“And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.”
There were about four thousand men. After he had sent them away — the headcount (four thousand, compared to five thousand in the first feeding) establishes the scale. After he had sent them away: Jesus dismisses the crowd after the feeding, as he did after the first feeding (Mark 6:45). The dismissal is the conclusion of the miracle and the transition to the next scene.
Church Fathers on Mark 8:9
After the Lord had performed the former miracle concerning the multiplication of the loaves, now again, a fitting occasion presents itself, and He takes the opportunity of working a similar miracle.
Why they who came from afar hold out for three days, Matthew says more fully: 'And He went up into a mountain, and sat down there, and great multitudes came unto Him, having with them many sick persons, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.' [Matt. 15:29-30]
Or else, the seven loaves are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fragments of the loaves are the mystical understanding of the first week.
Read all 15 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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