Patrick Comerford
We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent are less than three weeks away (5 March 2025), and tomorrow is the Third Sunday before Lent (16 February 2025).
The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Sigfrid (1045), bishop and Apostle of Sweden, and Thomas Bray (1730), priest and the founder of SPCK and SPG, now USPG (15 February). Before today begins, however, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 8: 1-10 (NRSVA):
1 In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, 2 ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way – and some of them have come from a great distance.’ 4 His disciples replied, ‘How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?’ 5 He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They said, ‘Seven.’ 6 Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. 7 They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. 8 They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
Today’s Reflection:
There are six different accounts of two miracle stories associated with the Feeding of the Multitude. The first story, the feeding of 5,000, is found in all four Gospels (see Matthew 14: 13-21; Mark 6: 31-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6: 5-15). This is the only miracle – apart from the Resurrection – that is found in all three Synoptic Gospels and in Saint John’s Gospel. The second story, the feeding of 4,000, is told by both Mark in today’s reading (Mark 8: 1-10) and by Matthew (Matthew 15: 32-38), but not by either Luke or John.
In the Feeding of the 5,000, Jesus feed the multitude with five loaves and two fish shared by a boy. When Jesus hears that John the Baptist had been killed, he take a boat to a solitary place, near Bethsaida. The crowds follow him on foot from the towns, and when Jesus lands he sees a large crowd. He had compassion for them and heals their sick. As evening approaches, the disciples tell him it is a remote place, it is late, and urge him to send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy food.
Jesus says they do not need to go away, and asks the disciples to give them something to eat. They find five loaves and two fish, Jesus asks the people to sit on the grass in groups of 50 and 100, takes the five loaves and two fish, looks up to heaven, gives thanks, breaks them. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. Taking, blessing, breaking and giving are the four essential liturgical actions at the Eucharist identified by Dom Gregory Dix in The Shape of the Liturgy.
All eat and are satisfied, and the disciples pick up 12 baskets full of broken pieces that are left over. The number of those who ate was about 5,000 men, as well as women and children.
If there were 5,000 men there that day, and one woman with each man and two children with each couple, then we are talking about the feeding of 20,000 people, or the population of a town like Wexford, Carlow or Sligo in Ireland, Berkhamsted, Brownhills, Truro or Wednesbury in England, Ierapetra or Agios Nikolaos in Crete.
Professor Colin Humphreys of Selwyn College, Cambridge, challenges many early calculations and now suggests the number of men, women and children at the Exodus was about 20,000. So, in feeding the multitude, Christ is bringing all our wanderings, all our journeys, all our searches for God, to their fulfilment when we meet him in sharing the good news and break bread together.
In Apocryphal writings, II Baruch 29: 8, a Jewish pseudepigraphical text thought to date from the late 1st century CE or early 2nd century CE, also connects the feeding in the wilderness in Exodus 16 with the Messianic age.
The feeding with the fish also looks forward to the Resurrection. The fish is an early symbol of faith in the Risen Christ: Ichthus (ἰχθύς, ΙΧΘΥC) is the Greek word for fish, and can be read as an acrostic, a word formed from the first letters of words, spelling out ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ (Iēsous Khristos Theou Huios, Sōtēr), ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.’
The story of the feeding of the 4,000 is told only by Matthew and Mark. A large crowd gathers and follows Jesus. He calls his disciples and tells them he has compassion for the people, who have followed him for three days and now have nothing to eat. He does not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way.
The disciples say they are in a remote place and ask where they could find enough bread to feed such a crowd. All they have is seven loaves and a few small fish.
Jesus tells the people to sit down on the ground, he takes the loaves and fish, gives thanks, breaks them and gives them to the disciples, who then give them to the people. All ate and were satisfied. Afterwards, the disciples collect seven basketfuls of broken pieces that are leftover. The number of those who eat is 4,000 men, with the number of women and children not counted. Jesus then sends the crowd away, gets into the boat and goes to the area of the district of Dalmanutha (Matthew names it as Magadan or Magdala).
There are differences in the details of the two feeding stories. Are they two distinct miracles?
The baskets used to collect the food that remains are 12 κόφινοι (kófinoi, hand baskets) in Matthew (14: 20) and Mark (6: 43). But they are seven σπυρίδες (spyrídes, large baskets) in Matthew 15: 37 and Mark 8: 8. A σπυρίς (spyrís) or large basket was double the size of a κόφινος (kófinos). An indication of the size of a spyrís is that the Apostle Paul was let out in one through a gap in the city wall in Damascus to escape a plot to kill him (Acts 9: 25).
The two feeding miracles – the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 – show that Christ cares for all seek him and listen to his teaching, both Jew and Gentile.
At the feeding of the 5,000, the people were certainly almost all Jews. They came from the surrounding towns and were familiar with where Jesus was going with his apostles to get some time alone. Then, after he fed them, they were about to come and make him king (see John 6:15).
When Jesus makes the people sit in groups of hundreds and fifties (Mark 6: 40; Luke 9: 14), the numbers may recall the place in the Exodus story where the people had rulers over fifties and hundreds (Exodus 18: 25). When the 12 have fed the multitude, each gets a full basket back. Perhaps the 12 baskets of leftovers represent the 12 tribes of Israel.
The feeding of the 4,000, on the other hand, may take place in a Gentile setting. It takes place after Jesus goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is Gentile territory, although there would have been some Jews that lived there, which is why he was able to stay in a house there (Mark 7: 24).
This is the area where Christ heals the daughter of the Greek-speaking Syro-Phoenician or Canaanite woman (see Matthew 15: 22, Mark 7: 26), the only miracle of Jesus recorded in that region, and which we read about on Thursday. Both may be seen as clear signs that the Messianic blessing now extends to all people through the Messiah, and a fulfilment of the prophecy that the Messiah is to be a ‘light to the Gentiles’ (Isaiah 42: 6, 49: 6), which is one of the Christmas promises at Candlemas two weeks ago (see Luke 2: 29-32, 2 February).
When Jesus leaves the area, Mark says, he goes to the Sea of Galilee and then to its east coast, ‘the region of the Decapolis’, populated by Gentiles (Mark 7: 31). There he heals a deaf man who has a speech impediment, and the people spread the word about him (Mark 7: 31-37, which we read on Friday, 14 February 2025).
By now, a large number of Gentiles from the region of Tyre and Sidon and from the Decapolis are following Jesus. He goes up a mountain and does many healings (Matthew 15: 29-31), and ‘they praised the God of Israel’. This last phrase indicates that these people are not primarily Jews, for when Jesus does miracles among Jews, they ‘praised God’ (see Matthew 9: 8; Mark 2: 12; Luke 13: 13; 18: 43; etc.).
What is the significance in Mark 8: 8 of saying that there are seven large baskets of leftover bread? In the Gentile context of the feeding of the 4,000, perhaps the seven full baskets harken back to the seven Gentile nations in Canaan that had once been driven out God but that are now counted in by Christ.
All are invited to be healed and fed at the Eucharist. As were reminded at Candlemas two weeks ago,
‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’ (Luke 2: 29-32).
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 15 February 2025):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Founders’ Day.’ USPG and SPCK are celebrating ‘Founders’ Day’ in Saint James’s Church, Picadilly, next Monday, 17 February 2025. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Reflection by Dr Jo Sadgrove, Research and Learning Advisor, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 15 February 2025, Founders’ Day) invites us to pray:
We pray for the work of USPG on the day that we remember its founder, Thomas Bray. May we look back with open minds to discover new insights to inform the path we tread.
The Collect:
O God,
you know us to be set
in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature
we cannot always stand upright:
grant to us such strength and protection
as may support us in all dangers
and carry us through all temptations;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Go before us, Lord, in all we do
with your most gracious favour,
and guide us with your continual help,
that in all our works
begun, continued and ended in you,
we may glorify your holy name,
and finally by your mercy receive everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Lord of the hosts of heaven,
our salvation and our strength,
without you we are lost:
guard us from all that harms or hurts
and raise us when we fall;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of the Third Sunday before Lent:
Almighty God,
who alone can bring order
to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity:
give your people grace
so to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, among the many changes of this world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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