Mark doesn’t get much style credit amongst Hebrew scholars, his gospel is often seen as simple and basic.  But the fact is that the nature of the Hebrew language and the pre-modern culture means that even the most basic is very rich for our pallet.  This is the case with Mark's telling of the feeding of the five thousand.  Oddly it was pointed out that the people sat down on green grass as if Mark were concerned about which season it was.  Really he is tying us into the rich literary tradition of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah.  The first clue was the the phrase “they were like sheep without a shepherd”.    I was even shocked at how simple it was when I was reminded of the Psalm 23.  Jesus is proving he is the messiah by this pastorale scene:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”  And so the people did not want, he provided their needs
“He makes me to lie down in green pastures.”  There it is, and Mark got it he led them to green grass.

And having these connections we can bring in the following verses.

“He leads me beside still waters. 
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake”

Back in Mark “This is a lonely place and the hour is now late.” brings us to the next section of the Psalm

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me” 

And then the part of the message that really made the religious leaders mad.  They were supposed to be the shepherds of Israel but they had been unfaithful.  And so the people were lost.  This is why every action of Jesus stung them to the core.   This is why they plotted to murder him after everything he did.

“You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil”

And Mark tells us that there were 12 baskets of food left over.

“my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.”

Truly this is the Lord here on Earth.  You can see the joy of Mark as he makes these connections, after the resurrection.  We don’t often make these connections because we have become less poetic and more scientific in our thinking.  This is modernism.  We like to break everything into pieces instead of putting them together.  We dissect and deconstruct everything instead of connecting words in poetic ways.  As Lewis said to see through everything is not to see anything.  But poetry and its connections, and even fantasy, make us see the world more clearly.  This is the beginning of wisdom (step two is application).

An even more powerful incitement of the Pharisees is found in Ezekiel 34.  “Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?. . .No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. . .I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice”

There is even a hint of the salvation of the nations, the Gentiles, “And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries,” .

Now as the Church we are the sheep, the followers of the Good Shepherd.  But we are also the hope of the world, the light of the world, in a sense shepherds to the lost.  Today most of the attacks agains the Pharisees are true of the Church.  We have been more concerned about ourselves and our comfort than about caring for others.  We pride ourselves on having the truth and lament the world falling apart.  Instead of realizing that their wandering is our fault.  They are sheep without a shepherd we have a shepherd we should be pointing people to him, instead of mocking them.

Lambert Lombard (1505-1566)
The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes
Oil on panel