Mark 6:41

By praying Jesus gave God thanks for the food and reminded the people that it came from Him. Giving thanks before meals was a common Jewish and early Christian practice. Jesus blessed God for giving the food. He did not bless the food itself. Looking up to heaven further clarified that it was God to whom He was praying, though looking down while praying was customary. The bread was probably "finger-thick, plate-shaped ’loaves.’" [Note: Guelich, p. 342.]

Mark did not record how Jesus performed the miracle, though evidently the multiplication happened in Jesus’ hands. He stressed that it was Jesus who did it. This was the most important point to him. Jesus met the needs of people in innumerable creative ways. It is important for disciples to focus on the source of the provision, God, rather than the means and methods He uses to provide. By thanking God for the food and then providing it miraculously for the people, Jesus was presenting evidence that He was God. Thoughtful individuals in the crowd remembered God’s miraculous provision of manna in the wilderness (John 6:14) and realized that Jesus was God’s servant who delivered what God provided, namely, a second Moses.

Jesus served the people through the disciples who presented what He had provided to the multitudes. The disciples served as waiters. This is the work of servant disciples. This was another lesson in discipleship.