Jer. 16:10-21
Rom. 7:1-12
John 6:1-15
John 6:1-15
1After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 10Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” 13So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” 15When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
I can certainly relate to Philip. Jesus asks “where are we going to buy bread for these people?” It was probably the very question running through all the disciples’ heads. Like me, Philip is very practical. He has already calculated that they don’t have nearly enough money to buy food for everyone and is probably thinking up a contingency plan, like how to convince everyone to leave and find their own dinner.Andrew sees another option and finds a boy with some bread and fish, but “what are they among so many?”
Like the disciples, do you try to second guess God? Do ou prepare plan for events that might, but probably won’t, happen? Are you stymied by the limits of your imagination for solutions to problems in your life?
Jesus’ solution is larger than any of the disciples’ ideas. He provides food for everyone with 12 baskets of leftovers! God’s bounty is always greater than our imagination and always provides greater opportunities than we can imagine. We may not know what will happen, but we are called to live out our life faithfully.
Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) wrote:
God has created me to do Him some definite service.
He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission.
I may not know what it is in this life.
But I shall be told in the next.
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for nothing.
I shall do good. I shall do His work.
Therefore I will trust Him.
Whatever I do, wherever I am, I cannot be thrown away.
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him.
If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about.
God is always asking us to stretch ourselves and allow him to meet our needs and the needs of those who come to us. Can we let him? Can you let him?
For your journal: Read through the lesson a couple of times, using another translation if you want. Imagine yourself in the scene.
How would you have responded to Jesus’s question? What would your reaction have been to the miracle of gathering 12 baskets of scraps from only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish?
