NOTES for Mar 8:1-10
1 In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, |
2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: |
3 And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. |
4 And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? |
5 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. |
6 And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. |
7 And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. |
8 So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. |
9 And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away. |
10 And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha. |
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As we can see, the story of the miraculous feeding of many people with a small amount of food is repeated during the days of the Savior's earthly ministry at least twice. On the one hand, the mention of two similar events is certainly not accidental: the evangelist evidently considers it important enough that he finds it necessary to describe in detail two very similar events. On the other hand, the very repetition of the situation of the miraculous feeding of a great multitude testifies to its importance: in the Savior's earthly ministry there were no accidental events.
Of course, every miracle, whether healing, feeding, resurrection, or walking on the water, is nothing other than a manifestation of the Kingdom that Jesus brought into the world. But each time it manifests itself a little differently, even when it seems that there are no noticeable differences between, for example, two different healings. Here we have before us an event outwardly very similar to what had happened shortly before, when Jesus also fed a huge crowd with an amount of food that, according to the laws of the untransformed world, could not possibly have been enough for everyone.
Only between these two miraculous feedings another remarkable event took place: walking on the water. It was an event in which the power of the Kingdom was manifested primarily as authority over the elements of the untransformed world. And it was manifested in this way largely because another way in which the power of the Kingdom is manifested, a power revealed to those who seek it as the action of love, had not been adequately received even by the apostles. Yet it is God's love, not His power, that the breath of the Kingdom communicates to us first of all.
Feeding hungry people is a higher-priority task for the inhabitants of the Kingdom than subduing a raging element. The apostles absolutely had to remember this, and remember it well. Perhaps that is why the miracle of feeding many people with a few loaves and a few fish is repeated. And the evangelist probably tells again of an event so similar to the one he had already described for precisely this reason. For what Jesus wants to tell the apostles about the Kingdom concerns us too.
Readings for 26 September 2025
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