Jesus, a Moses Feeding the People: Mark 6:30-44

 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 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.

35 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. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages[e]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.  40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 

41 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. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

The parallel between this story and that in Exodus Chapter 16 of Moses and of God's provision of manna and quail to the Israelite community in the wilderness is obvious.  Jesus, his Way, is a new Moses and is shown to have the same endorsement from God making his teachings as legitimate as the law of Moses.  There are also a number of possible metaphorical meanings for which it is difficult to know which the community of Mark intended.  

Jesus's Way:

• "Feeds", brings life and strength, to those who search after it and will "satisfy"
• Is one of generosity and abundance where you end up with more than you started
• Is egalitarian.  It makes all equally part of the community and welcome to be part of the sacred.  None are unworthy or excluded.

The last point comes from the part of the story where Jesus gave thanks, broke the bread and had his disciples distribute it to the people.  It was the custom in first century Jewish homes for the father or host who presided over the meal to dedicate it to God, to make it a spiritual event by offering a blessing on behalf of everyone present and by distributing pieces of bread broken as part of the blessing to those present.   In the first century it would have been a big deal to do this in front of a crowd since "table politics" meant that a person only ate with their social equals.  To eat with someone of lower status was to raise their status to that of your own.  Jesus equalizes and lifts the status of a crowd of five thousand, many of whom would have been considered on the margins, inviting them into his spiritual practice with no requirements or prejudice.

Another part of the story that stands out is how it works to show how "popular" Jesus is.  He has to try to get away to solitary places because there is always a crowd looking for him, and, when he finds what is supposed to be a solitary place, a crowd of five thousand men (how many more women and children?) gather.  Since, unlike John the Baptist, no mention of Jesus shows up in the official historical records of the time, I believe the writer is compensating for how little recognition Jesus actually had wherever the community that wrote this Gospel were situated.