Mark 8:1 - Meaning and Application

We had a very similar miracle earlier in this Gospel (Mark 6:35), and the same miracle is also recorded in (Matthew 15:32). Here there is little or no difference in the details. Still, notice these things.

1. Our Lord Jesus was followed by a large crowd. The crowd was very great (Mark 8:1). Even though the scribes and Pharisees tried hard to damage his name and ruin his influence, the common people, who were more honest and so more wise than their leaders, still thought highly of him. We may suppose that most of this crowd came from the poorer classes. Christ often spoke with such people and welcomed them freely. In this way, he humbled himself and made himself of no reputation, and he encouraged the lowest to come to him for life and grace.

2. Those who followed him faced real hardship in doing so. They stayed with him for three days and had nothing to eat, which was a hard thing. Let no Pharisee say that Christ's disciples do not fast. Some probably had brought food from home, but by this time it was gone. They also had a long way to go home, yet they stayed with Christ and did not speak of leaving until he told them to go. True zeal makes light of hardship in the path of duty. Those who have a rich feast for their souls can be content with plain food for their bodies. The Puritans used to say, "Grown bread and the gospel are good fare."

3. As Christ has compassion for all who are in need, so he gives special care to those who are brought low by their zeal and diligence in waiting on him. Christ said, "I have compassion on the crowd." The proud Pharisees looked on them with contempt, but the humble Jesus looked on them with pity and tenderness, and we should honor all people in the same way. Yet what he especially notices is this: "They have been with me three days and have nothing to eat." Whatever losses or hardships we bear for Christ's sake and out of love for him, he will see that they are made up to us in one way or another. Those who seek the Lord will not long lack any good thing (Psalm 34:10). Notice Christ's sympathy in (Mark 8:3), "If I send them home fasting, they will faint on the way, because some of them have come from far away." Christ knows and considers our weakness, and he cares for the body as well. If we honor him, we will truly be fed. He also saw that many had come from a great distance. When we see large crowds listening to the preached word, it is comforting to think that Christ knows where they have come from, even when we do not. "I know your works, and where you live" (Revelation 2:13). Christ would not send them home hungry, for he does not usually send away empty those who come to him in the right way.

4. The doubts of Christians are sometimes used to show the greatness of Christ's power. The disciples could not imagine where so many people in the wilderness could get enough bread (Mark 8:4). That very difficulty made the miracle more wonderful, because what the disciples thought impossible, Christ made happen.

5. Christ acts for the relief of his people when things have come to the last extreme. When they were ready to faint, Christ provided for them. He did not supply them sooner, so that no one might think they followed him only for bread. He fed them when they were completely brought low, and then he sent them away.

6. Christ's generosity is never exhausted, and he repeated this miracle to show that he is still the same in helping and supplying those who wait on him. His gifts are renewed as our needs are renewed. In the earlier miracle, Christ used all the bread he had, five loaves, and fed all the people there, five thousand. He did the same here. Though he might have reasoned, "If five loaves fed five thousand, then four may feed four thousand," he took all seven loaves and fed the four thousand with them. He teaches us to accept things as they are, adapt to them, and use what we have to the best purpose. Here, as with the manna in the wilderness, "He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack."

7. In our Father's house, and in our Master's house, there is bread enough, and to spare. There is fullness in Christ, and he passes that fullness on to all who come through his hands. From him we receive grace upon grace (John 1:16). Those who have Christ to live on need not fear lack.

8. It is good for those who follow Christ to stay together. These followers remained as one body, four thousand of them together, and Christ fed them all. Christ's sheep must stay with the flock and go forward in the path marked by his footsteps, and truly they will be fed.