Mar 6:41-44 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord commands – He is the Lord! – the disciples that they should divide the crowd into groups. There must be some order. Those groups must sit down on the green grass. That speaks of peace, freshness and abundance. It is reminiscent of Psalm 23 where the shepherd makes the sheep lie down in green pastures ( ). The size of these groups is sometimes taken as an indication of the size of a local church. When a church in a certain place becomes larger than a hundred people, it becomes difficult to have a good contact with all of them. The danger is then great that there is no equal care for all and that some are overlooked. When the Lord has taken the loaves and the fish, He looks up to heaven. All His actions are connected with heaven, the dwelling place of His Father. That determines His words and His wonders. Here He connects the little with the fullness of heaven. Then He blesses, that is, He expresses a thanksgiving to God. He does not bless the loaves. He breaks the loaves and the fish which are multiplied in His blessing hands to a quantity sufficient for all. He uses the disciples as intermediaries. In this way He turns their evil – the proposal to send the crowd away – for good. His purpose is to show them that His love takes pleasure in working through human channels. Only what speaks of Him and what comes from Him can become food. If we are constantly dependent on Him, we can be a blessing to others. Then we know that He can use the little we have to serve others. The crowd has not just something, a little, to eat, but enough. They can eat to satiation. There are even twelve baskets full of pieces left. By this wonder, He is again proving that He is the Messiah ( ). Abundance never leads to waste with the Lord. Nothing of what He has given as a blessing is wasted. The crowd may have enough, but He also has a blessing for others who have nothing. Abundance serves for the want of others (cf. ). It is not by chance that there remain twelve baskets full. The number twelve has a symbolic meaning. It indicates the blessing the Lord has for the whole people of God at the end of time. Of those few loaves of bread and those few fish, a crowd of five thousand men alone ate. The wonder is undeniable. He is Emmanuel, God with us ( ), God Who visits His people for blessing. He brings the house of His Father, where there is bread in abundance ( ), to the needy man.

‏ Mark 6:41-44

The Five Thousand Fed

The Lord commands – He is the Lord! – the disciples that they should divide the crowd into groups. There must be some order. Those groups must sit down on the green grass. That speaks of peace, freshness and abundance. It is reminiscent of Psalm 23 where the shepherd makes the sheep lie down in green pastures (Psa 23:2).

The size of these groups is sometimes taken as an indication of the size of a local church. When a church in a certain place becomes larger than a hundred people, it becomes difficult to have a good contact with all of them. The danger is then great that there is no equal care for all and that some are overlooked.

When the Lord has taken the loaves and the fish, He looks up to heaven. All His actions are connected with heaven, the dwelling place of His Father. That determines His words and His wonders. Here He connects the little with the fullness of heaven. Then He blesses, that is, He expresses a thanksgiving to God. He does not bless the loaves. He breaks the loaves and the fish which are multiplied in His blessing hands to a quantity sufficient for all.

He uses the disciples as intermediaries. In this way He turns their evil – the proposal to send the crowd away – for good. His purpose is to show them that His love takes pleasure in working through human channels. Only what speaks of Him and what comes from Him can become food. If we are constantly dependent on Him, we can be a blessing to others. Then we know that He can use the little we have to serve others.

The crowd has not just something, a little, to eat, but enough. They can eat to satiation. There are even twelve baskets full of pieces left. By this wonder, He is again proving that He is the Messiah (Psa 132:15).

Abundance never leads to waste with the Lord. Nothing of what He has given as a blessing is wasted. The crowd may have enough, but He also has a blessing for others who have nothing. Abundance serves for the want of others (cf. 2Cor 8:14). It is not by chance that there remain twelve baskets full. The number twelve has a symbolic meaning. It indicates the blessing the Lord has for the whole people of God at the end of time.

Of those few loaves of bread and those few fish, a crowd of five thousand men alone ate. The wonder is undeniable. He is Emmanuel, God with us (Mt 1:23), God Who visits His people for blessing. He brings the house of His Father, where there is bread in abundance (Lk 15:17), to the needy man.