This miracle story appears in all four Gospels. Matthew connects it with the killing of John the Baptizer and the withdrawal of Jesus from Galilee. Mark associates it with the return of the Twelve from their mission and a withdrawal into solitude for rest. Luke, while he relates it to the return of the Twelve, has Jesus and the Twelve retire to Bethsaida. John states that this happened after Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee to the shore of Tiberias and went up a mountain and sat down with his disciples. John further reports that the Jewish feast of Passover was near.
So the scene is not clear in any of the Gospels. Wherever it took place, it was near enough to villages to make possible the purchase of food. Consequently the locale is not the desert.
One has to contrast Matthew’s account with that of Mark (probably the original account). Matthew talks about Jesus healing their sick while Mark speaks about Jesus teaching. It is unlikely that very many of the crowd would leave home for a day’s journey without carrying some food. A Palestinian peasant would not have been so imprudent or improvident. So there must be a different reason for the evangelists to include this story.
Since the Gospels were written a number of years after the death of Christ, it is more likely that the evangelists realized, after thinking about the ceremonial with which Jesus blessed and distributed the food, that this event was a foreshadowing of the Last Supper. Indeed the giving of blessed food to sustain life is a very important theme in the Gospels and something that Jesus truly did.
Further, the usual note of wonder that follows miracles is not mentioned in the context of this event. The incident is related in the Gospels less for the element of the miraculous than as a symbol and anticipation of the Eucharist and of the Messianic banquet. This is more explicit in John’s Gospel since the event is followed by John’s Eucharistic discourse, called the Discourse on the Bread of Life (John 6:25-59).
So the account should call us to think about the fact that our God has done everything in His power to remind us that He is desirous of sustaining our lives and that He has made it possible to be with us in a sacramental way throughout life. It is by the Eucharist that He has made Himself substantively present in our lives. It is only for us to believe and accept His presence.
The sharing of this miracle story also highlights something very important. We should not get caught up in thinking about how Jesus accomplished this miracle but rather thinking about its meaning for us. God, in the Person of Jesus, offers Himself as spiritual food to sustain us through this life as we face life’s challenges. If we truly believe and partake of this spiritual food, we will not be hungry to find the meaning and purpose of life we now live!