Mark 6:35-43

The Feeding of the Five Thousand (6:35-43).

Many attempts have been made to rationalise this account. The suggestion is made that when the crowd saw the disciples (or the little boy) sharing food they too began to share their food; or that it was only a symbolic meal, merely a taste of bread giving the promise of participation in the Messianic Feast, which somehow satisfied the people. But all have to accept that that is not what the account actually says. The account tells us quite clearly that under Jesus' ministration the food was somehow multiplied until it fed the whole crowd with more than enough. And that is the message that Mark wants to convey. The Son of God was here. That this manifestation of His power was expected to teach them a vital lesson comes out in Mark 6:52 and Mark 8:17. Unless the miracle was genuine those words would have been meaningless.

There were certainly those in the crowd who connected what happened here with Moses. Going out into the wilderness in a large crowd, finding themselves hungry, being fed by the Prophet miraculously, all pointed to bread from Heaven (compare John 6:31) and the possibility of coming deliverance. We can see why the crowd, and even the disciples were perhaps getting a little excited. That is why at the end Jesus compels His disciples to leave by boat before He dismisses the crowd. Things were in danger of getting out of hand. But this need not mean that this was the original reason why the crowd came. It is simply a reminder of the explosive situation in Galilee, and of how quickly believers in the Kingly Rule of God could begin to see it as happening physically. In the end only Jesus' death could demonstrate that that was not why He had come.

‘And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii of bread and give them to eat?”

The disciples were both incredulous and possibly a little peeked (Matthew and Luke tone this down). They knew, and knew that Jesus knew, that they did not have enough funds. Food for this great crowd would take the day's wages of two hundred men (a denarius was a day's wage - Matthew 20:2). How then could He expect them to feed them? It was not quite fair. Had this story been an invention there is no way that these words, spoken in this way, would have been included