Great crowds came to him,
having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute,
and many others.
They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.
These miracles stoked the fires of Messianic expectation, for he was fulfilling, one by the one, promises made by Isaiah the prophet.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy (see Isaiah 35:5-6).
Jesus had compassion on those who were hungry. He fed those who were spiritually hungry, such as when he permitted the Canaanite woman to receive the scraps that fell from the table. He would now go on to perform a miracle for those who were physically hungry in Gentile territory very much like the one he performed in Israel (see Matthew 14:13-21). In doing so he was giving a sign that he would fulfill Isaiah's prophecy that God himself would provide "for all peoples a feast".
My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
for they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
Jesus had previously given wine when a wedding ran low and provided bread to a hungry crowd. He was deeply concerned that these human needs things not distract from following him but would rather be a part of what drew people to him. The crowds were not to turn away to try to satisfy their desires on their own terms. If they did that they would miss guidance that Jesus could offer and the fellowship of being united around him. They would be made to think that they had to choose themselves over and against Jesus. The crowd didn't want to do this, proven by the fact that they stayed for three days with nothing to eat. Neither did Jesus want this crowd to succumb to hunger just to prove their love of him. He wanted them to be strengthened, not to go off for life alone, but to journey on with him. His concern was like that which God expressed for Elijah through the angel.
Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee (see First Kings 19:7).
Jesus was reluctant to let his followers lack even that which was a shadow of the true feast he would provide in the Eucharist. He knew that at first many are only able experience the care of the Good Shepherd in having their immediate needs met. This is still the case in our day. Just as this feast that Jesus set before the crowd revealed his care and love for them so too can our own care for the poor among us point the way to a still greater feast.
It was of course the case that whoever ate even this miraculously multiplied bread would hunger again. Those who drank at the wedding at Canna no doubt had found memories of it, but they would not live out their lives knowing only the joy of that celebration. By contrast, the feast to which we have been invited truly does satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst. It does this because it is itself the thing by which the impermanence of creation, the tendency for it to run low, to crumble, and to be less than we need, will be finally overthrown. It is itself the antidote to death and the medicine of immortality.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.
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