Mark 6:37, commentary and pictures

In a remote place in the evening with thousands weary, hungry and fainting, He told His disciples to feed them themselves instead of sending them away. They answered that two hundred denarii worth of bread would still give each only a little, revealing surprise and a sense of human impossibility, yet His direction tested their faith for He already knew how He would provide. With only five barley loaves and two small fishes from a lad, He had the people seated in companies, blessed the supply, broke it and gave it through their hands until all were satisfied and twelve baskets of fragments were gathered. The miracle reveals His divine power and compassion for bodily need as well as spiritual need, the same power by which God continually multiplies the harvest to feed mankind. His command stands as promise that those who bring Him what little they have, receive from Him as the bread of life, and share it in unselfish service will find the gift increase in the giving, while gathering carefully what remains so nothing is wasted.

Words and Setting

The command is that the disciples themselves should give the hungry multitude something to eat instead of sending the people away to find food. It places responsibility on them to feed the crowd rather than waiting for others or relying on their own limited resources. The miracle that follows supplies the food they distribute, so the command is carried out through them as they bring what they have to Him, receive bread from His hands, and serve the people. The command is also a promise backed by the power that provided food for the crowd.

The setting is a remote desert place in the evening after the crowd had spent the day with Him. About five thousand men besides women and children had been all day without food, and in one account more than ten thousand people were fed in Galilee. They were weary, hungry and fainting after listening so long to His teaching, had used up their food, and could not readily obtain food nearby. The five thousand were drawn by the impressiveness of His teaching, and as evening came the question arose where food for so great a company could be found. He told the disciples the people were weary and needed rest and food, knowing they would feel hungry and faint though He had not invited them to follow and had no food nigh at hand and apparently no means at His command.

The disciples answered with surprise at the command in view of the crowd's size and their limited means. They reckoned that buying enough bread would cost two hundred pennyworth or denarii and still give each person only a little. Philip judged that two hundred pennyworth would not provide more than a little for each, showing how inadequate their resources appeared and their focus on lack of resources. By ordinary means they judged meeting the need to be humanly impossible, and their inability to supply the crowd set the scene for abundant provision by miracle. Their practical concern is thus set against His instruction to meet the people's need.

His direction about providing food and His question about where to buy bread and what food was available tested the disciples' faith. The command, spoken to Philip, was given to test the faith of the disciples when food and means seemed insufficient. He Himself already knew how He would provide for the people and how He would feed them. He would not let the people go hungry or suffer for lack of food after spending the day with Him.

The command reflects His care for people's temporal needs as well as their spiritual needs. He was moved with compassion for people without a shepherd and taught them the way of salvation, while His work included teaching and healing the people, relieving their necessities, and feeding their souls with the bread of life. His care for the weary multitude displays how the Father is glorified, and the miracle was part of His mission expressing His love for humanity. He would not send them to their homes unrefreshed or let them faint by the way. Though He had refused to work a miracle to satisfy His own hunger in the wilderness, He would not allow the multitude to suffer for lack of food.

Miracle Course and Outcome

The whole stock on hand was five loaves, barley loaves, and two fishes, a few small fishes brought forward from a lad. It was a slender store scarcely sufficient for twenty persons, seeming nothing among so many. The multitude was seated in order on the grass, on a grassy plot and grassy spot, in companies of fifty and one hundred. A hymn was sung, He looked to His Father for blessing on the meager supply, asked the blessing, blessed it, broke it into small pieces, and placed the pieces in the disciples' hands for them to distribute to the multitudes. He had the food brought forward and gave it through His disciples until all had enough.

As the disciples gave to the hungry they came back for more, continually imparting what they received and returning to Him as often as needed for a fresh supply. The scanty provision grew under His hand with a constantly fresh supply that did not diminish, the supply kept increasing as they distributed all they had. It was enough for all, until all were satisfied and had sufficiency. Five thousand besides women and children were filled, their hunger satisfied with food still left, and a supply that seemed meager could through Him satisfy the people and leave enough to give to others.

After all were satisfied He directed that the broken fragments be gathered so nothing would be lost, and required the gathering of the fragments. Twelve baskets full were gathered on this occasion. Seven baskets full were gathered on another occasion of feeding.

Divine Power Revealed

The miracle displays omnipotent power and beneficence, divine power to provide for bodily needs by increasing a small supply of a few loaves and fishes until all have enough. It proves what He can do with what seems far too small by human judgment, teaching that God can do great things for His people today and calling for more faith in Him. Its abundant provision convinced many that He was the Messiah and promised Deliverer. His followers are therefore to care compassionately for people seeking salvation, making practical efforts so that hunger, weariness, or discouragement does not obstruct hearing the word of life.

The same divine power that multiplied the loaves works continually in the harvest, multiplying seed and feeding people from the earth's harvest through the growth of crops and ordinary provision of food. Human work in growing grain and making bread does not remove His agency, though it is often overlooked. People should give God the glory rather than crediting only human means, and not misuse His gifts for selfish purposes. The feeding met a genuine need through simple food distributed by the disciples, showing that God's power provides what sustains life.

Bearing human nature and one with the people in their need of food, He was placed where He was by providence with no food nigh at hand and apparently no means at His command, yet knew the five thousand men besides women and children would feel hungry and faint after listening so long. In that strait He depended on His heavenly Father for means to relieve the necessity. His care displays how the Father is glorified, for He Himself was their sanctuary and helper and great leading Physician, attentive wherever He went to those needing attention. The miracle was part of His mission and expressed His love for humanity, requiring His followers to be softened and subdued and sanctified by His Holy Spirit, to study how to work the very works He worked, and to dedicate themselves so they can communicate supply to those in necessity.

The feeding was a wonder like the multiplication of food for one hundred men, showing God's grace and power can make a small supply sufficient for many despite apparent insufficiency of resources. His care for people's need for food continues, for He can give His people knowledge to find food in different ways. Today He gives tact, skill, and understanding to those who follow His direction and can provide what is needed from five loaves and two fishes.

Call to Serve and Share

The command to feed the multitude is also a promise, backed by the same power that supplied food for the crowd in the wilderness. Those who serve others are to follow His instructions and depend on God when food and means seem insufficient and difficulty presses. They are to exercise wisdom and judgment in every action, not plunging into hardship by careless movements that neglect the means God has provided and misuse the faculties He has given.

The disciples are not to wait for others or rely on their own limited resources, but to bring what they have to Him and serve the people from His hands. In His hands a small and scanty supply becomes enough for many, and as they distribute what He gives it increases in their hands until the people are fed. The gift grows in the giving, so that those who distribute also eat from what He provides, and unselfish gifts and service blessed by Him can become sufficient for a wide field of work.

The lesson is to trust Him and do one's best rather than worry over what cannot be helped. Workers are not to look elsewhere for outside help to revive and feed people, as when the disciples anxiously reckoned the cost of buying bread. When those trying to keep His way, after using wisdom, are brought into strait places and compassed with difficulties, they are to depend wholly upon God in fullest confidence in every emergency, seeking wisdom from Him who has infinite resources at His command, neither failing nor giving up in discouragement, and He will deliver and keep them.

Spiritually the disciples are appointed to pass on what they receive from Him as the bread of life, and those united to Him likewise receive from Him and share with others. When people lack that bread, His followers are not to wonder whether someone else must come to teach and revive them, but to recognize that He is present and to bring what they have to Him. Worry is needless; they must come to Jesus, receive what He bestows, pray over the truth, practice it, eat and drink the word of life, and grow in faith and intelligent knowledge. In the same way means used faithfully for God's work can enable many who are spiritually hungry to receive, as they share what they have, however little, share the truth with those who do not have it, give the bread of life to needy souls, and support work that carries it to others.

The work is not to stop to measure advance by the means at hand, for that shows very limited faith, whether means are large or small. God's human agents are to plan and work in faith, diffuse the gospel over the whole earth, go forward in sincerity realizing their responsibility, and give the bread of life to starving multitudes. Its methods are to be studied from the feeding of the five thousand together with the feeding of the four thousand, with simple and economical provision and no selfish private interests obstructing the work. Compassionate practical efforts are to meet needs so that hunger, weariness, or discouragement does not obstruct opportunity to hear the word of life and come to Christ. Humble faith and prayer accomplish more than long councils, new methods, entertainments to draw people, and prolonged planning.

Economy and Faithful Stewardship

The feeding of the five thousand teaches close economy in trying circumstances, order, and care that nothing is wasted. After miraculously satisfying hunger from five loaves and a few small fishes, the leftover food was carefully attended to instead of being allowed to go to waste, even though the work taxed strength fully, showing that ordinary needs are still to be noticed. God's gifts are not to be wasted but are to be used carefully, including to help meet people's needs.

Those in charge of institutions must keep this example in mind, act wisely, refuse to spend one dollar that can be saved by frugality and thrift, safeguard the interests of the work entrusted to them, and put the Bible principles of economy and thrift into daily practice. The command to gather the fragments so nothing is lost means more than saving food, for it is a lasting lesson against extravagance and waste. It requires plain and simple building of sanitariums with only the room needed to care for and impress people, and every such act leaves a permanent impression of truth on the minds of those healed and those who see it.

Industry and economy are important duties bound up with the miracle and the gathering of the fragments so nothing is lost. Those able to labor must be faithful stewards of strength, labor for small wages as well as large, live simply within means, and place the family above want. No one able to work is to remain in debt and dependence on others, with help from brethren given only to provide a start.

The gathering of the fragments teaches stewardship and the duty to impart what God has given rather than to waste, to gamble, or to take by conniving what belongs to another. All the works manifested in the present day by message or by any helpfulness are to be held as a credit. Food given to the disciples to distribute was multiplied and blessed, and in the same way means used faithfully for God's work can enable many who are spiritually hungry to receive the bread of life. Gifts of money sent in with thanksgiving and prayer and put to the best use receive the same multiplication and blessing for advancing the work, enabling the feeding of multitudes starving for the bread of life.