ACC ~ Mark 6 v30 - 44

OVERVIEW:

The bread of life is offered in a lonely place (AMBROSE). The God-man who once hungered now feeds the multitude (GREGORY NAZIANZEN, THEODORET OF CYR). The faithful receive the bread of the gospel from the apostles, who first received it from the Lord (BEDE, PRUDENTIUS). By blessing the loaves Jesus teaches us to bless our daily bread (BEDE). Repentance (by fifties) and faith (by hundreds) are symbolically embodied in the companies of halves and wholes who, humbled on lowly grass, are thus prepared to receive the bread of God (ORIGEN).

6:31 | They Had No Leisure Even to Eat

HARD WORK

BEDE: The great happiness of those days can be seen from the hard work of those who taught and the enthusiasm of those who learned. If only in our time such a concourse of faithful hearers would again press round the ministers of the word. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 2.6. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 1355, 2.6.844; JF B 100; CCL 120, 510-11.

6:34 | He Began to Teach Them Many Things

BREAKING OPEN THE WORD. BEDE: As he broke up the five loaves and two fishes, and distributed them to his disciples, he opened their minds to understand everything that had been written about him in the law of Moses and in the prophets and the psalms. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 2.2.

6:35a | This Is a Lonely Place

WHERE BREAD IS OFFERED

PSEUDO-JEROME: The bread of life is most valued not by the idle, or those who live in crowded cities encompassed with the honors of the world. It is rather most cherished by those who seek Christ “in a desert place.” [1] HOMILY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 5. [2]

[1] Cf. Mt 14:13; Mk 6:31-35; Lk 4:42; 9:10; Heb 13:13-14.

[2] Cetedoc 0194.5.79; GMI 144.

6:35b | The Hour Is Now Late

THE ONE WHO GIVES TIME

CHRYSOSTOM: Even though the place is desolate, yet the one who feeds the world is present. [1] And even though the hour is late, yet the one who is not subject to the hour is conversing with you. THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW 58. [2]

[1] Jn 6:35, 51.

[2] TLG 2062.152, 58.497.50-53; cf. NPNF 1 10:304*. The one who made time does not regard the hour as late.

6:37 | You Give Them Something to Eat

THE ONE WHO HUNGERED FEEDS

GREGORY NAZIANZEN: As man he was put to the test, but as God he came through victorious [1] —yes, he bids us be of good cheer, because he has conquered the world. [2] He hungered [3] —yet he fed thousands. [4] He is indeed “living, heavenly bread.” [5] He thirsted [6] —yet he exclaimed: “Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” [7] Indeed he promised that believers would become fountains. [8] ORATION 29, ON THE SON 20. [9]

[1] Cf. Mt 4:1-11; Mk 1:12-13; Lk 4:1-13.

[2] Jn 16:33.

[3] Mt 4:2; Lk 4:2.

[4] Mt 14:20-21; 15:37-38; Mk 6:42-44; 8:6-9.

[5] Jn 6:51.

[6] Jn 19:28.

[7] Jn 7:37.

[8] Jn 7:38.

[9] FGFR 258; TLG 2022.009, 20.2-7. The one who will thirst on the cross is he who is making of believers fountains of grace.

THE GOD-MAN

THEODORET OF CYR: For if the incarnation was a fantasy, then our salvation is a delusion. The Christ was at the same time visible man and invisible God. He ate as man, quite like ourselves. He possessed from his humanness the same passions we have. [1] He fed the five thousand with five loaves as God. [2] As man he really died. [3] As God he raised the dead on the fourth day. [4] As human he slept in the boat. [5] As God he walked upon the waters. [6] DIALOGUES 2. [7]

[1] Cf. Heb 4:15.

[2] Cf. Mt 14:17-21; Mk 6:38-44; Lk 9:14-17; Jn 6:10-13.

[3] Cf. Mt 27:50; Mk 15:37; Lk 23:46; Jn 19:30.

[4] Jn 11:39-44.

[5] Cf. Mt 8:24; Mk 4:38; Lk 8:23.

[6] Cf. Mt 14:25; Mk 6:48; Jn 6:19.

[7] NPNF 2 3:211*; TLG 4089.002, 177.19-26; cf. Cyril of Jerusalem, NPNF 2 7:21. The humbled one, who like us ate, slept and died, is also found offering food to the hungry, walking on water and raising the dead.

6:38 | Five Loaves and Two Fish

FEEDING UPON THE WORD

PRUDENTIUS:

Five loaves and fishes two he orders placed

As food before the people thronging round

Their master, by their hunger undeterred,

Who mindful not of food forgot their towns,

Their forts, their markets, hamlets, trading-posts

And cities, glad to feed upon his words.

The festive gathering swarms upon the plain;

By hundreds they recline in friendly bands,

And round the countless boards they range themselves

To dine on two small fish and scanty crusts

He multiplies—know now that he is God!

A HYMN ON THE TRINITY.

6:39 | Sit Down by Companies upon the Green Grass

HUMBLING THE FLESH

ORIGEN: I believe that he ordered the people to sit down upon the grass because of what is said in Isaiah: “all flesh is grass”; [1] that is, to humble the flesh, to make subject the arrogance of the flesh; so that each one may become a partaker of the loaves to which Jesus gave his blessing. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.3. [2]

[1] Is 40:6.

[2] TLG 2042.029, 11.3.28-32; SSGF 2:112.

6:40 | They Sat Down in Groups by Hundreds and by Fifties

THE DIVISION BY COMPANIES

ORIGEN: Since there are different classes of those who need the food which Jesus supplies, for all are not equally nourished by the same words, on this account I think that Mark has written, “And he commanded them that they should all sit down by companies upon the green grass; and they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties.” [1] … For it was necessary that those who were to find comfort in the food of Jesus should either be in the order of the hundred—the sacred number which is consecrated to God because of its completeness; or in the order of the fifty—the number which symbolizes the remission of sins in accordance with the mystery of the Jubilee which took place every fifty years, and of the feast at Pentecost. [2] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.3. [3]

[1] Mk 6:39-40.

[2] Cf. Lev 25:10; Tob 2:1; Acts 2:1.

[3] ANF 9:433*; TLG 2042.029, 11.3.33-38, 40-46.

6:41a | He Blessed and Broke the Loaves

GIVING THANKS

BEDE: Nor must we overlook the fact that as he was on the point of refreshing the multitude, he gave thanks. He gave thanks in order to teach us always to give thanks for the favors we have received from heaven, and in order to impress upon us how much he himself rejoices at our spiritual refreshment. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 2.2. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 1367, 2.2.163; HOG 2:19*. By blessing the loaves, he teaches us to bless our bread, and in doing so he demonstrates his own joy in our reception of sustaining spiritual food.

6:41b | He Gave Them to the Disciples to Set Before the People

THE MOMENT OF CREATION

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Take note therefore of how his [creative] activity is mixed in with everything. When our Lord took a little bread, he multiplied it in the twinkling of an eye. That which [people] effect and transform in ten months with toil, his ten fingers effected in an instant. For he placed his hands beneath the bread as though it were earth, and spoke over it as though thunder. The murmur of his lips sprinkled over it like rain, and the breath of his mouth [was there] in place of the sun. [Thus] did he complete in the flash of one tiny moment something which requires a whole lengthy hour. One tiny amount of bread was forgotten, and from the midst of its smallness, abundance came to birth so that it might be like the first blessing, “Give birth and be fruitful and multiply.” [1] The loaves of bread, like barren women and women deprived [of children], became fruitful at his blessing, and many were the morsels born from them. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON. [2]

THE BREAD OF LIFE

PRUDENTIUS:

Thou, our bread, our true refreshment, never failing sweetness art; [3]

He can nevermore know hunger, who is at thy banquet fed, [4]

Nourishing not our fleshly nature,

but imparting lasting life. [5] …

Every sickness now surrenders,

every listlessness departs, [6]

Tongues long bound by chains of silence are unloosed and speak aright, [7]

While the joyful paralytic bears his pallet through the streets. [8]

HYMNS 9. [9]

[1] Gen 1:28.

[2] JSSS 2:191.

[3] Jn 6:56.

[4] Jn 6:35.

[5] Jn 6:51-52.

[6] Lk 6:18-19.

[7] Mk 7:35.

[8] Mt 9:6-7; Jn 5:9.

[9] Cetedoc 1438, 9.61; FC 43:64-65. This food imparts eternal life, freedom and the healing of our afflictions.

THE INSIGNIFICANT MADE SIGNIFICANT

BEDE: By the manifold grace of the Spirit he disclosed how matters that seemed insignificant and unworthy of attention might be fruitful, and he handed these things over to be administered to all nations by the apostles and their successors. Hence it is appropriate that the other Evangelists relate how our Lord administered the loaves and fishes to his disciples, and the disciples then administered them to the crowd. [1] Although the mystery of human salvation received its start by being declared by our Lord, it was confirmed in us by those who heard it [from him]. He broke up the five loaves and two fishes, and distributed them to his disciples, as he opened their minds to understand everything that had been written about him in the law of Moses and in the prophets and the psalms. [2] EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 2.2. [3]

[1] Mt 14:19; Mk 6:41; Lk 9:16.

[2] Lk 24:44-45.

[3] Cetedoc 1367, 2.2.124; HOG 2:18. We receive the bread of the gospel from the apostles, who received it from the Lord.

6:43 | Twelve Baskets Full of Broken Pieces

THE FEAST OF THE CREATOR

PRUDENTIUS:

The banquet ended, plates still overflow,

And with the crumbs twelve baskets then they fill.

The stuffed boy strives with undigested fare,

The waiter groans beneath his heavy load.

Who can a great feast spread from stores so few?

Who but the maker of our frame and all

That nurtures it, who shaped the world from nought?

Almighty God without the aid of seed

Fashioned the earth, not as the sculptor works

To lift the block of bronze from metal fused.

All that now is was nought: that nothing-ness

Was into being brought and bidden grow.

Small was the first creation, but it grew

Till it became the mighty universe.

Therefore, when I behold that meager fare

Thus multiplied within the hands of Christ,

Can I doubt that the elemental forms

First made by him from nothing, by degrees

Have grown to that perfection we now see?

Lest fragments should be trodden on and lost,

When men had fed, or should become the spoil

Of wolves or foxes or of petty mice,

Twelve men were charged to heap in baskets full

The gifts of Christ to keep and spread afar.

A HYMN ON THE TRINITY.

6:44 | Those Who Ate the Loaves Were Five Thousand Men

FIVE THOUSAND

BEDE: The number one thousand, beyond which no calculation of ours [1] extends, ordinarily indicates the fullness of the things which are being treated. By the number five the well-known senses of our body are represented, namely, sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The spiritual meaning of the five thousand: Those who act boldly and take courage by living soberly, righteously, and piously, that they may deserve to be renewed by the sweetness of heavenly wisdom, are those implied by the five thousand whom our Lord satisfied by this mystical banquet. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 2.2. [2]

[1] Of the ancient human imagination.

[2] Cetedoc 1367, 2.2.155; HOG 2:19*. All five senses of our bodies are being thoroughly nourished and enlivened by the fullness of grace.