Mark 8:1-8 NRSVue
1In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, 2“I have compassion for the crowd because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” 5He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. 7They had also a few small fish, and after blessing them he ordered that these, too, should be distributed. 8They ate and were filled, and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
“Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”
Some thoughts on this scripture
Reflection
Lord you were not a magician. You would not conjure loaves out of thin air,
any more than you would transform mankind without engaging mankind in the
mission. You started the meal with the seven loaves and the few small fish
which the disciples supplied.
Reflection
I sometimes wish, Lord, that you would manage without me. But you want my
seven loaves and little fishes, you want to use the inadequate contribution I
can make, and transform it into something beyond my powers.