“Which when Jesus had heard, he retired from thence by a boat, into a desert place apart, and the multitudes having heard of it, followed him on foot out of the cities. And he coming forth saw a great multitude, and had compassion on them, and healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying: ‘This is a desert place, and the hour is now past: send away the multitudes, that going into the towns, they may buy themselves victuals.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘They have no need to go: give you them to eat.’ They answered him: ‘We have not here, but five loaves, and two fishes.’ He said to them: ‘Bring them hither to me.’ And when he had commanded the multitude to sit down upon the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up what remained, twelve full baskets of fragments. And the number of them that did eat, was five thousand men, besides women and children.”
Jesus hears about the death of John the Baptist, and when Herod thought John was resurrected and working miracles, it can easily be assumed that he sought Jesus as well. Thus, Jesus retires into the desert for two reasons: First, out of love, that Herod may not sin all the more by murdering Him, and secondly so that the true paschal sacrifice might not be offered by Gentiles but by the Jewish priests: “Moreover for his sin he shall offer a ram without blemish out of the flock, and shall give it to the priest, according to the estimation and measure of the offence: and he shall pray for him before the Lord, and he shall have forgiveness for every thing in doing of which he hath sinned” (Leviticus 6:6-7). He then leaves by boat across water, rather than entering into a city: “In the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not” (Canticle 3:2), but by the zeal of their love the people do not let Him out of their sight: “But cleave ye unto the Lord your God: as you have done until this day” (Josue 23:8). When the Lord pulls away His presence: “O God, my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?” (Psalm 21:2), He is drawing you to a greater tenderness and longing for Him: “I sought him, and found him not: I called, and he did not answer me” (Canticle 5:6), but also seeks to spur some creativity in how you will seek Him anew: “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love” (Canticle 5:8). Jesus rewards such ardor with great compassion, healing “all,” for it is your job as a Christian not to require faith, but to apply the healing balm of love to all you encounter, even if you are horrified by the passions of those God puts in front of you: “Give to every one that asketh thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again” (Luke 6:30). Those seeking the Beloved then spend the whole day in the desert, just to be near Him, and Jesus waits until He is called upon to work one of His most famous miracles, an invitation to seek truth and the love of God first, until called upon to some other duty that tends to your neighbor. The crowd is too madly in love to notice their hunger: “And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights: he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables the ten words of the covenant. And when Moses came down from the mount Sinai… he knew not that his face was [lit] from the conversation of the Lord” (Exodus 34:28-29), and those that may have were too in awe to approach Him. The disciples of the Lord at this time did not know the incredible care He takes for His beloved, having seen miracles but not realizing that He will provide for all temporal needs as well: “Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?” (Psalm 77:20). He answers them to give food to the people, at which they are perplexed, but He in His patience and mercy has them bring forward what they have. There is a question that, if He makes all things, could He not have made bread from nothing? “Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind” (Genesis 1:11). The answer to this is that the Lord is too loving to work in spite of His people, but wants to work alongside them, thus does the Law say: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 6:16), for He is not a fortress to be penetrated or a puzzle to be solved but someone dear that wants to do everything with you. The disciples then acquiesce, an example that, even when you have little, give to those in need, that you may live on love rather than bread: “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you” (John 6:27). Jesus then looks up to heaven and blesses them, referring all things to the Father, just as one should pray before all work, study, or other business, and give thanks before meals and other gifts, for all good comes from an abundance of love from God, and to ask Him for help frequently and thank Him for the good He does is a recognition of His providing personhood: “Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 106:1). It can also be an instruction to always be looking heavenward, not by literally looking up, but by keeping Jesus and His commandments in mind at all times, that you may always seek the greatest possible act of love: “These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart… And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:6-8). Now, Jesus gives the food to the disciples that they may give to the people, and so too does He unveil the depth of the mysteries of the Law, whose five books are represented by the five loaves, as well as the Prophets and the Wisdom literature, represented by the two fish, to those who follow Him, that they may give the mysteries of divine love to those who do not have the capability or time to explore the Scriptures in such a way: “The wise man will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be occupied in the prophets” (Ecclesiasticus 39:1). The Law, the Prophets, and the Wisdom literature then can represent the heart of God, for only when a heart is opened can it be fully known, whereas when it is closed in on itself it is impersonable; so too by seeking the love of God and neighbor in the Scriptures can one know God as He is, rather than by a rote, intellectual reading, thus do the disciples break apart the fragments and hand them out. This is difficult for the one that occupies themselves in other matters: “The ordinance of judgment they shall not understand, neither shall they declare disciple and judgment, and they shall not be found where parables are spoken” (Ecclesiasticus 38:38), who take the little fragments they receive and are sufficiently filled, leaving full baskets to those who live fastened to the Lord: “Every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall possess life everlasting” (Matthew 19:29). Lastly, that five thousand were fed shows that there are many that do justice with their five senses, using their bodily members in an upright fashion and truly Christian fashion: “Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways” (Psalm 127:1), but these are fed by a few with seemingly little. This shows that it is the duty of the one totally given to the Lord, who has little to offer temporally but much in spirit, to know and love Him in a particular way, cloaking the world in prayer, and providing true wisdom to those who labor in the world: “See ye that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that seek out the truth” (Ecclesiasticus 24:47).