Loaves and fishes...

In Mark 6 and 8, the stories are related about feeding a crowd of five thousand and four thousand men....

The people were hungry for the words he spoke...
The people were hungry physically...

Jesus had compassion...

Jesus gave thanks...blessing the little they had with abundance that only he, the Creator, could give....

The people were satisfied...

There was more than enough for leftovers...

The Bread of Life feeding the crowds, later asking his disciples to be fishers of men...bread and fish...compassion, multiplying...giving thanks in "impossible, remote" places...and then abundance with leftovers...

The other question posed, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” Seems to speak the heart, when we are without any resources to cope...a remote place...we may feel alone, maybe distraught, the end of the line...a season of remoteness...and Jesus speaks compassion, life, food for the soul, peace, abundance into that remoteness..with leftovers...then sends us on our way refreshed, fed...loved...

Thank YOU...you are in the remote places...of our lives...you provide from your compassion...food for our souls...You are the Bread of life which we need desperately...

Mark 6:33-44 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

Mark 8:1-9 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away,....