1 Soon afterwards Jesus was in the midst of another large crowd that obviously had nothing to eat. So he called his disciples and said to them, 2 “I feel sorry for these people because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them to their homes hungry, they will faint on the way; some of them have come a long way.”
4 His disciples replied, “Where in a deserted place like this could we get enough bread to feed these people?” 5 He asked them, “How many loaves have you?” And they answered, “Se ven.”
6 Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and giving thanks, he broke them and hand ed them to his disciples to distribute. And they distributed them among the peo ple. 7 They also had some small fish, so Jesus said a blessing and asked that these be shared as well.
8 The people ate and were satisfied. The broken pieces were collected, seven wicker bas kets full of leftovers. 9 Now there had been about four thousand people. Jesus sent them away 10 and immediately got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
11 The Pharisees came and started to argue with Jesus. Hoping to embarrass him, they asked for some heavenly sign. 12 Then his spirit was moved. He gave a deep sigh and said, “Why do the people of this present time ask for a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this people.” 13 Then he left them, got into the boat again and went to the other side of the lake.
14 The disciples had forgotten to bring more bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 Then Jesus warned them, “Keep your eyes open and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” 16 And they said to one another, “He saw that we have no bread.”
17 Aware of this, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about the loaves you are short of? Do you not see or under stand? Are your minds closed? 18 Have you eyes that don’t see and ears that don’t hear? And do you not remem ber 19 when I broke the five loaves among five thousand? How many baskets full of leftovers did you collect?” They answered, “Twelve.” 20 “And having seven loaves for the four thousand, how many wicker bas kets of leftovers did you collect?” They an swered, “Seven.” 21 Then Jesus said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
22 When they came to Beth saida, Jesus was asked to touch a blind man who was brought to him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had put spittle on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked, “Can you see any thing?” 24 The man, who was beginning to see, replied, “I see people! They look like trees, but they move around.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and the man could see perfectly. His sight was restored and he could see everything clearly.
26 Then Jesus sent him home saying, “Do not return to the village.”
27 Jesus set out with his disciples for the villages around Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 And they told him, “Some say you are John the Baptist; others say you are Elijah or one of the prophets.”
Then Jesus asked them, 29 “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” 30 And he ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31 Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed and after three days rise again. 32 Jesus said all this quite openly, so that Peter took him aside and began to protest strongly. 33 But Jesus turning around, and looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter saying, “Get behind me Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”
34 Then Jesus called the peo ple and his disciples and said, “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. 35 For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; and if you lose your life for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, you will save it.
36 What good is it to gain the whole world but destroy your self? 37 There is nothing you can give to recover your life. 38 I tell you: If anyone is ashamed of me and of my words among this adulterous and sinful people, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the Glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
This second account of the multiplication of loaves is not a repetition of the first account. It is obvious that oral transmission of these two events lead to shape them according to the same pattern, but they have different meaning.
The first time, between Tiberias and Capernaum (that is, right at the center of Jesus' work in Galilee) the people, more numerous and more urgent, approach Jesus to make him their liberator (Jn 6). Jesus refuses, but later that afternoon he multiplies the loaves - a clear sign that he is the Messiah foretold by the prophets. The next day Jesus, in his turn, demands that they take him for what he is, and this produces the rejection (Jn 6:60).
Later Jesus journeys to the boundaries of Galilee, where much of the population are pagan. They also want to hear Jesus. There, on the other side of the shore, the eastern part, Jesus offers them bread as a farewell meal after they followed him for two days through the desert land.
The two accounts of the multiplication of loaves differ in several points like the number of loaves and the number of participants. The baskets for example, mentioned in Mark 6:43 refer to the stiff osier basket of the Jews, and in 8:8 to the wicker basket or the Greek's folding bag.
The number 12 records the Twelve tribes of israel and the twelve apostles, while the number 7 records the "seven pagan nations" which occupied Canaan and the seven deacons of the early Church.
These differences underline the will of Mark to take into account the real situation of the Church at the time he wrote: having been born in Jewish milieu, it was developing among Greek nations. This is why, for the first multiplication the evangelists say, "Jesus pronounced a blessing", and in the second, "Jesus gave thanks". Because the first was the word used for Eucharist among Jewish Christian communities, and the latter was used in Greek speaking churches.
Some feel that one same event has been recorded with those differences in Jewish and Greek speaking communities before the gospels present them as two different events. But the sequence which contains both of them is very ancient (see the commentary of Mt 14:13) and does not come from later times in which the contract with the original events would have been lost. This duality is stressed in Matthew 16:5 and still more in Mark 8:9.
The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (or the two multiplications of loaves) holds an important place in the synoptic gospels because it points out jesus as the Messiah: see commentary on Matthew 15:29; Luke 9:12; John 6.
See commentary on Matthew 16:1.
THE PHARISEES
The Pharisees do not see the fruits of Jesus' preaching nor do they see the people who are comforted and begin a better way of life. They do not see those who discover hope and faith or how God saves the poor.
Throughout the Gospel, Jesus confronts the Pharisees. They were a respected and powerful association, the most conspicuous within the Jewish society. Nevertheless they oppose Jesus steadfastly. If Jesus came in our present time, would he not likewise offend some of the most powerful religious associations?
The Pharisees were religious in a way that has always existed and still exists. Imagine a serious person who becomes aware that God's service is the most important thing. This person enjoys a good social status or a fine education; so he decides to work for God, especially by leading others, sinners, less capable or less instructed.
All this is right and many Pharisees were excellent believers. The gospel when speaking about them, however, points out a way of thinking which was deeply rooted in their institution (and is always to be cared of in the Church) which is the reason why they could not recognize Jesus and rather opposed him. Such a Pharisee willingly serves God, but God, in turn, must acknowledge his services and reward him. The Pharisee wants to be without debt to God and carefully keeps himself from falling into sin, because he dislikes being in need of God's pardon.
This is where things begin to go awry. For no one can meet God, not even the righteous and well-instructed, unless they discover their own misery and weakness. We all need to experience God's mercy and begin loving him wholeheartedly, meekly, feeling at one with the poorest and with sinners.
This Pharisee is aware of having the same weaknesses as the other people, in spite of being very observant, but he has no means of being freed because he is not humble enough to ask for God's help. Thus there is no other way for him apart from hiding his faults behind a flawless exterior conduct and so he becomes a hypocrite.
Jesus tells his apostles to beware of the Pharisee's spirit (of becoming like the Pharisees) but they do not listen, being more concerned about the food.
Jesus says: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, meaning their teaching (Mt 16:12). Jesus fears that his disciples, because of being common people, would let themselves be impressed by the knowledge and fame of the Pharisees, and he warns them that these people build religion on the wrong basis.
Jesus agreed with the Pharisees on the general way of understanding the Bible, but not the spirit of many among them. As "master" he chose a way opposed to theirs. Instead of a teaching that comes from above he became part of a natural group of quite simple people and formed them through action. He made them reflect on what they saw, on what they did, and above all on what God was doing among them as they worked with him.
When a person, blind from birth, regains his sight, it takes time for him to gradually focus on objects and to understand what his new eyes see. Jesus again laid his hands on this blind man's eyes.
The same is true in the spiritual realm. Jesus does not let us see everything at once, but conversion is realized bit by bit.
Do not return to the village. If so, all the people would go looking for Jesus to see him and touch him and clamor for a miracle. Jesus came instead for an authentic encounter with people.
CHRIST - THE SON OF MAN
Here the Gospel already foretells the tragic end. For the first time, the apostles take account of who their Master is.
You are the Messiah. Christ is a Greek word which means the Messiah in Hebrew. They both mean: the anointed or consecrated one. This term designated the long-awaited Savior. The apostles discover that Jesus is the Messiah, the Liberator, but he teaches them that the Son of Man (the Human One) has to suffer many things.
Why does Jesus call himself the Son of Man? For two reasons: first, because one page in the Bible speaks of the Son of Man who gloriously comes from God to judge all people and to rule all the nations (Dn 7:13). Second, because Jesus is the perfect Human and bears the destiny of humanity.
Jesus had to suffer (v. 31), because this is the fate of sinners. He had to suffer and be rejected by the authorities, because this is the destiny of those who proclaim the truth. He had to freely go to his death because self-sacrifice is the only means for the salvation of the world.
It is necessary to lose oneself:
- to lose oneself like Abraham, who in his old age went to strange lands;
- to lose oneself like Moses, who agreed to be the leader of an irresponsible people;
- to lose oneself like Mary, who entered a path wherein no one could understand or help her;
- to rid oneself of this temporary existence so as to be reborn of God, like Ignatius the martyr. Condemned to be eaten by lions, he said, "I am the wheat of God; may I be ground by the teeth of wild animals to be converted into the pure bread of Christ. My passions are crucified in me; there is no carnal fire that can burn me; a fountain has sprouted in me that murmurs and speaks from within: come to the Father."
Take up your cross (v. 34). Jesus tells us that to follow him is to follow the same path that took him to the cross. To reach maturity it is necessary to renounce our life; in other words, we must risk ourselves for something noble instead of being concerned about our own future; we must find a life- style that will help us excel in the way of love; and we must accept that our life may be a failure according to others' way of thinking (Lk 17:33; Jn 12:23-25).
Taking up our cross by accepting freely the sacrifices that the Father sends each day, we receive from that moment something even more marvelous than what was sacrificed: inner freedom and more profound happiness (Mk 10:30).
Think of what Jesus says: from me, for me, and not: from God, for God. For God has come in the person of Jesus to knock on our door and to propose to us very specific commitments.
If anyone is ashamed of me and of my words (v. 38). The believer who follows the words of Christ without fear of what may be asked of her is attacked without mercy by many who call themselves Christians. For we live in the midst of an adulterous people, in other words, people who without verbally denying God, in fact, serve other gods (Mt 6:24; Jn 8:42).