crowd needed.
Commentators point back to a promise God made about Zion: "I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread" (Psalm 132:15).
He was really there — the promised One who was to feed His poor with bread (Psalm 132:15). Where were they? They had never thought of Him. They did not count on love like this for a need far greater than the bread that perishes for the body.
But this table is spread in a wilderness, and by One who was rejected. Kelly is careful about how far to press the link with the Psalm.
The rejected One spreads a table in the wilderness, abundantly blesses Zion's provision, and satisfies her poor with bread. The miracle may not be the fulfilment of Psalm 132, but it is the witness that He was there who could, and yet will, fulfil it.
The word is not that they ate, but that they were satisfied. One writer draws out what that means for the weakest people in the crowd.
Extraordinary generosity is God's habit. So we read that at this feast in the wilderness, "they all ate and were satisfied." Not one was overlooked. Selfish men did not push the weak women and children aside. Everyone was given plenty… Philip's way would have been to provide just enough bread for the meal, so that each might take "a little." The Lord's way was to provide far more than enough, so that everyone might have "as much as they wanted."
The food reached the people through the twelve. Jesus did not hand it out Himself.
He does not hand out the bread Himself, as if His servants counted for nothing. He meant to show His disciples that the love of Christ delights to work through human channels… But Jesus alone was the source of it all. The disciples were to be the channels. They were to learn, and to teach, what grace could do to them and through them.
They had counted their supplies before they counted on Him, and the sum came out short.
The Lord had made plain that their own resources were nowhere near enough. Then He brings their little — the five loaves and the two fish — into touch with heaven's plenty. The result: five thousand men all ate and were satisfied.
Twelve baskets of leftovers remained after everyone had eaten their fill. One writer sees in that surplus a message about the host.
Fed to the full — and twelve baskets of fragments left! This tells the wealth of the Lord of the feast, as well as His kindness. And what deep satisfaction this gives! Suppose we draw on someone else's generosity, and we have reason to fear that we have taken what he needed himself. Our enjoyment fades… But when we know that behind the table spread for us there are stores in the house, such fears are ruled out.
The same Lord who multiplied the food gave orders about the pieces left over.
John alone of the four Gospel writers tells us that Jesus said to His disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost" (John 6:12). That nothing be lost! The Lord does not want us to lose His gifts through waste or neglect just because we have more than enough for the moment… It does not please God when we neglect or squander what He gives. To waste His gifts is to despise them and to lose them. Being careful with them is not the opposite of true generosity. The two belong together.
- Need. A hungry crowd in a deserted place had nothing. The disciples measured the problem by what was in their own hands.
- Host. The One who fed them was the promised One who satisfies His poor with bread. He spread that table in a wilderness, as One who was rejected.
- Channel. He gave the loaves to the twelve instead of handing out bread Himself. The love of Christ delights to work through human channels.
- Fullness. No one was passed over. No one got just a taste. Each had as much as they wanted, women and children included.
- Overflow. Twelve baskets remained. They show the wealth behind the table. They are gifts to gather up, not to waste.
And they took up of fragments the fillings of twelve hand-baskets, and of the fishes.
The feeding is over and the crowd has eaten its fill. What is left over is not thrown away but gathered up and counted. Commentators find a great deal in that final count: how much was left, what the baskets were, and what the number twelve means.
One writer sets the leftovers beside the supply they began with, and finds the Lord careful about both.
The very fragments far exceeded the provision they had at first, but even the fragments were not to be forgotten or despised. What simple care He took! And at the same time He made sure the proof was there before their eyes that the whole thing was a miracle.
Another writer turns this into a rule for anyone who handles spiritual things.
Here is the miracle. The little was not only enough for all, but more was left over at the end than they had in the beginning. His blessing was not only upon the little for all, but He blessed it in such a way that from it came an abundant increase. It is not different now in the ministry of spiritual things. The more we give out, having received from Him, the greater the increase and possession for us in the end.
Plenty and carelessness are not the same thing. John's account adds the Lord's own order behind the gathering.
All the accounts speak of the gathering up of the fragments. John's Gospel adds our Lord's words: "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost." God's great giving must never be confused with the waste so common among people. It suggests that even in the miracles, while there is nothing stingy, there is no needless excess.
The gathered pieces had a practical use, too.
He who held almighty power allowed no waste. Here He sets before His people an example of thrift. The people were satisfied first, and the twelve baskets of fragments prove it. In those baskets the disciples gathered up enough for their own next meal.
The Greek word matters here. A different word appears after the later feeding of the four thousand.
In the New Testament there are three Greek words used for baskets. One is spuris, which means 'a hamper.' That is the word for the seven baskets of fragments left after the four thousand were fed. When the five thousand were fed there were twelve baskets of fragments, but the word then is kophinos, 'a hand basket.' The two perfect numbers seven and twelve show the endless supply the Lord gives when His purpose is to bless His own.
Twelve hand baskets and twelve apostles: commentators do not call that a coincidence.
The extra broken pieces were the ones the Lord had broken off to hand out. Each apostle had a basketful of them, over and above what the people needed. The whole scene speaks of the rich goodness of God. The Servant of Jehovah provided it, and the twelve apostles handed it out.
Commentators also connect the number to a wider hope. One writer ties the number to a blessing still to come, and points to how twelve is used elsewhere in Scripture.
However slight the hint may be, I have no doubt that the number of the baskets of fragments refers to the full blessing of the latter days in the reign. It is the number sacred to that — twelve tribes, twelve apostles, twelve thrones for them judging the twelve tribes, twelve stars on the woman. It is the idea of the perfection of the government of God in man.
The leftovers say something about the host, not just the meal.
If we draw on the generosity of another, and have reason to fear that we have taken what he needed himself, our enjoyment fades… But when we know that there are stores in the house behind the table spread for us, such fears are forbidden. The thought of the wealth of the host, as well as of his love, sets all at ease. And it is to be like this with us in our enjoyment of Christ.
- Surplus — they ended with far more than they began with; using His supply never drains it.
- Frugality — they gathered the surplus instead of scattering it. Generosity on His side never excuses waste on ours.
- Provision — the fragments fed the servants themselves; those who carried food to others ate last, and ate their fill.
- Twelve — one hand basket for each of the twelve apostles; one writer ties that number to Israel's twelve tribes and a blessing still ahead.
- Confidence — the leftovers prove the wealth of the Host, so no one at His table need fear taking too much.
And those that ate of the loaves were five thousand men.
The story of the feeding ends with something unusual: a count. The loaves are broken and the baskets filled; then comes the number of five thousand men, the detail that turns a meal into evidence.
The count is not a stray detail. It sits beside the five loaves and the twelve baskets, and the sum is there for anyone to check.
The leftover pieces were far more than the food they had at first, but even those pieces were not to be forgotten or treated as worthless. What simple care He showed — and at the same time He made sure they had proof before their own eyes that the whole thing was a miracle!
Israel had failed Him, and the crowd's own supplies had run out. Neither fact changed what He did next.
The Lord will not send them away hungry, for is it not written, "I will satisfy her poor with bread"? No failure on Israel's part can dry up the kindness and compassion in the heart of Jehovah… He first made plain that their own resources were completely inadequate. Then the Lord brings their little — the five loaves and the two fish — into contact with heaven's plenty, and the result is that five thousand men "all ate and were satisfied."
The count stops at the men. The crowd that watched wanted this provider on a throne.
What a wonderful combination of human dependence and divine almighty power in one Person! In His hands the five loaves were enough for five thousand men, besides women and children, with twelve baskets full of leftover pieces. No wonder the people burst out with enthusiasm and wanted to make Him king right there (John 6:15). A ruler who gives would be a real blessing to men worn down by taxes.
Not one of the five thousand took bread from Christ's own hand. He planned it that way.
He does not hand out the bread Himself, as if His servants did not matter. He meant to show His disciples that the love of Christ delights to work in human channels. The same unbelief, which on one side sees nothing in Jesus, on the other easily overlooks and denies the way Jesus uses fitting servants to hand out His blessings in this world.
Feeding that crowd from so little would be wonder enough. The leftovers outweighed the starting supply, and that pattern still holds for anyone who passes on what he has received.
Here is the miracle. The little was not only enough for all; more was left over at the end than they had at the start. His blessing rested on the little so that all were fed, and He blessed it in such a way that it produced a great increase. It is not different now in the ministry of spiritual things. The more we give out, having received from Him, the greater the increase and possession for us in the end.
Generosity on this scale still stooped to collect the scraps.
All of them speak of gathering up the fragments, and John's Gospel adds our Lord's words: "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost." This is because God's great generosity must never be confused with the waste that is so common among men.
The twelve baskets point somewhere. This is the King of Israel feeding His own people — and He does not skip the ones the count leaves out.
The twelve baskets may point to the note of rule and government in this scene, which all four Gospel writers record. It is the Lord feeding His beloved people Israel, fulfilling the prophecy: "I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread" (Ps. 132:15). Matthew, the Gospel of the kingdom, adds that besides the five thousand men, the women and children were not forgotten. The King does not overlook the least of His subjects.
- Counted. The number stands next to the five loaves as proof. Anyone in the crowd could check the sum.
- Satisfied. First He showed them their own supplies were not enough. Then He joined their little to heaven's plenty, and everyone ate and was satisfied.
- Channelled. No one took bread from Christ's own hand. His love delights to work through human channels, and the disciples learned that by carrying the loaves.
- Multiplied. More was left at the end than they had at the start. The same holds when we give out spiritual things today.
- Kept. Such open-handed giving still gathered the scraps. God's generosity is never the same thing as our waste.