Mark 8
Verses 1 – 10
Jesus is again accompanied by a great multitude of people. They had nothing to eat and were hungry. Jesus tells His disciples in verse 2 and 3; “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. “And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.”
Three days the multitude had been with Jesus. He knows they are hungry because He cares. He tells His disciples to feed them. They respond with a, How? “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?”
The crowd this time is smaller than the previous one of five thousand men. This crowd has only four thousand men.
The disciples are just like us. We forget how God has made a way when there was no way. This time the available assets were seven loaves and a few small fish. Jesus blesses the available assets and it is enough to feed every man, woman and child with plenty of food left over to fill seven large baskets.
Jesus does not just put out nice sounding words. He demonstrates His love by providing the best. Food prepared by God is not just some stale tasteless crummy food. It is truly heavenly. It was food they did not have to prepare. All they needed to do was accept it. Jesus is the bread of life. He gave His life for us. All we have to do is accept it. It is the bread from heaven just like the manna in the wilderness, except this bread is freely offered at no cost. It cost us nothing but it cost Him everything.