Mark 6:34, commentary and pictures

Jesus withdrew by boat to a lonely place near Bethsaida to rest with His disciples after their missionary tour and the death of John the Baptist, but the multitude followed Him on foot and by boat and gathered about five thousand men besides women and children, preventing His rest. When He came out and saw them, He was moved with yearning compassion and welcomed them rather than turning them away, giving up His rest to minister to their needs all day until evening. They were as sheep without a shepherd because they had no spiritual guides to care for them, the priests and rulers having failed them with empty ceremonies and a law repeated without understanding or practice. Leaving His retreat for a grassy place where all could see and hear, He taught them many things as healing and salvation for their souls, and He healed the sick and afflicted brought to Him and at last fed the hungry multitude from a small supply of bread and fish.

Setting and Circumstances

The scene belongs to the feeding of the five thousand near the time of Passover, in a lonely wilderness retreat near Bethsaida at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, beautiful with the fresh green of spring. The crowd numbered five thousand men besides women and children, many having followed by land or by boat, and people from far away traveling toward Jerusalem were among them. Jesus had crossed the lake by boat from Capernaum to that desert place to rest apart with His disciples.

The withdrawal came just after the disciples returned filled with joy from their first missionary tour and while they were grieving the death of John the Baptist by Herod, to hear truth undisturbed by Pharisees and apart from the confusion of the multitude. He hoped to gain even one hour of rest and a short precious time alone to open treasures of truth that would vitalize them with divine power and inspire hope and courage for more effective labor. Weary from traveling, He sought solitude by boat, yet the crowd kept His work going and would not let Him get away.

The multitude guessed His usual place of retirement and followed Him there, searching for Him by land and by boat and pressing forward when He landed, so that the rest He had planned with His disciples was prevented and frustrated. They came to follow Him without invitation or command, and about five thousand men besides women and children gathered to meet Him. He landed without being noticed and spent a little time apart with His disciples before the crowd gathered around Him.

He then withdrew a little apart to a grassy eminence and convenient place where He could be seen and heard by all. From that grassy rise He could teach through the day, and though interruptions from sick and afflicted people often drowned out His words, He patiently continued. That brief retirement had been precious, yet it was now broken.

Though interrupted and robbed of rest, He was not impatient, for He saw a greater necessity demanding His attention. He had no heart to turn the people away but welcomed them rather than dismissing them. Giving up rest, He left His retreat, ministered to their needs all day teaching and healing all the sick and afflicted brought to Him, and at evening dismissed them to go to their homes and rest.

Sheep Without Shepherd

When He came out and saw the great crowd He was moved with compassion, sympathy, and yearning pity. His pure heart held only love for restless, thirsting, suffering souls. He identified with their interests, shared their burdens, felt their fears, so that their pain touched His heart.

They were as sheep not having a shepherd because they lacked spiritual guidance and help. They received no help from the priests and rulers and had no spiritual guides to care for them. Their eagerness to hear truth and receive spiritual food reflected that need.

The priests and rulers who should have taught Israel failed them. They performed empty ceremonies and repeated the law without understanding or practicing it. In this way they left the people as scattered sheep without faithful guidance.

His teaching answered that need as care and healing. Leaving His retreat, He taught them many things. He gave the healing waters of life, showed the way of salvation, and brought mercy and spiritual comfort and healing to their souls.

His compassion included sorrow and earnest prayer over their ruin. He grieved that many would reject Him as God's sent help. He prayed in agony for sinful humanity lost without redeeming grace. He asked that they turn from guilt to light and salvation.

The same image of sheep without a shepherd describes the disciples after Jesus' death. Then they were overwhelmed by doubt and confusion, unable to recall His warnings and feeling deprived of His presence. Their loss deepened their sense of need for Him and love for Him.

Teaching and Healing Ministry

He began to teach them many things and spent the entire day teaching them, speaking with patient and kindly care though He Himself was weary and hungry and had crossed the sea seeking rest. Suffering people and their friends frequently interrupted, often drowning out His words, yet He calmly continued teaching and healing rather than turning them aside. He labored for those who came seeking Him until He was nearly fainting with exhaustion.

He withdrew a little to a grassy eminence, a convenient rise where He could be seen and heard by all, and there taught the people through the whole day. At one time He spoke from a fisherman's boat rather than taking a royal position, and His teaching is eternal wisdom to remain with His disciples and be given to the world. His simple, clear truths charmed those who heard and dispelled the darkness of those confused about what to believe and longing for intelligent doctrine to relieve their uncertainty.

He had no heart to turn the crowds away but welcomed them rather than leaving them to seek help in vain, caring about their human misery and meeting the spiritual needs of those ignorant and hungry for the bread of life. He spent the day teaching and healing all the sick and afflicted who were brought to Him. His compassion for suffering people was expressed through healing and other miracles as part of His mission, including freeing people tormented by demons.

After they had listened long in the wilderness far from home, He knew they would feel hungry and faint, for He was one with them in their need of food. Many could not buy food, and He understood the weariness of the mothers and children who had followed through the day. Sharing their human need, He would not send them home hungry or leave them to go home unrefreshed and faint on the way, but cared as evening drew on that the weary crowd numbering five thousand men besides women and children needed rest and food.

While preaching the gospel as a man He miraculously supplied them with food from a small supply of bread and fish, five loaves and two small fish distributed by the disciples, so that all were satisfied. His teaching and healing had already won the people's hearts, and His teaching and works together led many to believe that He was the Messiah. His care for people's needs continues through provision for His people.

Placed where He was by the providence of God, with no food at hand and apparently no means at His command, He depended on His heavenly Father for the means to relieve their necessity. Though the disciples saw no way to feed them, He already knew how to provide. This gives His followers in all time a lesson of dependence upon God for what is needed to relieve necessity where need arises.

Miraculous Provision and Economy

The feeding shows divine power providing abundantly from what seems meager, five loaves and two small fish, on one journey five loaves and a few small fishes, broken in small pieces and passed through the disciples until the multitude was fed. Twelve baskets of fragments were gathered, and seven on another occasion. The small supply that appeared far too small did not prevent Him from supplying the crowd's need, and the lesson is that Christ can accomplish great things for His people with such means.

The same power that multiplied the loaves works in the harvest and in ordinary provision through nature, multiplying seed and feeding people through the earth's produce. Human work in growing grain and making bread can hide this divine agency, leading people to credit natural or human causes instead of recognizing His kindness. His good provisions are to be received with gratitude to the Creator as blessings, not perverted by appetite or taken for granted or turned to selfish uses.

The miracle proves what He can do and teaches trust, for He knew how to provide when the disciples saw no way and questioned how such a multitude could be fed. He had them sit on a beautiful grassy spot and gave the broken food through His disciples until all had enough, showing He can minister, teach, guide into truth, help in all wrestling and trials, and give everlasting life in the kingdom of glory to the overcomer. He still gives tact, skill, and understanding to those who come into line with Him, so people should have more faith in Him and lay everything before Him.

He commanded that the fragments be gathered so nothing was lost, teaching order and economy and thrift even amid great work. The careful gathering of what remained after satisfying hunger by miracle gives a lesson with special application to trying circumstances that compel close economy. Those in charge of institutions must act wisely, refuse to expend one dollar that can be saved by frugality and thrift, and put Bible principles of economy and thrift into daily practice to safeguard interests entrusted to them. Believers have the duties to owe no man anything, to live within their means, to labor for small wages as well as for large, and to be faithful stewards of strength through industry and economy in order to place their families above want and dependence.

What is given to the disciples with thanksgiving and prayer is multiplied and blessed as the food was. Gifts given for soul-saving medical missionary work are multiplied and blessed in the same way. Faithful best use of the means available enables God to feed the multitudes who are starving for the bread of life. Those who work with God receive divine grace to share with people in need, and the gift increases as it is distributed.

Having left heaven's royal courts, laying off crown and robe and clothing divinity with humanity to be born as a poor child in a stable among cattle, He came to stand close to humanity to educate it. On this occasion about five thousand men besides women and children gathered, and some were fainting, weary and hungry with their food used up. In compassion He noticed their condition, led them to a grassy plot to sit down in companies, asked what food was available, took five loaves and a few small fishes, asked the blessing upon the food, divided it with His disciples and kept passing the increased food through them into the hands of the hungry multitude until all were filled. Those who receive from God must impart what He has given them and not gamble or get means by scheming that robs another.

Example for Gospel Workers

Jesus felt compassion for the crowds because they were without a shepherd to care for and guide them, and His disciples were to join Him in that work rather than leave such people uncared for. His desire to teach spiritual truth did not make Him indifferent to bodily need, for He understood the weariness of mothers and children who had followed through the day. His compassion for seekers of salvation is the pattern for His followers, who should make caring efforts so that all who wish to hear the word of life have opportunity, counting it Christian duty to help people, remove obstacles from the path to Christ, and not neglect the weary and hungry.

The account of the feeding of the five thousand is an example of His methods to be studied and applied in practical work. On that occasion about five thousand men besides women and children gathered, some fainting, and in compassion He led them to a grassy plot, asked what food was available, and with only five loaves and a few small fishes divided the food with His disciples and had them distribute it until all were fed. Workers softened and subdued and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, going from place to place attentive to everyone needing help as He was their sanctuary and helper and great leading Physician, who dedicate themselves to God will receive His Spirit to communicate supply to those in necessity. The lesson drawn from His pity and provision is to share what is possessed with those who lack the truth and to labor selflessly to spread it.

People without a shepherd need someone to care for their souls and teach them God's Word, and the image applies to groups large and small who lack spiritual guidance and need the message presented clearly and decisively. It describes the community attending the meetings, who lack guidance and need to be taught. It also applies to people waiting for someone to teach them, showing the need for workers to visit and help them understand the truth. The companies around Cooranbong longed for someone to open the Word of God to them, with God and Jesus Christ kept before them.

Those converted through public preaching must not be left without care or direction but need tender, compassionate ministry that helps them grow, not harshness, contempt, or denunciation. The people in the surrounding suburbs are likewise scattered sheep without a shepherd in need of spiritual care and guidance. The urgent need in Newcastle is of the same kind, where people seeking guidance, light, and the true gospel appeal for help and hunger for the bread of life, calling for gospel workers to teach them. The scattered people around Cooranbong are sheep needing care with Jesus Christ as their shepherd, needing prompt ministerial labor, including in Newcastle where no ministerial work has been done. Where ministers do not visit, people left without spiritual care or teaching are hungry for spiritual instruction, and their need creates an opportunity to teach them. The towns around Newcastle and Maitland lacked spiritual guidance and needed to be sought out and taught the third angel's message. Earnest, anxious people lacking guidance and calling for help need workers to come to them.

His tender concern for those without a shepherd to guide them also met His disciples in their perilous trials and temptations, for He knew their needs and gave them counsel and leadership no one else could provide. In one journey He traveled on foot with the Word of the Lord in hand, sitting to talk awhile then rising to lead the following people away from the cities to retired places, gathering as many as five thousand weary hungry people whose food was used up on a grassy plot. There He taught them many things and then fed them from five loaves and a few small fishes that kept increasing as it was broken in small pieces and distributed until the multitude was fed, then had the fragments gathered so nothing was lost. All works of Christ manifested by message or helpfulness are to be held as a credit.

He looked on the crowd with compassion as sheep without a shepherd and responded by teaching them many things, while news of His miracle drew large crowds from near and far, including people fed the day before who returned to find Him. The large crowd was drawn by the impressiveness of His teaching, numbering five thousand, and though they were weary He walked from place to place with multitudes following, called them aside, and had a place prepared for them.