Mark 6:39-40

‘And he commanded them that all should sit down group by group on the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties.'

Peter remembered vividly the greenness of the grass, which indicated springtime. But was there a hint here that He Who made the grass to grow by abundant rain, a wonderful provision of God, could also feed the hearts of men? (Isaiah 44:4). When the grass fails and there is no green thing it is a time of desolation (Isaiah 15:6). Thus when the grass flourishes times are good. We may also compare it with the green pastures to which ‘the Lord is my Shepherd' led His people (Psalms 23:2). In Scripture man is often likened to the grass, usually dying grass. But this was a time of life, and the grass was alive.

‘They sat down rank by rank.' Literally ‘garden plot by garden plot'. This was probably depicting their orderliness, or perhaps the colourful groups on the green grass. Whoever described all this, and it must have been an eyewitness, seems to have had an eye for colour. Similar descriptions are used by the Rabbis of the arrangement of their students like rows of vines in a vineyard and like garden beds, mainly depicting their orderly arrangement.