Evenings with Bede: On Christ Feeding the 4,000

A Lesson from the Gospel according to S. Mark, 8.1

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd.

A Lesson from his commentary on S. Mark by the Ven. S. Bede

The compassion that Jesus Christ has upon the four thousand signifies that the Lord has compassion on those who, for the sake of hearing the word of God, remain in the Church for a long time, even to the third day, that is, to the end of the age… The crowd that follows Christ is hungry, not for bodily food but for the word of eternal life and the grace of the Holy Spirit. The seven loaves signify the fullness of the spiritual gifts which the Lord distributes to the faithful through the ministry of His apostles. For the number seven, as is often noted in the Scriptures, denotes completeness, because of the seven days in which the Lord created all things, and because of the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, by which the Church is sanctified and nourished. The Lord breaks the bread and gives it to his disciples to distribute, signifying that through the preaching of the apostles, the word of God is opened up and dispensed to the nations. The seven loaves are the perfect doctrine of Christ, which satisfies the spiritual hunger of all who receive it.

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