It’s really not that hard to see the amount of need around us. We live in an area with higher than average unemployment and deprivation and a higher than average number of broken families. When I speak to people about our situation, most say that something needs to be done about it. Even people who have no faith at all have commented that as a society, we need to be doing more to help those around us. When we see all the issues facing those who live around us, it’s natural that we turn to God in prayer. We want God to do something about this. The problem is that when we ask God to do something about it, we already know what God’s reply will be.
This week we are looking at the feeding of the five thousand, an event so remarkable it is recounted in all four of the gospel accounts. It’s a well-known passage, Jesus has heard the terrible news about John’s murder and retreats to a quiet place but is followed by thousands of people. Rather than send them away, Jesus teaches and heals them but time passes and before they know it, it is getting close to evening. Concerned that there is no where to buy food, the disciples ask Jesus to send the crowd away so they can get fed. Jesus agrees that it is important that the crowd are fed and tells them to do the feeding. All they can muster is the famous five loaves and two fish, but they bring this to Jesus who blesses and breaks it giving enough to feed everyone with plenty left over.
For me, it is telling that Jesus instructs the disciples to feed the crowd. As we have seen in the Missionary Discourse, disciples are not meant to be passive bystanders but active participants in the kingdom of God. Jesus wants them to make the effort, to bring whatever they can to God who will honour their giving and put it to use in the kingdom. While the disciples see the great need and the scarcity of resources, Jesus sees the great need and the great bounty of God. As todays followers of Jesus, we too cannot be unaware of Christ’s command to love and care for our neighbours. We too recognise the great need of many around us. We come to Jesus and point out that something needs to be done. It can come as no surprise that Jesus agrees with us and asks us to do the something needed. If we stop despairing at the size of the task before us and bring whatever we have to God, God will use it to far greater effect than we could ever imagine. We can be amazed at what God can do with what we bring, but we still have to bring it in the first place.