Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 6:45

"And straightway he constrained his disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before [him] unto the other side to Bethsaida, while he himself sendeth the multitude away." — Mark 6:45 (ASV)

Mark records no reaction of the crowd to the multiplication of the loaves and fish, but there must have been one. The hurried departure of the disciples to Bethsaida suggests that there was danger of a messianic uprising as a result of the miracle (cf. Jn 6:15). Jesus stayed to dismiss the crowd, no doubt to calm the people down.