St. Mark say that our Lord " gave thanks " when He took " the cup." St. Luke and St. Paul say that He also did it when He took "the bread." So here we can hardly doubt that blessing and giving thanks went together. The Greek word is the ono which we have borrowed and transferred to our own language in the expression " Eucharist."
[He distributed to the disciples^ etc.] I think there can be no doubt that this was the point at which the mighty miracle her© wrought by our Lord came in. As fast as He broke the loaves and the disciples carried them away to distribute them, so fast did the loaves multiply under His hands. It was in the act of breaking and distributing to the disciples that the miraculous multiplication took place. In fact there was a continual act of creation going on. Bread was continually called into existence which did not exist before. The greatness of this miracle is per- haps not sufficiently realized. One loaf and less than half a fish to every thousand men ! It is evident there could not have been more than a small morsel for each one without a miraculous in- crease of the food.
Bishop Hall remarks, " He could as well have multiplied the
loaves whole ; why would He rather do it in the breaking ?
Was it not to teach us that in the distribution of our goods we
^should expect His blessing, not in their entireness and reserva-
* tion ? There is that scattereth and yet increaseth."
12. — [When they were filled.] That expression deserves notice. It is one of the strongest proofs of the reality of the miracle we are reading. It would be impossible to convince five thousand hun- gry men in a wilderness that they were really filled, if they were not. A few enthusiasts and fanatics might possibly have been found who might have fancied they had eaten when they had not. But it is absurd to suppose that so strong a bodily sensa- tion as hunger could possibly be relieved in five thousand men, if there had not been a real supply of food, and real eating of it.
[He said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments, etc.] In this little circumstance again we have a proof that real food waa supphed, and in sufficient quantity for all. There was not merely a morsel for each man, but an abundant supply, enough and to spare. Our Lord's care for little things, and dislike of waste and extravagance, appear strongly in this sentence. It would be well if the principle contained in the words was more remembered by Christians, — ^'Let nothing be lost." It is a deep principle of v^ry wide application. Time, money, and opportunities of show- ing kindness and doing good are specially to be remembered in applying the principle.
It admits of question whether the " disciples" who distributed
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the breaii on this occasion, and afterwards gathered the frag- ment?, did not include other helpers beside the twelve apostles. The time necessary for the distribution of bread among five thou- sand people, if only twelve pairs of hands were employed, would prove on calculation to be very great.
13. — {TJierefore they gathered....filled twelve baskets^ etc.] This simple fa jt is enough to prove that a mighty miracle had been wrought. Our common sense can tell us that five loaves and two fishes alone could not have filled a single basket. Now if the frag- ments left after the meal were enough to fill "twelve baskets," there must evidently have been a miraculous multiplication of the food at some stage of the proceedings. The fragments alone were probably fifty times more bulky than the original supply of food with which the meal began. The identity between the number of the baskets filled, and the number of the apostles, will of course strike any reader. One might think that each apostle had a basket.