This just doesn’t make sense in conjunction with the account given. The Apostles suggested dispersing the crowd so that they could go into town and buy food, which suggests that that is what they thought the majority of the people would have to do. If only a relatively few people needed food, then a much more sensible suggestion would be “let’s break for dinner” - at which point the majority that had food would eat (after which point teaching could resume) and those without would go get some, possibly missing out a little.
And what about the eating their fill and having 12 baskets of leftovers? Why would so many people carry so much more than they could eat, if they weren’t planning on sharing it? And if they were planning on sharing it, then this would be a normal occurrence hardly worthy of mentioning at all.
In fact, it’d be hardly worthy of mentioning even if they did for reasons unknown have lots of extra food. Imagine writing a Gospel, showing how great Jesus is - “He said many wise things. He raised the dead. Healed the blind, made the lame walk. Cast out demons. Cured leprosy. Converted corrupt tax gatherers, prostitutes, and occupying Roman soldiers. Also, He once convinced some people to share their food. Nothing drastic, mind you, a couple people forgot to bring a lunch, and a couple others brought more than they could eat, so, by His Divine Influence, He convinced them to hand over their extra half sandwich to those who might have been mildly uncomfortable for a few minutes otherwise.” I mean, what would be the point of even mentioning that, especially since the Gospels say they didn’t have room for many signs and wonders that He preformed?
