Chapter # 6 Paragraph # 4 Study # 7
January 11, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(276)
1901 ASV
6:38 And he saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go [and] see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
6:39 And he commanded them that all should sit down by companies upon the green grass.
6:40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
6:41 And he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake the loaves; and he gave to the disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
6:42 And they all ate, and were filled.
6:43 And they took up broken pieces, twelve basketfuls, and also of the fishes.
6:44 And they that ate the loaves were five thousand men.
- I. Jesus' Fulfillment Of His Requirement Of The Disciples.
- A. "Now He is saying to them..."
- 1. This is a deliberate contrast to the disciples' "saying to Him..." of 6:37. Their words were scornful words of unbelief. By way of contrast, His words were the beginning of a work, that they could never have even begun to imagine, that would actually make it possible for them to obey His command.
- 2. It is in His words that the disciples begin to possess the ability to actually "do" what He insisted from them: "You give them to eat".
- B. "...How much (many) bread (loaves) are you possessing?"
- 1. They, technically, had none (they would not have had to "go" and "see" if they had, themselves, possessed any "loaves"; Note 8:14 where they "knew" that they only had one loaf): Mark does not tell us that to have any at all they had to take a boy's "lunch" (John 6:9); nor does Matthew nor Luke. This omission means that we need to restrain ourselves from John's more full revelation of the disciples' total lack of what it took to do His will. It is enough that we understand, from Mark's perspective, that the issue is not where they got the bread and fishes; it is that they do not have the compassion to even seek a solution, not to the physical hunger of the massive crowd but to its nature as sheep without a shepherd.
- 2. The meaning of the word translated "loaves" is, in other contexts, translated "bread", but in this case it is actual individual loaves as in 8:14. The major point is that what the disciples "had" was woefully inadequate and that this "what" was physical bread that also was woefully inadequate to the need. The lesser point is the latter: physical bread won't address the real need. Only the "teaching of Jesus" can do that, but that teaching has to be accompanied by some form of "faith-producing" work. In this case, Jesus' ability to feed such a massive number with such an inadequate number is analogous to His ability to produce "Life" with mere words that are believed. Thus far, these disciples had already had a taste of this process/principle: Jesus had sent them forth to speak the Life-giving words and to cast out demons with His authority (Truth validated by experience of authority/power). It is not insignificant that "they ...preached that they should repent...". Repentance is the initial, and continually existing, requirement for the experience of "forgiveness unto Life".
- C. "...Be going; see..."
- 1. They had to find out just what was [not] available ... "going" (present tense) to "see" (aorist tense).
- 2. Again, we do not have John's further description of the conversation ("...but what are these for so many?...; John 6:9). Thus, we, again, must limit ourselves to Mark's record. Mark simply says that the "going" and the conclusion in what they "saw" was five loaves and two fish. What they found out is "five" loaves and "two" fishes. In the next record (chapter eight) there are "seven" loaves and, as an afterthought, "a few small fishes". "Five" is pretty much a standard for "less than enough" and "seven" is "completely sufficient". This fits Mark's point in the larger picture of Jesus "beginning" with "five" and "finishing" with "seven". With the "five" the disciples gain no insight; with the "seven" they are supposed to be able to "see".
- D. "...Having come to know, they are saying...".
- 1. How they actually discovered this number of loaves and fish is not given, but it was out of their "going" that they "came to know" (ginosko).
- 2. Their report was, "Five, and two fish (plural, fishes)".
- E. "And He commanded (to set up a certain order) them [to have] all recline recline [this repetition indicates the certain order; i.e., "group by group"] upon the green grass".
- 1. The outcome of the "recline recline" is given: "they all fell back in groups [another use of the same word twice together that means "in reclining groups"] according to the standard of hundreds and according to the standard of fifties".
- a. Mark's use of "commanded" (epitasso) is given its "meaning" by his use of it in regard to Jesus' dominion over unclean spirits (1:27 and 9:25) and the issue of a "king's" specific demand (6:27). It is an intensified form of tasso, which is used when a very specific "appointment to a state of being, or a given task" is in view (Matthew 28:16; Acts 13:48; 15:2; 22:10; and 28:23). Mark intends for us to understand that Jesus had a very specific "order" in mind for the distribution of the bread and fish.
- b. The "order" was to recline (generally used to refer to lie down upon a couch to eat) and to "gather into 'groups' as for a 'party'").
- 2. The "odd" detail(s).
- a. Hundreds and Fifties. Neither Matthew, nor Luke, nor John mention "hundreds" in their records of this event. This phrase is an explication of the "command" (to set up a certain order). It reveals a kind of military order (think "Centurion") and suits the link between Jesus' "Kingdom Order" and the crowd's desire for a means to that "Order"; i.e., putting an army together to bring about the "Kingdom Order". The problem is that it was not time for that "means"; the words must precede the actions. After the Gospel is preached in the whole world it will be time for the armies of heaven to become the "means" to the Kingdom.
- b. Green grass. It is not told us by Mark that it was nearly Passover (John 6:4). The implication, from Mark's only other use of "grass" as "the new sproutings" (4:28) is that it is early Spring, and the sprouting of grass indicates fertility for a new season. It is likely a subtle use of the feeding (sheep begin to have a provision for food when the "green" grass begins to appear) as a basis for "a sprouting of understanding" (which the disciples did not gain -- 6:52). According to 4:28, the sprouting indicates a future harvest. This fits Mark's narrative and use of the physical realities of the wilderness as a metaphor of the relational realities which the Lord intends to develop.
