Matthew 14:13-21 (The Message)
Supper for Five Thousand
13-14When Jesus got the news, he slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by himself. But unsuccessfully—someone saw him and the word got around. Soon a lot of people from the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was. When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick.
15Toward evening the disciples approached him. "We're out in the country and it's getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go to the villages and get some supper."
16But Jesus said, "There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper."
17"All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish," they said.
18-21Jesus said, "Bring them here." Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to the congregation. They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand were fed.
Please allow me to expound on a concept in these verses. I pray that this will not be seen as adding to the Word of God, as I know the warning about that... but rather finding application for a principle of this event. As we read these verses, the primary characters involved are Jesus and the disciples. Obviously the disciples were "students" so to speak, of Jesus. They spent time with him day in and day out. They had the privilege of observing Jesus doing miracles, healing the sick, teaching first hand. Even still, they sometimes had difficulty recognizing the power of the the man (God) they were following. They recognized the need of the crowds that had gathered... the people were hungry. The Bible makes it clear that they rationalized about the situation by asking Jesus to send the people home to get something to eat. They saw the enormity of the situation, but didn't see the opportunity it presented. To their credit, they did recognize the physical resources at their disposal... five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus asked them to feed the people. They basically objected and said (paraphrased) "this is all we have to offer... it won't even make a dent". Jesus asked them to give Him what they had. They did. He blessed what they had and gave it back to them.
Here's where we get to the application...
In life we all come upon overwhelming situations... situations where we hurt for others when we recognize their suffering. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit will prompt us to recognize our "loaves and fishes"... an opportunity to be used by God in a situation. We may argue with ourselves (and in actuality, with the Holy Spirit). We may try to rationalize "how could what I have to offer possibly make a difference in such an overwhleming situation?" Just as Jesus did on the hillside, God simply says "can I see that for a second?" We can choose to hold on to what we have, or we can hand it over to Him to do miraculous things with. Are there people hurting around you? The storms around the country have provided a mission field of hurting people... people with very real and iminent needs. Maybe there are other areas of urgent needs that you are aware of. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to show you your "loaves and fishes".
