Compassion and Faith!

Saturday, February 14, 2026

1 Kgs 12:26-32, 13:33-34; Mk 8:1-10

Today’s Gospel highlights compassion and faith as the real miracles. 

Jesus feeds a crowd of four thousand. But the miracle is not about multiplication or sharing of bread as we might often conclude. Instead, the miracle begins with Jesus’ compassion and faith. 

The text makes the reasons for Jesus’ compassion self-evident: the crowd has been with Jesus for three days, they are hungry, and they are far from home because they have travelled ‘a great distance.’ The point is that Jesus intuits their situation and initiates the miracle without them having to remind or ask him. Jesus does not spiritualize their need. He wants to solve it. 

The most interesting part of the Gospel is the irony it contains. Jesus appears to propose the unimaginable, and the disciples are lost in two ways. In their anxiety, they calculate the scarcity instead of remembering Jesus’ sufficiency. Secondly, they are shocked by what is missing, while Jesus redirects their focus to begin with what is available.

The confused disciples are lost in abstract generalizations, but Jesus turns the question concrete. They wonder, ‘Where can ‘anyone’ get enough bread for the crowd?’ But Jesus asks, ‘How many loaves do ‘you’ have?’ Thus, Jesus proves that with compassion and faith, scarcity can be turned into surplus, and the so-called unimaginable into something possible.

The Gospel text on Jesus feeding the four thousand offers us key insights into the very idea of the miracle. 

1. The text underlines that the real miracle is Jesus’ compassion more than the multiplication. Moved with pity, Jesus wants to feed the entire crowd, though it is a massive number. 

2. Again, the miracle is Jesus calling his disciples to faith in his miraculous presence above anything. Faith is more about relying on Jesus than the size of the available resources.

3. Once again, the miracle is not Jesus’ solo show. Jesus involves the people through their ‘seven loaves’ and ‘a few fish.’ Without taking credit for the miracle, Jesus makes them own it. 

Let us pray that we may witness and perform miracles through our compassion and faith. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar