Matthew 15:32-39; Mark 8:1-10
Matthew 15:32. I have compassion on the multitude. Here a miracle is
related not unlike another which we have lately explained. The only difference
is, that on the former occasion Christ satisfied five thousand men with
five loaves and two fishes, while, on the present occasion, four thousand
men are fed with seven loaves and a few small fishes; and that twelve baskets
were then filled with fragments, while out of a greater abundance a smaller
portion is left. Let us learn from this, that the power of God is not restricted
to means or outward assistance, and that it is all one with Him whether
there be much or little, as Jonathan said when speaking of his own moderate
army and the vast multitude of enemies:
there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few,
(1 Samuel 14:6.)
As the blessing of God can make one loaf suffice as well as twenty for
satisfying a great multitude, so, if that be wanting, a hundred loaves
will not be a sufficient meal for ten men; for when the staff of bread
is broken, (Leviticus 26:26,) though the flour should come in full weight
from the mill, and the bread from the oven, it will serve no purpose to
stuff the belly. The three days’ fasting, of which Christ speaks, must
not be understood to mean that they had eaten nothing for three days; but
that in desert places they had few conveniences, and must have wanted their
ordinary food. Besides, in those warm countries, hunger is less keen than
in our thick and cold atmosphere; and, therefore, we need not wonder that
they should abstain longer from food.
33. Whence shall we obtain so many loaves in a solitary place? The disciples
manifest excessive stupidity in not remembering, at least, that earlier
proof of the power and grace of Christ, which they might have applied to
the case in hand. As if they had never seen any thing of the same sort,
they forget to apply to him for relief. There is not a day on which a similar
indifference does not steal upon us; and we ought to be the more careful
not to allow our minds to be drawn away from the contemplation of divine
benefits, that the experience of the past may lead us to expect for the
future the same assistance which God has already on one or more occasions
bestowed upon us.
