Mark 8:1-21: The feeding of the four thousand

I thought I knew what this miracle was about. I should have known better, especially because I’m a twin and a father of twins.

One of the mistakes people make with twins is thinking they know the one because they know the other. In a way, you do. Also, in a very real way, you don’t. Rushing ahead and thinking they are completely the same will make you miss their individuality.

That matters here because the miracle of the feeding of the four thousand has an obvious twin: the feeding of the five thousand. But even if you know the one, don’t immediately assume you know the other. This miracle is different and deserves its own consideration.

Let me underline that with Mark. At the end of this section, Jesus asks his disciples, “Do you still not understand?” No answer is given. Why? They still had more to get, ponder, and rejoice over with the miracle. There is more here for us too. Let’s walk through what this particular miracle says about how Jesus feeds you.

The luncheon

There was something magnetic about Jesus. Thousands of people came out to him in the middle of nowhere. Mark gives us the sense that Jesus held them there. After all, three days is a decent span of time. The scene reminds me of what the Puritans used to say: “Brown bread and the gospel are good fare.” If your spirit is held, your stomach doesn’t have to be full for you to be okay. Jesus held these people for three days so that their supplies ran right out, and now it was too late. They were not getting home.

Jesus was concerned about that. They really could collapse on the way home. That right there shows you something vital. This situation was more dire than the feeding of the five thousand. In that miracle, food was available, and villages existed; you may recall that money was the question. Here was a more fundamental problem: There was not sufficient food anywhere.

What they had were seven loaves. Jesus took them. He gave thanks. He broke them. He kept giving them to the disciples, who kept distributing them. Mark also tells us they had a few small, prepared fish—sardines, if you will. Jesus gave thanks for those too.

Next, Mark reports something vital: They all ate and were satisfied. They were not just full; they were satisfied.

Then came the leftovers: 7 basketfuls. Don’t assume this is a junior twin miracle to the feeding of the five thousand because there are fewer baskets. Greek has two words for a basket. English has one. In the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples collected leftovers in 12 small picnic baskets. In the feeding of the four thousand, the baskets are massive—the kind used elsewhere in Scripture to lower a man down a city wall. There were 7 baskets of leftovers of that size. This was not less; this was more.

The leaven

After this miracle, Jesus and the disciples crossed the sea, and the Pharisees came at him—not to him, but at him. They demanded a sign from heaven. Jesus refused. And then he sighed. This was not a gentle sigh; it was a sigh of judgment. He was done with them. They had had their chances and so “he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side” (Mark 8:13).

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread on the trip, except for one loaf. When Jesus warned his disciples to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod, they didn’t understand. They thought he was talking about bread. Why in the world would they think Jesus was concerned about having enough bread when he just got done creating more than enough of it?

The warning was valid for them. Why? What is this leaven? Matthew offers clarity in his account of this miracle: It is the yeast of what the Pharisees were teaching (see Matthew 16:12). What is that teaching? They taught rule-keeping to be right with God and receive his abundance. Now, if the Pharisees and Herod seem like opposites to you, that makes sense. The Pharisees were rule-keepers, and Herod was a rule-breaker. But if you dig beneath those two opposite behaviors, you see that the deeper problem driving both behaviors was the same wrong belief. They both believed in working things out for themselves, not trusting that Jesus would provide. That’s the leaven.

That leaven moves quickly and widely in us. Every time we think we must get the right career, fend for our own interests, and keep enough for ourselves or it will all run out, we are feeling it. Don’t you see, there’s just one measly loaf left—not enough for us all?! There it is. Lord, have mercy on us.

The lesson

Jesus confronts the disciples with question after question, boring into them about the bread and the twin miracles. Notice what he asked. He didn’t ask how many people were fed; he asked how much was left over. And while we can say so much more about it, more than there is space for here, we can get this far: Jesus is ripping them out of their small faith. Saying out loud to your Lord just how big his abundance is will do that to you.

So, let’s say it: At the feeding of the five thousand, there were 12 smaller baskets left over. At the feeding of the four thousand, there was even more leftover abundance: 7 massive baskets full. Jesus was revealing even more abundance than before. The point? Jesus is more than enough. The truth is, he is too much. He overflows you.

Reenact this miracle every day. Go get more bread from him by faith. “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). That’s how it is with him—always more forgiveness than enough for our leaven. This is true for real, physical bread too. “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

In that way, this is the miracle we think we know but still don’t. How can we? There’s always more bread tomorrow—too much, really. His graces always are.

This is the third article in a five-part series on Jesus’ miracles in the gospel of Mark. Read part one and part two. 

Learn more and register for a live online Bible study with Bourman to delve deeper into the miracles of Mark. 

Author: Jonathan Bourman
Volume 113, Number 03
Issue: March 2026

The spirituality of scarcity

Both Herod and the Pharisees were filled with a spirituality of scarcity: We might not have enough.

That is the opposite of faith in Jesus. Scarcity breeds greed and lust because you have to take now. There might not be enough for you later. Scripture says the Pharisees were greedy. They loved money. And Herod? He took his own brother’s wife and married her. Mark chapter 6 also says he had his own stepdaughter dance for him and his guests. He was pleased with it, which is just as perverse as it sounds.

Beware of that rising yeast. Be filled with Christ. He is not just enough. He is too much.