My parents did a lot of entertaining. It seemed like at least once a week we would have one of my dad’s business colleagues or a hunting buddy and his wife. It was fun! Only later in life did I realize that as often as not, Dad would not have informed Mom that he had invited them over until about 2:30 that afternoon. Yet somehow, she always managed to scramble and get everything ready.
There’s a bit of that dynamic going on in the miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. The disciples are just trying to be practical when they ask him to dismiss the crowds so they can get something to eat. Instead, Jesus invites them all to dinner!
Two takeaways from the encounter are the cooperation of the disciples to make the miracle happen and the scale of the miracle itself.
Jesus never passes up an opportunity to reveal the nature of the Kingdom or of his Father. The first takeaway is that God wants us to be part of the miracle. Jesus could have easily conjured up bread grass and fish from stones. Instead, he says, “You give them something to eat.” It does not matter to him that the disciples only had five loaves and two fish. What does matter is that they trust him enough to give him what they do have. It’s the same for each of us. Our own resources are never going to be enough. That’s not what matters. Our job is not to work the miracle. Our job is to bring the fish.
The second takeaway is that our God is the God of Abundance. This is obvious from the fact that are leftovers. Lots and lots of leftovers! Some biblical scholars surmise that it was enough to feed everyone again. The lesson here is clear. When it comes to the life of grace, God does not just give us a sufficiency, he gives us an abundance.
These are couple good lessons for both of us. Jesus could save the world without, but what fun would that be? Rather, in his love, he invites us to offer what we have, no matter how little it might seem. Our job is to bring the fish give them to the Lord trusting that he can do far more with our offering than we could ever imagine.