Navarre Bible Commentary:Saturday, 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Mark 8:1-10

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Feeding the Four Thousand

8 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him, and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; 3 and if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these men with bread here in the desert?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he commanded 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. 7 And they had a few small fish; and having blessed them, he commanded that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate, and were satisfied; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. 10 And he sent them away; and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the district of Dalmanu′tha.[a]

Footnotes:

1. Mark 8:10 Other ancient authorities read Magadan or Magdala

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraph 1329.

Commentary

Second miracle of the loaves

8:1–9. Jesus repeats the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish: the first time (Mk 6:33–44) he acted because he saw a huge crowd like “sheep without a shepherd”; now he takes pity on them because they have been with him for three days and have nothing to eat.

This miracle shows how Christ rewards people who persevere in following him: the crowd had been hanging on his words, forgetful of everything else. We should be like them, attentive and ready to do what he commands, without any vain concern about the future, for that would amount to distrusting divine providence.

8:10. “Dalmanutha”: this must have been somewhere near the lake of Gennesaret, but it is difficult to localize it more exactly. This is the only time it is mentioned in Holy Scripture. In the parallel passage in St Matthew (15:39) Magadan (sometimes Magdala) is mentioned.

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

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