Mk 8:1-10
Pity: The narrative of the feeding of the four thousand is interested less in the historical incident than in the eucharistic significance of the story.
The use of the sacred numbers three and seven indicate a theophany, a manifestation of God. Three three-year-old animals are slaughtered when Abraham enters into a covenant with God. Sarah prepares three seahs of fine flour, when three unexpected visitors deliver a message that she will give birth to Isaac.
Seven indicates totality or fullness or completeness. Six days of creation are followed by the seventh day of rest. Naaman washes seven times in the Jordan and is healed of his leprosy.
What Mark is declaring is that the Christian Eucharist represents the fullness of the manifestation of God. Those people who share in the loaves are not only satisfied, but seven baskets remain.
This complete manifestation of God is Mark’s emphasis, rather than a focus on an event of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. The concern of the crowd, who are hungry for the word of God, is the point of the story. People can have their hunger satisfied by Jesus, in his word and in the Eucharist.