The Gospel of Mark
Jesus feeds the crowd: Mk 6,30-44
In verse 34 Jesus with his disciples gets out of the boat. With his arrival the evangelist has assembled in the desert place all the participants in this episode: Jesus, disciples and crowd.
We will therefore read 6,30-33 as setting up the scene for what follows.
if we take the feeding episode as a typical miracle story then we have:
verses 34: the setting
verses 35-37: the problem
verses 38-41: the miracle
verses 42-44: the result
The Set up: 6,30-33
This lead-in to the feeding in Mark comes from his editing, especially the motif of finding somewhere to rest, 6,31.
Matthew has removed the sandwich around John the Baptist and edited the introduction to the feeding so as to focus entirely on Jesus.
It is best to read "apostles" in verse 30 as meaning "those sent". It is only in the Acts of the Apostles that they really become "Apostles", the group of leaders within the Church. Their mission though is a success and as with Jesus (1,35) so they too need to withdraw for a while, hence the trip in the boat. However, again as with Jesus (1,37), the crowds are demanding and chase the boat along the lake shore (verse 33).
The mention of "desert" in verses 31,32 and 35 provide a setting which echoes the desert experience of the Israelite following the exodus from Egypt. The food associated with this experience is of course manna. Manna became a symbol of the Torah, the Law. God feeds his people with his law.
Jesus arrives: 6,34
Verse 34 therefore is important because it brings out Jesus' compassion, the shepherd theme and Jesus' teaching by which he feeds the crowd with his word. That's a lot for one verse.
Mark makes a number of references to Jesus' emotions, including his anger (3,5). Here I have just quoted Jesus having compassion on the leper (1,41) as well as looking at the man and "loved him" (10,21).
The theme of leaders as shepherds echoes through the Old Testament. "Sheep without a shepherd" is a quotation from Moses about his successor (Num 27,17). Psalm 23 is a reminder that the Lord God himself is the shepherd of his people. The prophets though such as Jeremiah (Jer 23,16) and Ezekiel (Ezk 34) condemn the leaders of Israel for their failure to shepherd. This is what Jesus is implying about the Jewish leaders of his own time.
Feeding on the word of God is notable in Deuteronomy with "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Deut 8,3, see Mt 4,4). The other two readings refer to wisdom as food, the invitation to her banquet of lady Wisdom for example (Proverbs 9,5).
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Jesus feeds with bread: 6,35-44
During the scene of feeding that follows, the action lies between Jesus and his disciples. The crowd have no involvement apart from sitting down, eating and being filled (6,42). Unlike other episodes (1,45 for example), there is no reaction here from them.
A comparison with the Gospel of John is useful here. It also helpful because it is John's account (Jn 6) which takes over from Mark in the Sunday Gospels at this point.
In Mark, it is the disciples who take the initiative, being compassionate according to their lights. Jesus' reply in verse 37 is an emphatic "you", this is the effect in Greek of including the pronoun. "You, disciples, you give them something to eat." To which their entirely practical reaction was the prohibitive price of all that food. Jesus has other values in mind, very different to those of the disciples. In John's Gospel, this is made clearer. Jesus deliberately sets out to test the faith of the disciples and to the five loaves and two fish (same number in both Gospels) is added the comment "what is that among so many?
At this point, in verse 39, Jesus takes control. The green grass may (possibly) reflect springtime. John says clearly that this feeding took place at Passover time. It may also reflect the green pastures of Ps 23,2. Hundreds and fifties are the old organisation of Israel from the book of Exodus (Ex 16,19-20). There is something of a formal banquet taking place here. Whereas Herod's banquet (6,21) leads to debauchery and death, the banquet of Jesus is life giving, complete with left-overs.
The actions of Jesus blessing and breaking the bread in verse 41 is the same as that of the Last Supper (14,22-25). The overtones of the Eucharist are clearly present.
Comparing Jesus with Elisha (2 Kings 4,42-44), Jesus feeds more people than Elisha with fewer loaves. The food left over remains available unlike manna as originally given (Ex 16,19-20). The twelve baskets must be an echo of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Despite their successful mission, the disciples within the story are still some way from understanding Jesus and his message. The reader can only wonder if and when all will become clear to them.
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