‘And Jesus called to him his disciples, and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat, and I would not send them away fasting, lest it happen that they faint on the way.” '
Jesus expresses His compassion for the crowd who have been listening him for a couple of days or so (‘three days' is a general expression indicating anything from one and a half to five days, see its use in Joshua 2-3) and so have run out of any food that they had brought with them some time before.
In the previous incident of feeding the crowds, the disciples had sought that Jesus would send the crowds, who were far from home, to the neighbouring villages for food so that they could eat, only to discover that He expected them to be able to feed them. But in this case it is Jesus Who draws attention to the situation. And He declares that He is filled with compassion for the crowds because they have been with Him in the mountain for three days, and have run out of food to such an extent that they have not eaten for some time. Thus if He sent them home they might not make it through faintness. This was a clear expression of the deep interest of the crowds. It may well also have been a test to see what kind of response His disciples would make.
The question was, had their faith increased sufficiently since the last time for them to be able to do something now, and had they also learned the lesson of the Canaanite woman, so that they would recognise that God would feed the Gentile believers too? The disciples had, however, probably seen the former feeding as a one-off, and even more they would not consider that this mixed crowd of Jews and Gentiles could expect similar treatment. For while it was expected that the Messiah would provide manna from Heaven for Jews, it was certainly not expected for Gentiles. Thus the situation would be seen by them as very different. They had forgotten that Jesus had already demonstrated that He would take of the children's bread and give it to the ‘dogs'.
Note Jesus' expression of compassion. It is a word regularly used of Him (Matthew 9:36; Matthew 14:14; Matthew 20:34; Mark 1:41; Mark 5:19; Luke 7:13). It reminds us that with all its spiritual lessons we must primarily see in this incident an expression of compassion. Jesus fed them in the first place because they were hungry and in real need. On the other hand when He Himself was tempted in such a situation He had refused to use His divine powers to produce bread. This suggests that something more was to be seen here. Which may be as follows:
· 1). That Jesus had an important lesson in it for the disciples, not only that it was ever to be their responsibility to feed God's true people, but also that in this case the Gentiles who genuinely sought Him had a right to receive the same benefits as believing Jews. This again ties in to some extent with the Jewish way of thinking. The proselyte (but not the God-fearer) who converted to Judaism was, at least theoretically to stand on the same level as the ‘trueborn' Jew (Exodus 12:48). And we should recognise in this regard that any converts through Jesus' ministry at this stage would certainly make for the synagogues once Jesus was gone from among them, and would there be seen as God-fearers and prospective proselytes. It was one thing, however, to speak of such equality, and quite another to carry it into practise, so as really to place converted Gentiles on the same level as Jews. Jesus here goes one step further and offers Jewish privileges to believing Gentiles also, even though they are not circumcised. But it would be a hard lesson for the disciples to take in.
2). Another clear lesson from this incident is that Jesus has come to feed both Jew and Gentile with the Bread of Life, so that those who come to Him may never hunger and those who believe in Him may never thirst (John 6:35). In Him their hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6) will be fulfilled. He has come bringing ‘food' for all, the sure mercies of David, which are available to all nations (Isaiah 55:1-5). This is emphasised later in Matthew 16:9-12 when it is made clear that the ‘bread from Heaven' represents Jesus' message of salvation.