NOTES for Мк 8:1-10
The multiplication of the loaves is one of Jesus' most striking miracles, because several thousand people witnessed it at the same time. Reading these lines closely, it is easy to imagine some illusionist or magician displaying his supernatural abilities before a huge crowd of grateful spectators.
But Christ was guided by entirely different motives. The only reason He performed this greatest of miracles was compassion for people who were hungry and might grow faint on the way. The Lord took pity on them and proposed feeding them with the little that His disciples had found, although this seemed sheer madness. “And they ate and were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.”
There is an opinion that, seeing the Savior distribute His own food, people began to take out the supplies they had with them and share them with those who had nothing at all. Perhaps this is precisely the Savior's miracle: He was able to open the eyes of thousands of people and show them the needs of their neighbors.