Witnesses and administrators

of Jesus' mercy

(Mk 6:30-44)

As soon as they had returned from their first mission, Jesus ordered his disciples to feed a hungry crowd (Mk 6.37), they who had not had time themselves even to eat (Mk 6.31)! Thus they have to understand that preaching the Gospel is not the extent of their whole mission; they have to learn, above all, to have compassion for the needy and dedicate themselves to other less ‘glorious’ missions: looking after a crowd without bread is also a task for Christ's apostle, an unavoidable mission because it has been imposed by the Lord himself (Mk 6.37).

1.The Gospel account

The episode of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes is made up of two scenes: the apostles' return (Mk 6.30-32) and the multiplication of the loaves (Mk 6:33-44).

The first scene, not given any concrete location, is the logical conclusion to the account of the first sending out (Mk 6.6b-13) and serves as an introduction to the miracle account (cf. Mk 6.31.32). The mission of the Twelve thus remains tied to the miracle of the first multiplication of loaves, is its logical conclusion. Actually, it was after the success of the mission of the ones he had sent out that the crowd comes running to Jesus (Mk 6:33). Given that they are following Jesus' followers (Mk 6.33), the people now experience Jesus' compassion (Mk 6.34).

The second scene, the account of the miracle, is a more elaborate one. We can identify three parts to it: Jesus discovers the crowd is looking for him (Mk 6.34), the disciples talk with Jesus about the people and the lack of resources (Mk 6.35-38), and the account of the miracle itself (Mk 6:39-44).

The miracle is narrated in such a modest way that only because there is mention of how many people there were eating, can we realise how great the event was. By providing food, Jesus acts as shepherd (cf. Ps 22.1.5) of a people without shepherds (Mk 6.34): giving people something to eat – careful! – this is a pastoral activity!

2.Some highlights

The apostles come back to Jesus They have acted and taught in his stead and now they give account of how much they have done. They return to be where they should be, where Jesus wants them to be, beside Him, since this is what they wre born for (cf. Mk 3.14). The report they give on “all they have done and said” confirms their situation as delegates of Jesus (MK 6.30); they had received the mission from him and their powers (Mk 3.15; 6,7), and they have to answer to him for it. The apostle's mission does not finish when he stops working, but when he renders account for it. Why do we think we have finished an apostolic activity, when usually we don't finish it, remaining at his side, with a personal account?

When the mission is over, then we can take the rest we deserve

Jesus reacts to his missionaries' account by suggesting they withdraw, together and alone, to an isolated spot (Mk 6.31a). After the efforts of the mission comes an invitation to pause: that was Jesus' personal practice (cf. Mt 1.35); and he wants his disciples to do likewise. Jesus ‘defends’ the apostle from the ones he is sent to (cf. Mk 3.20), offering them a deserted and lonely place…, alone but with Him. The one who renders account to the one who sent him, spends time in intimacy with him. Representing Jesus by preaching the kingdom is the surest way to have him as an exclusive companion. The apostle at the end of his mission can – and knows he can – count on his Lord for rest.

With the people - and to work

It was Jesus' intention for his apostles to have a rest. But the coming and going of the crowd stops them from resting (Mk 6:31b). Jesus insists on taking his disciples to a place apart (Mt 1.35.45), far from the crowd (Mk 4:10.34; 7:17; 8:13-14; 9:2.28; 13:2). And he chooses a boat (Mk 6:32) in his effort to get away. But the crowd is not ready to be abandoned; they follow Jesus' group on foot and get there before them, arriving before the boat (cf. Mk 6:45).

They are joined by people from cities around the lake (Mk 6:33). The observation is exaggerated. It would be unlikely that a crowd on foot would reach there before the group that had set out in the boat. But what the narrator is interested in doing is highlighting the huge number, a growing number, following Jesus (Mk 5.21.24.27.30.31), including against his will. It is the multitude which frustrates Jesus' plans for his apostles to have a rest. They won't let them rest nor will they let them ignore them.

Compassion, the way of being Messiah

Getting down from the boat, Jesus encounters a crowd waiting for him (cf. Mk 5:2.21; 6:54) and with needs that cannot wait (Mk 6:34). Seeing the crowds he felt compassion for them (cf. Mk 1:44; 8:2; 9:33). His attempt to leave them, motivated by his apostles' need, has not made him insensitive to them. Since he has not been able to send them away he has to think of them…, certainly, and with pity.

In fact it is only when he sees them that he feels compassion. No other cause is given other than the state of abandonment they are in: they were “like sheep without a shepherd” (cf. Ez 34:9-11). The chronicler does not want to highlight Jesus' good feelings but to describe his personal mission. Jesus takes their efforts to find him as a sign of the great privation they are experiencing. The People of God has become a flock without guides or keepers (cf. Nm 27:17; 1 Kgs 22:17; Ez 34:5-6). What Jesus then does is a clear demonstration of the ‘leadership’ which the people of God is in need of.

Jesus' compassion reflects God's the supreme Shepherd's passion for his people (cf. Ex 16; Nm 11). This is why compassion coverts him into a shepherd and Messiah. But it is surprising that before giving them bread he gives them his word. Moved by compassion, he begins to carry out his mission as shepherd by becoming the evangeliser. The People of God receives the word first, then sustenance. What the people receives from him, a long instruction and just a little sustenance, will be the result of his pity.

Noticing need, the disciple's task

The people, who begin listening to him, do not notice that time is flying, nor do they feel need for anything else. Notice how satisfying their Messiah's word is! They feel so good they don't feel hungry. It is the disciples who point out that it is late and that they are far from where they live (Mk 6:35). They note that the crowd might be hungry, but they don't feel obliged to intervene: they see the need but they don't take responsibility. Given that the time for the main meal of the day has arrived, they ask Jesus, with the best of intentions to say goodbye to his listeners so they can see to their necessary sustenance. The suggestion is certainly well-intentioned, even if there is a touch of self-interest (Mk 6:36).

Indirectly there is an allusion to the lack of provisions amongst the people. If they find themselves in need now it is because they have earlier not noted the time spent listening to Jesus: their need to listen to him was greater than their need to eat. In a certain way it is Jesus who is responsible for their hunger. While not chiding him for it, the disciples act in such a way that Jesus notices it. It is a curious destiny this one, typical of the disciples, to have Jesus falling out of the clouds, noting the essential and vital needs of his listeners! Is there still this kind of disciple amongst us, knowing how to discover the most elementary needs of the people and letting Jesus know about it?

An unexpected order from Jesus

Jesus surprises the disciples with an unusal order: they are the ones who have to find them something to eat (Mk 6:37a). The disciples take Jesus' direction seriously and ask if they have to go and buy bread for everyone. Not even two hundred denarii would have been enough and the disciples did not have that amount anyway (Mk 6:8) added to that there would not have been enough to satisfy even a thousand of the people adn there were “five thousand men” (Mk 6:44).

The disciples' question lets us understand the impossibility of the task entrusted to them and their inability to imagine what Jesus was proposing (Mk 6;37b). While they are thinking of everything they lacked, Jesus is already doing something about the little that they have. For them who had already survived a storm at sea, only what they lacked counted, not having Jesus by their side! (cf. Mk 6:51-52). They had him… and yet they were concerned only with the little they had! Sad, but an accurate portrait of the disciple of Jesus!

Jesus does not respond to his disciples' objections, but questions them about what they have. He is not concerned about what they don't have, but interested in knowing what they do have. By obliging them to check on the laughable quantity of provisions they have, Jesus does not however dispense them from the order he has just given them. This is what he wants, to make them aware of their incapacity to carry out his command. Five loaves and two fishes, the usual amount for fishermen (cf. Lk 24:42; Jn 21:9), and they all had this (Mk 6:38). That would hardly have been enough even for the Twelve and Jesus.

Noting the need for provisions serves to highlight the exceptional nature of Jesus' work. The less the basis on which it rests, the greater the miracle will be (Mk 8:5; cf. 1 Kg 17:12; 2 Kg 4:42): the little that the disciples give, if this is all they have, is suitable material for the miracle. In order to multiply the food Jesus needs some loaves…, and a lot of generosity from his disciples.

Administrators of the miracle, despite what they lack

Noting the impossibility of their carrying out the task given them, Jesus takes the initiative and acts as the lone host. He transforms the open countryside into a banquet hall for the crowd, as God had done, in other times in the desert (cf. Ex 16; Num 11). Jesus shares out what his disciples have like the father of a family distributing bread to his family: taking it, blessing it, breaking it and giving it to be distributed (Mk 6:41).

It is here where his disciples receive a mission once again.He uses the disciples to serve the diners. The disciples are executors of Jesus' will and this is why they are administrators of his miracle. They have to get the bread blessed and broken by Jesus out to a crowd in need of shepherds. Jesus alone could not do it; this way they are associated with the ministry of their Lord. The apostolic service, diaconate of serving at table, is a consequence of Jesus' compassion and his people's needs. those who do not know how to satiate the people's hunger can at least help distribute Jesus' bread, which made use of the scarcity of resources of his apostles to feed the multitude (Mk 6:44). Bringing the kingdom to people also demands that their most vital needs are satisfied. But this new task comes after the shared mission, and is a consequence of it.

A miracle to recognise

Only at the end of the account od we know how many there were; this underlines the extraordinary nature of the miracle. For every loaf given out a thousand were satisfied (Mk 6:44) and plenty of leftovers: twelve baskets (Mk 6:34), one per apostle. That's how effective Jesus' blessing was.

The crowd does not seem to be aware of the multiplication (Mk 6:42). It is the disciples who knew how little food there was, and can see the greatness of the miracle. But significantly we are not given any reaction of theirs. The disciples are silent witnesses to the miracle, and they gather up the leftovers, much more than they had had and certianly than they had initially provided. That is how generous Jesus had been with them.

Jesus' action thus becomes doubly freely offered: because it was neither publicly requested nor recognised as such. Just like the lengthy teaching that preceded this, the miracle is generous and freely given. Such is the extent of Jesus' compassion. No less touching is the fact that Jesus, to be able to satisfy the multitude, to show his compassion, had had recourse to the poverty of his disciples. They gave the little they had, but that was all; each one gathered up a basket filled to the brim.

Even though Jesus is the sole protagonist (he evangelises the crowd, and then feeds them), he needs his apostles: they, their missionary success, meant Jesus had been sought out; it was they who warned Jesus that it was time to eat; they provided what they had, they distributed the blessed bread then picked up the leftovers. Without his envoys Jesus would not have been able to show his compassion.

[reminder of the spiritual work already indicated, cf. Day three. Presentation, p. 2].

At Cana, at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, Mary succeeded in getting Jesus to convert water into good wine, anticipate his hour and it was there his followers began to believe in him. May we feel Mary's presence today amongst and our festivity, our faith, will secure our most elementary and our deepest needs.