A key to the significance of this story is in 6 :34. The Biblical idea of God as the Shepherd of his sheep is a familiar one; there are New Testament passages which show that Jesus used this idea of himself and it is found in 1 Peter 5: 1-4. What Jesus did in feeding five thousand people was to demonstrate. that he was the divine Shepherd who would feed his sheep. His action foreshadowed the spiritual feeding of the Church with his body and blood.

In 6 :30-33 the setting is sketched. Jesus and the disciples were being followed by thousands of people all trying to see and hear him so he told the disciples to go by fishing boat to somewhere quieter on the other side of the lake. The pressure on them is indicated in 6:31-they didn't even have time to eat-but the people still pursued them round the shores of the lake, 'When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw this large crowd and his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things.' At the end of the day the question arose of how to find food for this great crowd, many kilo metres from their homes. Jesus tested the faith of the disciples about how the people could be fed and the disciples failed the test; it did not enter their minds that the one who could exorcise demons, heal the sick, raise the dead and calm storms, could also meet the immediate needs of the crowd. What Jesus did next may be understood as an acted parable. 'Everyone ate and had enough', 6:42. Everyone's needs were satisfied by Jesus.       .' .'

To Mark's readers there should be a clear connection between the feeding of the crowd and the spiritual feeding of the Church in the celebrations of the Lord's Supper. This is emphasized in 6:41 by the close parallel to the language of Jesus at the Last Supper as he took the bread and broke it (Mark 14:22).

The story also demonstrates that the disciples would have to be changed a great deal if they were going to be effective 'shepherds of the flock'. This spiritual weakness and failure on their part was shown by Mark as a vivid contrast to what they became later as the great leaders of the early Church. The message in this contrast is that if such ordinary men with so little faith could be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit as they were, then there was hope for anyone else to be equally transformed.