1. PREPARE

Prayer

Use your own words to offer this meditation to God.

Bible reading

Read Mark 6 vv. 30 – 44.

Background information/commentary

The return of the twelve apostles

Jesus had sent his twelve apostles out to teach and heal in the territory of Galilee which lies on the west side of the Lake of Galilee (Mark 6. 7-13).  When they returned and reported back to Jesus at his base in Capernaum on the northwest shore of the Lake, he recognised that they were tired out and needed to rest.  There was no chance of resting where they were because, as Mark tells us,”…many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat” (6:31).  So Jesus decided that they must go away to a deserted place for rest.  The chosen spot was an area to the north-east of the Lake of Galilee.

The murder of St John Baptist

The territory of Galilee was governed by Herod Antipas, whose father, Herod the Great, had ruled over the whole of Palestine at the time of Jesus’ birth.  This Herod Antipas was an unscrupulous and crafty man whom Jesus aptly summed up as “that fox”.  When Herod murdered St John Baptist, the cousin of Jesus, Galilee suddenly became a dangerous area for Jesus and possibly his disciples.  This may be another reason why Jesus thought he and his apostles should leave Capernaum and sail across to the northeast of the Lake.  For the territory on the eastern side of the Lake was ruled by Philip the Tetrarch.  He was Herod’s brother but was a very different man indeed – gentle, just and civilised.  Apart from the safety issue, the brutal murder of John must have had a huge impact on Jesus and he would have needed some quiet to come to terms with his cousin’s death and to have time to mourn his loss.

Bethsaida

By looking at the accounts in Luke and John, it seems that Jesus and his disciples sailed across to a place near Bethsaida, a town to the northeast of the Lake.  Bethsaida means ‘fisherman’s house’.  Archaeological evidence strongly indicates that Bethsaida was on the northeast side of the Lake of Galilee, next to the River Jordan and near the Lake. (1)

The size of the crowd

Five thousand men, and also some women and children, was a very large number of people to gather in this area at such short notice. (2). It was probably the largest crowd Jesus ever addressed and the reason is related to the time of year.  It was just before the Passover and groups of pilgrims from northern Galilee, from the Decapolis to the east of the Jordan, and from the area north of Palestine usually camped by the Lake of Galilee for a few days before the last part of their journey down the Jordan valley and up to Jerusalem. (3)  The numbers were probably swelled by people who had come into Caperneum to be with Jesus and to hear him (4), as well as by the inhabitants of villages along the northern shore of the Lake.

The five loaves

John tells us that the boy’s loaves were made of barley (6:9).  Barley is lower in protein than wheat or rye (5) and was the food of poor people. (6)

The twelve baskets

Mark tells us that after the feeding of the 5,000, they “took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish” (NRSV, 6:43).  These strong wicker baskets were mentioned by the Roman writer Juvenal as being a characteristic of the Jews in Rome.  It appears that the Jews carried them on their backs. (7) Having their own provisions in their baskets meant that Jews would not have to buy ‘unclean’ food from Gentiles. (8) The number of baskets mentioned in the Gospels suggests that each of the twelve disciples habitually carried a basket to hold provisions. (9)

2. PICTURE

A much-needed break

At Capernaum, with all the comings and goings, there was no time even to eat, and so before setting off in their boat the disciples would no doubt have made sure their baskets were full of provisions, ready for a quiet, relaxing picnic on the hills opposite.  It was springtime, a lovely time of year when just for a short period the grass is green on the hillside. (10) And their much-needed break started as soon as they set off from Capernaum to the shore near Bethsaida, a distance by water of around four miles. (11)

No escape from the crowds

But it was also just before the Passover and the crowds who saw the boat leave Capernaum were not going to let Jesus get away that easily.  He was going by water, but they would go by land round the northern shore of the Lake.  There were sick to be healed and teaching to be heard and so the throng hurried along as fast as they could.  In their haste, some probably didn’t even stock up with provisions, although people with children would no doubt have brought some food with them.  The distance from Capernaum to the shallow place where the River Jordan flows into the Lake of Galilee is a walk of an hour.  Then comes the crossing of the River Jordan and after another hour or so there is a green plain at the foot of the hills.  This is the likely location of the feeding of the 5,000. (12)

As the swelling crowd hurried along they could see the boat on the Lake and if the wind were light or against it, they could easily reach the spot before the boat. (13) And so they were there waiting for Jesus when he arrived (Mark 6:34) and instead of being annoyed he had compassion on them, and welcomed them and taught them and healed those who were sick.

Getting late and getting hungry

The precious time with Jesus slipped away all too soon.  And the disciples were aware that the crowd needed food.  They would have been hungry after their hurried journey round the Lake and some of the food would have been eaten when they were settled on arrival at the grassy plain.  And Jesus, good Teacher that he was, is unlikely to have taught them without any breaks, and he himself would have needed some breaks.  Teaching in the open with no public address system must have been very demanding.  So we can imagine that between periods of teaching, there would have been breaks for reflection and healing the sick, and refreshment. And we can be sure that the hungry demands of children during the day would have made sure that by now all their food had gone.

The problem of the hungry crowd

So the disciples asked Jesus to send the people away so that they could buy food.  In reply, he told the disciples to give them food.  Jesus ignored their rather irritable-sounding suggestion about going out and buying bread and said, “How many loaves have you?  Go and see” (NRSV, Mark 6:38).  Jesus may very well have been asking them to check their baskets to see if any food was left.  Unsurprisingly, the baskets were empty.  Jesus and his disciples would never have eaten food without sharing it with any people nearby who had nothing.  And true to the Jewish culture of hospitality (14) this sharing would have been replicated throughout the crowd.  Hospitality was an important part of the Jewish Faith (Leviticus 19:34; Deuteronomy 10:17-20) and was ingrained in the collective consciousness of the Jewish people because their ancestors had been strangers in Egypt and had wandered in the harsh desert on the way to the Promised Land.

But we know that someone did have some food – a young boy with five barley loaves and two small fishes.  Presumably he lived locally and perhaps he had seen the great crowd and came later with his simple picnic to see what was going on.  We can imagine him edging his way to the front of the crowd and who knows, perhaps Jesus smiled at him and chatted to him during a break.  At any rate the boy was near the disciples when they were searching for food and he knew there was a problem.  So he offered his little picnic, perhaps hoping Jesus would have some.

Preparations for a formal meal

Now the tempo changes.  Jesus orders the disciples to sit the people down in groups on the green grass.  The Greek means ‘recline’ rather than ‘sit’ which suggests arrangements for a meal are being made.  And the groups are of hundreds and fifties.  They are very orderly groups – the word in Greek literally means vegetable or flower beds, giving the impression of plots. (15) This indicates that preparations are being made for the distribution of food on a large scale.  Indeed, it has been suggested that the groups were arranged after the fashion of the triclinium (a couch running round three sides of a table on which people reclined) with the short side having fifty people, the long sides 100 each and the fourth side being left open to allow the disciples to enter and distribute food. (16) These are the preparations for a formal banquet, not a picnic. (17)

Feeding the people

Now Jesus stands before the people, his guests, as their host.  He takes the food and solemnly blesses it, probably using the regular Jewish words of blessing: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who bringest forth bread from the earth”.  Thus Jesus is careful to indicate that God is the Giver of the food that is to be eaten. (18) Now Jesus breaks the bread and gives it to his disciples to serve the people.  And he divides the fish and gives this also to the disciples.  The Greek tense of the verb ‘gave’ represents an action which was continued or repeated (19) so that more accurately Jesus kept on handing out the food, possibly suggesting that the multiplication of the loaves and fishes took place in the hands of Jesus. (20, 21)

Gathering up the food that is left

When everyone has eaten all that they need, the disciples fill 12 baskets with the broken pieces of bread and the fish.  These are not half-eaten scraps of food, they are the pieces broken off for distribution which are surplus to requirements. (22)

Have you ever been in a situation so momentous that you find it hard to believe it is happening?  And perhaps you even have to pinch yourself to realise it really is happening.  The disciples must have felt like that after the crowd had dispersed.  But the 12 baskets full of food which they have to eat and enjoy are tangible proof that Jesus has indeed hosted this great open air banquet at which he has fed more than 5,000 people.  So the 12 baskets served “as convincing proof to them that the feeding was no illusion but a reality”. (23)

3. PONDER

Take some time to think about this miracle.  What message(s) does it have for you?  Write down your thoughts in a notebook.

There is so much to think about both at superficial and deeper levels.  There is the practical example of Jesus in taking his disciples away for a time of rest and refreshment after a period of demanding work.  Do we as Christians take ‘time out’ as regularly as we should?

There is the generosity of the young boy whose little offering was used by Jesus to provide food for the great crowd.  And in our life as Christians we should put what we have at the service of Jesus, even if we don’t think it amounts to much.  Jesus can do great things with meagre resources. (24) So we should bring what we have before Jesus, not knowing what he will do with it, but with the expectation that he will do something new and creative. (25)

The barley loaves, the simple food of poor people, perhaps nudge us into examining our attitude to food and the importance we attach to it. 

The collecting of the broken fragments of food teaches us not to waste the things God gives us.  It also shows us the value of doing little things well for the love of God e.g. being orderly and finishing things completely. (26)

The whole event reveals the compassion of Jesus and his love of people.  But at a deeper level this miracle shows us who Jesus is.  It a sign that Jesus is the Messiah and the generous scale of the feeding is in keeping with the idea of the Messianic banquet. (27) The prophets had looked forward to the coming of the Messiah which would be characterised by plentiful amounts of food and wine (Isaiah 25:6). 

Finally, we can see how this evening supper banquet points us forward to the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist.  “The miracle of the Lord’s giving his own body and blood to fill mankind’s deepest hunger, communion with God, may be said to be symbolized in this preliminary ‘supper’ “. (28)

4. PRAY

Spend some time praying for your own needs and the needs of others.

5. PROMISE

Looking ahead

Think about what action you could now take in the light of your reading and reflection.  Decide what to do and write it down in your notebook as a promise to God.

You may wish to end by asking God to help you keep your promise.

References

1. Reed, J.L. (2007) The HarperCollins visual guide to the New Testament.  What archaeology reveals about the first Christians, New York: HarperCollins.

2. Goodier, A. (1930) The public life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Volume one, London and Dublin: Burns Oates.

3. Knox, R. (1958) The Gospel story based on the translation of the Four Gospels, London: Burns Oates.

4. Goodier, A. (1930) The public life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Volume one, London and Dublin: Burns Oates.

5. Walker, W. (1958) All the plants of the Bible, London: Lutterworth Press.

6. Temple, W. (1961) Readings in St John’s Gospel.  First and Second Series, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd.

7. Hort, A.F. (1902) The Gospel according to St Mark.  The Greek text edited with introduction and notes for the use in schools, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

8. Ward, B. (1915) The Holy Gospel according to St Luke, London: Catholic Truth Society.

9. Hort, A.F. (1902) The Gospel according to St Mark.  The Greek text edited with introduction and notes for the use in schools, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

10. Daniel-Rops, H. (1955) Jesus in his time,  London: Eyre and Spottiswoode Publishers Ltd.

11. Knox, R. (1958) The Gospel story based on the translation of the Four Gospels, London: Burns Oates.

12. Goodier, A. (1930) The public life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Volume one, London and Dublin: Burns Oates.

13. Goodier, A. (1930) The public life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Volume one, London and Dublin: Burns Oates.

14. Encyclopaedia Judaica (2006) Hospitality. Available from the Jewish Virtual Library (Accessed 27 September 2010) (Internet).

15. Zerwick, M. and Grosvenor, M. (1988) A grammatical analysis of the Greek New Testament (3rd edition), Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico.

16. Whitham, A.R. (1961) The New Testament for schools.  The Gospel according to St Mark (2nd edition), London: Rivingtons.

17. Knox, R. (1958) The Gospel story based on the translation of the Four Gospels, London: Burns Oates.

18. Hort, A.F. (1902) The Gospel according to St Mark.  The Greek text edited with introduction and notes for the use in schools, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

19. Zerwick, M. and Grosvenor, M. (1988) A grammatical analysis of the Greek New Testament (3rd edition), Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico.

20. Martingdale, C.C. (1955) Stonyhurst Scripture Manuals.  The Gospel according to Saint Mark, London: Longmans.

21. Ward, B. (1915) The Holy Gospel according to St Luke, London: Catholic Truth Society.

22. Hort, A.F. (1902) The Gospel according to St Mark.  The Greek text edited with introduction and notes for the use in schools, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

23. Royster, D. (Archbishop Dmitri) (1999) The miracles of Christ, New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

24. Navarre Bible (2008) (2nd edition) Commentary on St John’s Gospel, Dublin: Four Courts Press.

25. Wright, T. (2004) John for everyone.  Part 1, London: SPCK.

26. Navarre Bible (2008) (2nd edition) Commentary on St Mark’s Gospel, Dublin: Four Courts Press.

27. Winstanley, M.T. (2007) Symbols and spirituality.  Reflecting on St John’s Gospel, Bolton: Don Bosco Publications.

28. Royster, D. (Archbishop Dmitri) (1999) The miracles of Christ, New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.