Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
We are accustomed to think of this as a miracle story, which of course makes a great deal of sense. But sometimes I wonder if by focusing on the obvious miracle of multiplying food to feed the thousands, we miss two other miracles that in my opinion are perhaps more significant.
We touched on the first yesterday. Jesus sees the crowd’s great need and feels compassion for their plight. We kind of take that for granted in Jesus. But think about the scene that came just before this one. Herod is hosting a birthday bash for the rich and powerful. And while we may regard this as the first-century equivalent of an episode from The Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless, Herod’s behavior was actually more the norm. You had money in order to spend. You had power in order to acquire more power. You had privilege because you deserved it. The needs of the poor? Obviously they had done something to deserve it.
Moreover, a common picture of God in the ancient world was that of a supreme being who was, by definition, unchanging, unfeeling, and unmoved by human plight. This was true of the Greek and Roman gods, for whom humans were little more than playthings, and also for the god of the philosophers, so often designated with warm and fuzzy names like the “Unmoved Mover” or the “First Cause.”
Against this backdrop, the idea that the Son of God and Lord of the Cosmos would even notice the need of the common folk, let alone have compassion on them is indeed miraculous.
But there is a second miracle here as well: Jesus involves the disciples in his response. Notice that the disciples bring this to Jesus as a problem for him to solve – they know they don’t have the food to feed all these people so they want Jesus to send them away. And whether we read their reaction as the opposite of compassionate (perhaps a deliberate contrast on Matthew’s part) or are more sympathetic and assume they are simply being practical, their goal is obviously to get Jesus to solve their problem.
But he doesn’t. He puts the problem squarely back on their shoulders by asking them what food they have. And when they offer their meager stores, he takes and blesses what they bring and uses it – and them – to feed thousands. Which seems to me another significant miracle. That Jesus would invite them to take responsibility, accompany them into the midst of the challenges that confront them, and take and bless what they have and in this way involve them in this miracle.
Might Jesus still be operating this way? Might, that is, Jesus also invite us to get off the sidelines, take responsibility for the problems we see around us, accompany us into these challenges, bless our efforts and whatever we might have to offer, and use us to work miracles?
I think so. And, if so, we’ve got miracle number three.
Prayer: Dear God, you receive, bless, and multiply whatever we offer for the sake of the world. Thank you for working in us and through us to continue working miracles. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Thanks again. So enjoy your posts, as usual a lot to mull over. I like mulling.
In the words of Matthew West “Do Something!” Amen. Another great writing David. Thank you!
I like the idea of using what you have and letting God multiply it (back in some ways to ‘calling’)take your gifts and your means and put them into play – simplifies things.