“1 In those days there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat. He summoned the disciples and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because theyve already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples answered Him, “Where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to fill these people?”
5 “How many loaves do you have?” He asked them.
“Seven,” they said. 6 Then He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks, broke the loaves, and kept on giving them to His disciples to set before the people. So they served the loaves to the crowd. 7 They also had a few small fish, and when He had blessed them, He said these were to be served as well. 8 They ate and were filled. Then they collected seven large baskets of leftover pieces. 9 About 4,000 men were there. He dismissed them 10 and immediately got into the boat with His disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.”
Mark 8:1-10
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So Jesus duplicates a miracle for a smaller crowd, this time actually about the number counted. It was a Gentile area, and it was also a confirmation for His disciples that the gentile people were to receive the same sorts of blessings that the Jews were to receive through the Messiah.

In His exchange with the Syro-Phoenician woman, Jesus was met with the excellent answer that ‘even the dogs eat the crumbs from the Master’s table.’ And here, the Gentiles are receiving a smaller portion of the same blessing that the ‘children’ experienced. The miracle they experience here, along with all the teaching and hearings, point toward the fact that God’s blessings were meant for everyone, first for the Jews, but then definitely for the Gentiles as well.

The disciples needed to see Jesus interacting with people that they may not have chosen to interact with. They needed to see Jesus showing the same kind of love to people who were not descendants of Abraham, teaching the same lessons, offering the same help, the same compassion, and giving the same fort to them that He gave for their own countrymen. Jesus was stretching them, revealing God’s heart to them and helping them to see that the Kingdom was far more than they ever understood. These ‘crumbs’ for the Gentiles were just as rich, just as meaningful as the spiritual food the children of Israel were to receive. The feeding of the 4000 was no less miraculous than the feeding of the 5000 (15-20k) with all their leftovers and satisfied stomachs. The Gentile people healed were healed just as much as the Jews, and so on down the line.

The Gentiles were not the disciples first pics or favorite people, but the Kingdom would be just as much for them as for the Jews, and Jesus, who does all things well, shows them this by duplicating ministry efforts that He had done for their friends, relatives and neighbors.

As Christians, we are called to GoLove others, no matter where they come from or what they’ve done, or where they’ve been in life. Borders and culture are points of interest, but not divisions for us. We are to offer the same rich blessings to someone we l Ike and would spend time with as we would give to someone we like less, and would maybe want to keep our distance from…

God’s love and blessings are to be shared with everyone, equally.