The presence of green grass is mentioned as a fact, not as a sudden miracle that would point to the messianic time.1 Green grass in this area indicates springtime (Passover is at hand: John 6:4). Mark, however, does not mention this to point to the time, but as a picture of an important happening. Green grass is not a common “carpet” to sit down for a meal. Yet people are now told to sit down as for a festive meal. This is implied in the double description συμπόσια συμπόσια (transl. “in groups”), a word that originally means “drinking-bout, festive dinner,” and later it is also used to indicate a group of people who have a festive meal together. The word is not commonly used for the normal daily meal. Jesus organizes a festive dinner where the guests form a community. In a desolate area without food, this must have been for those present almost as strange as (at the time) building an ark on land.2
39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.