Jesus had been working miracle after miracle. His Instagram was blowing up, His Twitter feed, trending! He was clearly on a roll! He had just healed the guy who couldn’t walk at the Pool of Bethesda. Feeding a crowd was hardly a problem. Convincing His disciples of that may have been. The Lord asked his disciple, Philip where they could get bread and his faithless response was, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” He clearly didn’t look beyond his own means. But Andrew was searching for a solution. He considered the possibility that people might provide for themselves with a little leadership:
John 6:8-9, Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
John 6:10, Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there).Most scholars say that there were a much as 15,000 people there that 5,000 only represented the men.
I imagine the Lord flashing a reassuring grin as He instructed his disciples. As per their custom, he had them recline to prepare for a meal then He gave thanks.
Imagine the scene: Jesus broke one lunch into two, then again and again. He divided the lunch many thousands of times over a period of hours assuming He worked alone. And each person received more than a little; they received as much as they wanted. For most of them, this was the first complete meal they had in a long time. Leftovers were not a common sight in ancient times. That’s hard for us to get our heads around that with the availability of food in our culture.
The offering had been meager, the miracle dramatic, and the provision abundant. That’s how God works! But Jesus isn’t done yet. The Lord instructed each of the 12 disciples to collect the leftovers. They collected enough uneaten food to provide for each of the 12 men for the next two to three days.
At the end of the day the disciples learned a lesson that we can learn from this story: Never gauge the size of the challenge in terms of our capability. What we have to offer is never enough. God never calls us to provide. That’s His responsibility. Instead, He calls us to commit what we have even if it seems woefully inadequate like a simple sack lunch.
What God-sized miracle do you need today? This is to remind you that He’s in the miracle business.
Please check out my new author page on Amazon. You can find my page by searching for my name in “Books” on Amazon.com. My sister and I will be publishing our new book, Tech-Pecked or Tuned In: Finding God in A Digital World in January 2020. So the publisher decided it’s high time I created this page.