For the context of today’s readings need to acknowledge what has happened before it as it lets us know where Jesus is, which gives greater context to the miracle that occurs in todays Mass readings. Jesus has withdrawn into district of Tyre & Sidon, gentile territory.
A woman, who was a Caananite, acknowledges Jesus’ messianic identity and asks for him to heal her daughter where he responds by saying that he is only there for the lost tribes of Israel and that helping her would be like feeding children’s bread to dogs, her witty response is that even the dogs get to eat crumbs that fall off the masters table. He applauds her faith and heals her daughter.
29 And Jesus went on from there and passed along the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain, and sat down there.
Jesus leaves Tyre and Sidon, ancient Phoenician cities and goes to the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Many think of Galilee as being a Jewish area but depending on which side you are on, you can actually end up being in Gentile territory instead of Jewish land. Since Jesus arrives from Tyre and Sidon, we know that he is still in part of the land that is owned by the Gentiles. Jesus then ascends a mountain and sits down.
30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them,
Jesus has just previously healed the Caananite woman’s daughter and news was already spreading about his miraculous healings. So even though he retreats in a sense to the mountain by the Sea of Galilee, it becomes a gathering spot. Great crowds of what we can assume as Gentiles, because of region, come to him bringing all their sick of every kind. They place them before his feet and he heals them all.
31 so that the throng wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
The crowds who sought out Jesus’ healing abilities are amazed at what he has done for their ill friends and relatives. They all “glorified the God of Israel”. This might seem like an odd phrase to pick out but when you pay attention to the wording, they are not “glorifying God” or “glorifying the Father”. Matthew tells us they “glorified the God of Israel”. This further cements the implication made by the geography details that these people are not Jews, they are glorifying, what is to them, a foreign God.
It is this detail as well as the numbering of those fed in this miracle that confirms that Matthew is not “repeating miracles” and making a mistake as some modern scholars have implied. Matthew includes two miraculous dividing of the loaves events. One to Jews and one to Gentiles. They are similar but separate events.
32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
Now Jesus expresses concern for the physical welfare of the crowds that have been following him for three days, he is worried they may pass out from exhaustion without food. This contrasts with the other multiplication of loaves miracle where Jesus laments that he cannot leave them because they would be like a sheep without a shepherd.
Since they have been with him three days and they would faint on the way back, we can also further lean into the implication he is on the Gentile Eastern side of the Sea of Galilee which was incredibly barren and did not have towns of cities close enough to walk to without some distance.
33 And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a crowd?”
The disciples lament their lack of resources and propose the question to Jesus. Where will they get enough bread to feed 4000 people in a desert?
34 And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
Jesus asks them what is it that they do have, they respond with seven loaves and a few small fish which is definitely not enough for 4000, barely enough for the disciples themselves. The numbering of the loaves and fish is also smaller than that of the bread multiplication miracle, further cementing that this is a completely different event just with similar themes.
35 And commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground,
36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
Jesus commands all of the crowd to sit on the ground. He takes the meagre amount of food that the disciples had with them and after “having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.” The typical word for blessing when in comes to food is not used, instead Jesus gives thanks. Eucharisteō in Greek, the origin of the term Eucharist.
In the Passover Meal in Matthew 26:26 where Jesus institutes the New Covenant it reads “Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples”. It uses the same word and format. This event is a pre-figurement of the New Passover Meal. This is why there are two multiplication of bread miracles, because the New Covenant that unites Jew and Gentile has not occurred, they have to eat separately.
37 And they all ate and were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
The four thousand are fed and have enough to eat, many naturalise this miracle to imply it was merely a “magic of sharing” but the final verse of todays readings clarifies the miraculous nature of the event. There are seven baskets FULL of leftover food. In the other bread multiplication miracle it is twelve, literal but also symbolic of the twelve tribes which Jesus has come to seek unite as he said to the Caananite woman earlier in the chapter. In this event the number is seven. Seven in Hebrew symbology is the number of completeness and covenant, beginning with the seven days of creation. Since these two miracles are the prefigurement of the New Covenant the seven baskets which again, are literal, are also a sign of the fullness that the covenant will bring.
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