<p>8:6 <i>And he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground- </i>The Greek really means to recline at table. This is another indication that He was presenting as it were the Messianic banquet, and fellowshipping at table in a spiritual sense with whoever wished to be present.</p><p><i>And he took the seven loaves and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and they set them before the crowd</i>- The same Greek words for &lsquo;took&rsquo; and &lsquo;loaves&rsquo; have just been used in Mt. 15:26, where the Lord told the Gentile woman that it was not appropriate to &lsquo;take&rsquo; the &lsquo;bread&rsquo; (s.w. &ldquo;loaves&rdquo;) intended for Israel and give them to the Gentiles. But now, He does just that (bearing in mind the evidence that this is a partly Gentile crowd). The impression is surely that the woman&rsquo;s spiritual perception deeply impressed the Lord, to the point that He decided the time had come to begin giving Israel&rsquo;s bread to the Gentiles. This openness in both the Father and Son is a function of their supreme sensitivity to men. See on Mt. 16:5.&nbsp;</p><p>The Lord gave the broken bread to the disciples, eloquently speaking of the gift of His life. They in their turn &ldquo;did set before the people&rdquo; (Mk. 8:6). We must pass on that which was given to us by the Lord. Paul is our example in this (1 Cor. 11:23). We must, of course, have a valid relationship with the Lord in the first place, feeling we have definitely received something from Him, if we are to pass it on. The Greek term for &ldquo;set before&rdquo; recurs in 1 Tim. 1:18 and 2 Tim. 2:2 concerning how we simply <i>&nbsp;must </i>pass on the word which has been given to us. Quite simply, if we&rsquo;ve really heard it, really received it, we must pass it on.</p>