Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
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Mark 6:30-44
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take eight months’ wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
You could probably make a case that of all the miracle stories from the life and ministry of Jesus, his miraculous feeding of thousands of people with a little bit of food is one of the best known. People with no connection to the Christian faith will know what you mean if you use the phrase “loaves and fishes.” It’s become a shorthand way of referring to accomplishing amazing things with very modest resources.
But what is the lesson of this story for those of us who are trying to follow Jesus in the 21st century? Three things about this story seem especially meaningful.
The first is that Jesus encouraged his disciples to take some time away from their ministry to rest and practice some “self-care.” Judging by his own example, Jesus would probably have been encouraging them to spend time in prayer and meditation. That’s especially important for those in leadership roles in the church. There’s always a lot of work to be done. But there’s nothing more important for followers of Jesus than growing in our own relationship with God through prayer and reflection and worship. Failure to attend to that inevitably leads to burnout.
This might be more important to American followers of Jesus than most others – there’s an ethic of hard work in our culture that colors everything we do. Lots of Americans have tended to derive our identity from our work to a degree that leads to ‘workaholism’ and can disrupt our relationships with friends and family. For those of us in the community of faith, it’s important to remember that our God rested on the seventh day, and that when he walked among us in human form, he set aside time for rest and refreshment.
The second aspect of this story that seems to be overlooked is that when he was confronted with thousands of hungry people, Jesus told his disciples, “You give them something to eat.” He chose to work through his followers. Presumably, Jesus did actually have the power to turn stones into bread, or to produce food by some other means. But instead, he directed his disciples to do the job using the resources that were available to them. It wasn’t much – five loaves (probably like pita) and two small fish. But Jesus took this little bit of food and handed it to his disciples – and it was through them that it was miraculously multiplied to feed the whole crowd.
I can’t help thinking this is supposed to be a lesson to people like us. There’s work to be done, but our resources can seem ridiculously small compared to the needs before us. Even so, God seems determined to work through his Son’s followers rather than waving a hand and making the problems vanish. There’s still hunger in our world, and we can pray that God will make it go away. But God’s plan seems to be to use us to do the work. Jesus still says to us what he said to the first disciples: “You feed them.”
There are still sick people, and we can pray for God to make them well, but maybe Jesus is saying, “You heal them.” There are still people caught in war and oppression and abuse of all kinds. We can pray for them, but Jesus says, I think, “You stand up for them.” The challenges are so great that solving them can seem impossible. But then again, so was feeding thousands of people with some kid’s lunch. Jesus is doing impossible things with loaves and fishes, even today. But he seems to expect us to get to work on these impossible tasks, not just expect him to do it for us.
The third part of this story I’d like to point out is that there were twelve basketsful left over. It seems to me we’re meant to notice this as an example of the rich abundance of God’s blessings. It’s probably a part of our human nature to adopt a “theology of scarcity” – to fear that our needs won’t be met. Sadly, even those of us who are richly blessed seem to doubt God’s generosity and feel like we have to hold tightly to what we have. But this story points us toward a “theology of abundance” – the faith that we can count on God to supply our needs with generous abundance. Jesus did not provide only what was needed, but even more – abundantly more.
Finally, it seems to me we’re supposed to notice that when the story ends, the disciples are left with twelve baskets full of food. Thousands of people got one full meal. But the disciples wound up being more richly blessed than anyone else. We might turn up our noses at leftover bread and fish. But people who sometimes went hungry would probably see twelve baskets of food as a bonanza.
I think there’s a message there: that God’s greatest blessings come to those who commit themselves to be agents of his blessing in the lives of others.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for the rich and abundant blessings we enjoy, and also for the great privilege we have of being agents of your blessing in the lives of others. You know that sometimes we doubt that our resources are sufficient to relieve the great need in the world, but let us never forget the great things you have always been able to do with modest resources. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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