I invite you on a journey through Mark’s Good News about Jesus Christ. We are thinking about what he wants to tell us through bread. If you missed the intro to this series, click here. We begin our journey in Mark 6:30-44.

Please read the passage because I have some questions for you:
Who said the people had to be fed?
How many loaves of bread did they have?
How was the crowd arranged when they sat down?
What did Jesus do with the bread?
How many baskets of bread did they gather?
Did anybody go hungry?

Usually, we simply focus on the miracle of Jesus feeding thousands of people. However, this passage is telling us we are in Jewish territory and this is a special moment for the Jews.

The disciples tell Jesus that these people – their people – are hungry and need to be fed. Jesus takes the bread, blesses the bread, breaks the bread and then gives the bread.

Five loaves of bread = five books of Moses.
They sit down in groups of 50 and 100 = Moses groupings.
Twelve baskets = twelve tribes of Israel.
Even the baskets are the kind that Jews used for bread, they are called kophinos.
Was anybody left hungry? No – everyone was satisfied.

Try to put yourself in their shoes – they are seeing, hearing and tasting things that are shouting to them: Celebrate! God has come! We are his people and he is feeding us and we are satisfied! There is bread in Israel and the true shepherd is feeding us!

Then Jesus does something unsettling: he tells his disciples that they are going to the other side…