And he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. And having taken the seven loaves, he gave thanks, and broke [them] and gave [them] to his disciples, that they might set [them] before [them]; and they set [them] before the crowd.
This is the second time Jesus feeds a crowd in a desert place, and this time everything starts with Him. The verse turns on three small acts: He gave thanks, He broke the bread, and He passed it on for others to serve.
The Lord arranges the whole scene. He seats the people. He puts the food into the hands of those who pass it round.
This second miracle of feeding the crowd has a more clearly moral meaning. It shows the resources in the Lord that meet the needs of His people. It also shows the compassion of His heart, which feels for those whose needs He meets. The disciples do not come to the Lord, as in the former miracle, calling His attention to the people's needs. Here everything proceeds from the Lord. He sees the need. He calls the disciples to Himself. He sets His compassion before them. He puts the people at rest, making them sit down. He takes what is at hand and gives thanks for it. He hands it out to the people through the disciples, and so satisfies their need.
One added word has confused what blessing at a meal means.
To bless is to bless God, or to give thanks to Him. (See Mark 8:6; Luke 22:17-19; John 6:11.) Adding the word "it" after "bless" has hidden this meaning. It has also given occasion for the priestly practice of consecrating the bread and the cup before they are handed out.
The same thanksgiving also sets a pattern for the ordinary table.
While the crowd's eyes waited on the Lord, they could not help noticing that He looked up to heaven as He gave thanks. Had He not taught His disciples to pray to their Father in heaven? He taught them to ask for spiritual things, and also to say, "Give us this day our daily bread." Now He who had taught them to pray for daily food teaches by example to give thanks for it.
He breaks the bread. The disciples carry it.
The Lord acted as Host that day to the great gathering. He had been the guest of Simon the Pharisee, of Simon the leper, and of many others — sometimes welcome, sometimes, sadly, unwelcome. He it was who broke the bread. The disciples were stewards of His bounty. They handed out the broken pieces from His hand to the crowd, and the crowd ate and were satisfied.
The number seven opens and closes this account. One writer reads it as a mark of fulness, not of service.
The "seven" at the beginning and the end of this account seems to point, not to the question of man being used as God's instrument (for which "twelve" is the regular symbol in Scripture), but simply to the fulness of the provision. It was scanty in man's eyes, but complete in His eye of grace and power, and it went beyond the mere meeting of their present need. Not only did He satisfy them; completeness is stamped on the whole event, to the praise of His goodness and power. They took up seven baskets of the pieces left over.
Commentators differ on how much wider meaning this feeding carries. Some read it as pure grace to a needy company, and not as a picture of God's dealings through the ages.
There is a notable difference here. It is not a picture of the order of the Lord's ways through the ages. We see the Lord caring for a certain remnant (a small group left) of His people out of His own pure grace... Whether taken as an earthly or a heavenly remnant, the scene shows the certainty of the Lord's tender care for His people now that He has been rejected. There is no leaving them here; He is with His disciples all through.
Others link both feedings to the coming kingdom.
The two miracles form a double witness to the blessing coming for the chosen nation under the direct rule of their Messiah. The great year of jubilee (in that year Israel did not sow or reap, yet the people ate their fill) was a picture of that time of relief from weary toil.
The same pattern can shape our own lives.
Too often, like the disciples, we feel the need, and we feel how far our little falls short of meeting it. But if we bring our little into touch with heaven and give thanks for it, as the Lord did, would we not find that God can make it go a long way — meeting our need, and even leaving something in hand?
- He begins. No one asks Him; He sees the hunger, calls the disciples, seats the crowd, and takes the loaves.
- He gives thanks. Blessing means blessing God, the giver — not the bread. His example teaches what He had taught in words about daily bread.
- He breaks. The Host Himself divides the supply. The disciples are stewards, passing on what came from His hand.
- He gives it out. Seven loaves at the start and seven baskets left over at the end speak of fulness — a supply scanty to us, complete to Him.
- He still does it. Bring the little you have into touch with heaven and give thanks. God can stretch it to meet the need and leave something over.
And they had a few small fishes, and having blessed them, he desired these also to be set before [them].
At the feeding of the four thousand, Mark adds a small detail after the loaves: a few small fish, which the Lord blessed and shared out just as He did the bread. So what does the blessing mean, why does Mark name the fish, and what does the disciples' part in the meal teach?
The word points upward, not downward. One writer sets the Gospel accounts side by side. In this passage, blessing and giving thanks name the same act:
Anyone who knows Scripture on this point knows that "blessing" means simply giving thanks, not consecrating the bread. So in Luke 9:16 — the miracle of the loaves, not the Lord's Supper — He blessed them and broke them. In John 6:11, 23 and Mark 8:6-7 (also Mark 6:41), the two terms are joined... Blessing is blessing God, a giving of thanks.
Commentators differ in emphasis. Another writer traces the Greek word across the Gospels and gives the act a second side — it also sets the food apart for good use:
The Lord also "blessed." In John 6 we read that He gave thanks. Luke says He blessed the loaves and fish (Luke 9:16). Matthew and Mark say only that He blessed, without saying what. In Scripture, blessing and giving thanks go closely together... To bless (eulogeo) seems to join praise and thanks given to God with the setting apart of food for healthy use (1 Tim. 4:4-5).
The fish get their own blessing. One writer links this meal to another where the risen Lord served both, and then to a greater table still:
Besides the loaves, there were a few small fish. These the Lord also took and blessed, and the disciples passed them to the people. So He provided bread and fish for their meal, as after His resurrection He did for the seven apostles in Galilee (John 21:9)... He also said, "Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them" (Luke 12:37).
In the earlier feeding, the disciples came to Him about the crowd. This time no one asks Him to act:
This second miracle of feeding the crowd has a more plainly moral meaning. It shows not only the resources in the Lord to meet the needs of His people, but also the compassion of His heart that feels for those whose needs He meets. The disciples do not come to the Lord, as in the former miracle, calling His attention to the people's needs. Here everything proceeds from the Lord. He sees the need. He calls the disciples to Himself. He brings His compassion before them. He puts the people at rest, making them sit down. He takes what is at hand, gives thanks for it, and distributes it to the people through the disciples. So He satisfies their need.
The fish, like the bread, reach the crowd through other hands. The supply is His; the carrying is theirs, and He counts that a privilege:
It was their wretchedness that appealed to His heart. The Lord took the whole thing in hand Himself, though He gave the disciples the privilege of being channels of His bounty.
The same pattern shapes all Christian service — we hand on only what we first received:
He blessed and broke the bread. He first puts the broken bread into the hands of the disciples, and after they received it they gave it to the people. This is the divine order of ministry. The little we hand over to Him, He blesses. We receive it first from Him, and what we receive from His hands we can pass on to others.
"A few small fish" is about what most of us have to offer. The lesson is not to despise the little, but to bring it to Him first:
Too often, like the disciples, we feel the need and the complete inadequacy of the little we have to meet it. But if, like the Lord, we bring our little into touch with heaven and give thanks for it, will we not find that God can make it go a long way — meeting our need, and even leaving something over?
One writer turns the fish into a question about what is in your hand today:
Have you a few small tracts that contain the true gospel of God? Will you look to Him to bless them? Can you in faith obey Him? He commands you to set them before those who have nothing to eat.
- He sees — He spots the need before anyone mentions it; the whole meal flows from His own compassion.
- He thanks — "blessed" means blessing God, giving thanks. Commentators differ only on whether it also sets the food apart.
- He includes — the fish are the extra beyond bread, a foretaste of the day when He Himself will serve those who wait for Him.
- He sends — the disciples are channels, not sources; we pass on only what we first received from His hands.
- He satisfies — bring your few small things to Him, give thanks, and He makes them go a long way.