Food for the Gentiles too

FOOD for the GENTILES TOO

Why another impromptu feast?

Only a page or two ago Mark has told a story of the miraculous feeding of a large crowd of men. Now he tells another story, similar in general outline, but different in detail, particularly in the numbers (4,000 people instead of 5,000 men; seven loaves and a few small fish instead of five and two; seven baskets instead of twelve). Why the repetition? Is Mark so short of material that he has to tell the same story twice?…