Mark 8:6
And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.
Jesus had returned to Decapolis, where thousands flocked to Him from the surrounding region and heard the message of salvation through three days of teaching and healing among Gentiles. After the multitude had listened for three days without food, He showed tender care for physical needs as well as spiritual needs, having compassion on them and refusing to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way. Remembering that He Himself had fainted after His own long fast in the wilderness and that angels had ministered to Him, He performed the miracle to feed them without hesitation.
He commanded the people to sit down on the ground, took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them into small pieces, and gave them to His disciples to set before the people, and they distributed them. The disciples' earlier experience of the feeding at Bethsaida did not keep them from doubting, and their reluctance also reflected Jewish prejudice against Gentiles, yet they obeyed and brought the food they had.
With this He fed four thousand people at one time, distinct from His feeding of five thousand at another time, so that the multitude had enough to eat and seven baskets of fragments were left over. The account teaches that Christ can provide for people and calls them to have faith in Him. The Lord's methods in this feeding are to be studied in carrying forward food work, meaning to operate food manufacture in an economical manner without large investment, to make simple, inexpensive preparations to greater advantage, and to let no selfish private interests block progress of the work in the right way.