Jesus feeding the 5,000 recalls the Old Testament story of manna (bread from heaven) when Israel was in the wilderness (Exodus 16). In that story, God provided bread each day for his people.
In the time of Jesus, some Jewish teachers believed that the Messiah would again give bread from heaven (Exodus 16:4). They expected a new act of divine provision.
When Jesus fed the crowd, he met this expectation. However, he was not only giving physical bread. He was pointing to himself as the true bread from heaven, who gives life to the world.