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. (Matthew 14:13-21, NRSV)
The disciples were wondering where the food was going to come from to feed all of these people…
How many of us have ever planned a dinner party for a few hundred people let alone thousands?
And to put an even bigger damper on the scene, all the food they have are five loaves of bread and two fish, and this is only brought to light after Jesus tells the disciples to give them something to eat.
Was the 5 loaves of bread and two fish for the 13 of them? Was Jesus trying to find out what He had to work with?
But then they disciples actually did what Jesus told them to do. A little thing we over look. We see Jesus taking 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and feeding 5000 men, plus women and children. We see the miracle of the 12 baskets left over. But we miss the work.
Jesus blesses and breaks and gives it to the disciples, who then hand out the food to the 5000 men, plus women and children. Then they go around again and pickup the leftovers. The 12 of them serve 416 2/3 men, plus the women and children… Imagine it! The work the disciples did to make this miracle possible is something we overlook, but it happens all the time!
Through your hands you serve others and help God’s miracles to happen!
aSacredRebel 