A scripture scholar in reflecting on this passage points out that in three successive stages of ministry Jesus ended each stage with a meal.
First there was the feeding of the five thousand that came at the end of His ministry in Galilee. Second was the feeding of the four thousand. This came at the end of His brief ministry to the Gentiles, in the districts of Tyre and Sidon. Finally, there was the Last Supper as He came to His final days on earth.
Jesus always left men and women with strength for the way, for the task of following Him, discipleship. Always, He gathered them to Him to feed them with living bread. He gave of Himself before He moved on.
And to this day in the Eucharist He continues to offer Himself to us as living bread, giving us the nourishment to carry on His work.
He is asking that we in turn share the offerings of our tables, our gifts and talents, our material resources, our hospitality, and our compassion.
What we have may be in the form of simple gifts or limited resources. What we have may be what we would describe as mere fragments. We might ask ourselves what can we accomplish, what can we do, with so little?
But then let us remember what Jesus did with seven loaves and a few fish. May our love and care for each other be an extension of the care and love of Christ, may our table be an extension of the Eucharistic table.
There are some scripture scholars in studying this account of the loaves and fishes which believe that the miracle may not be not so much that the seven loaves and a few fish were miraculously multiplied into hundreds but rather that Jesus’ example of compassionate love encouraged the crowd to share what little they were given and so made it possible for the many to eat and be nourished.
May we too follow His example.