Luke
9:13, 16-17 - But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said,
“We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food
for all these people.” …And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked
up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave
them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were
satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken
pieces.
We can be overwhelmed by our lack.
The problems and challenges we face are often more than we are capable of
handling on our own. Sometimes it seems futile to even attempt to take them on
with our meager resources. That was how Jesus’ disciples felt as they saw a sea
of over 5,000 hungry faces who had interrupted their personal time with Jesus
to take the Man away. They saw the problem of feeding them and asked Jesus to
send them away, but Jesus put the problem back on them: “You (the Greek has
an usually strong emphasis on the YOU here) give them something to eat.”
They responded by pointing out their
insufficiency: five loaves and two fish. It was barely enough for the twelve.
What could it do for 5,000? They gave it anyway. In Jesus’ hands it was blessed
and given back to the disciples. The text is clear: The multiplication did not
happen in Jesus’ hands. The bread and fish multiplied in the disciples’ hands
as they gave it to the people. Once they had given all they had for the sake of
others, they had more left at the end than they started with: One large basket
of leftovers for each disciple.
God’s math does not always make sense
in earthly, scientific terms. Though what we have often seems inadequate, when
given to others through Jesus it is multiplied and changes the world.
1 comment:
Thanks Alan, I really needed to read this. I am constantly overwhelmed by my lack...lack of righteousness, lack of experience, lack of skill, etc. It's hard to remember that God uses the humble, meek, and inadequate things when we're surrounded by mega-churches, bigger-than-life celebrity pastors, and what seem like mountains of talent all around us. But maybe, as you alluded to in your post, this is how Jesus' disciples felt. They were following a great Teacher, they were surrounded by Pharisees and teachers of the Law...and these fishermen and tax collectors were supposed to change the world. Huh. Makes you think, doesn't it? Thanks for the great post!
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