Tuesday Thought -- May 24, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

“Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.’ He replied, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They answered, ‘We have only five loaves of bread and two fish — unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.’ (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, ‘Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.” (Luke 9:12-17)

This is a story of a great miracle that Jesus performed. He demonstrates His compassion for the simplest needs of the people around Him – they were hungry. He demonstrates His awesome power – He can multiply bread and fish. He also demonstrates His ability to great things with few resources – He fed thousands with just five small loaves and two fish.

That last point is a key one for us. It is a reminder that Jesus can do amazing things through the little that we have to offer Him. None of us has much – even the most talented among us doesn’t have much to offer the Almighty God. But God can take our little bits and use them to do mighty things that will accomplish His purposes.

But there is one strange question in this story that we often overlook. Before He worked the miracle, when the apostles first brought the need to Jesus, He responded with this question: “You give them something to eat.” It’s a strange question because the apostles didn’t have anything to give the crowd and surely Jesus knew that. It was a strange question because what was needed was Jesus’ touch and He proved in just a moment that He was willing to provide that.

I think Jesus wanted a couple of things from that question:

1.    He wanted the disciples to realize how little they had to offer – after His question they surveyed to see what was available and found only the small lunch.

2.    He wanted them to realize how much they need Him.

3.    He wanted them to know that He wanted to use them – He wasn’t willing to just do that miracle without their involvement and the offer of their little bit.

He wants us to see the same things as we look at the needs around us.

His, by Grace,

Steve