CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN THAT DAY?
CAN YOU IMAGINE THE VERY REAL DILEMMA THAT THE DISCIPLES FACED?
A HUGE CROWD OF HUNGRY PEOPLE – 5,000 MEN & MANY MORE HUNGRY WOMEN AND CHILDREN…. ALL GATHERED AROUND THEM ON AN OPEN HILLSIDE… BIBLICAL SCHOLARS HAVE IDENTIFIED THE PLACE WHERE THIS EVENT TOOK PLACE – THIS WAS A REMOTE AND LONELY PLACE, FAR AWAY FROM VILLAGES… AND FAR AWAY FROM THEIR HOMES… AND LONG BEFORE MCDONALDS OR BURGER KINGS OR EVEN FOOD VENDOR CARTS…
THIS THRONG OF PEOPLE HAD FOLLOWED JESUS & THE DISCIPLES A LONG WAY AND UP A MOUNTAIN SIDE TO BE NEAR THEM… AND IT SEEMS LIKELY THAT THEY HAD BEEN LISTENING TO JESUS PREACH FOR MUCH OF THE DAY AND THAT THE DISCIPLES & JESUS HAD ALSO PERFORMED HEALINGS…
THE SUN HAD STARTED TO HEAD DOWNWARD… THE LATE AFTERNOON BREEZES HAD BEGUN TO BLOW IN OFF THE SEA OF GALILEE… THERE WERE PROBABLY SOME FUSSY CHILDREN IN THE MIDST & SOME READY TO RETURN HOME…
JESUS KNEW THEY WERE HUNGRY…
JESUS KNEW THEY WERE HUNGRY IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE…
AND THIS HUGE CROWD KNEW THAT JESUS & HIS DISCIPLES HAD SOMETHING FOR THEM… AFTER ALL, THAT’S WHY THEY HAD FOLLOWED THEM UP TO THIS FAR AWAY PLACE…
THE DISCIPLES WERE ALREADY EXHAUSTED AND NEEDING REST… THEY HAD JUST RETURNED FROM THEIR FIRST OUTREACH MISSION TRIPS – SENT OUT TWO BY TWO BY JESUS TO GO OUT & PREACH & TEACH & HEAL… WORD OF THEIR GOOD WORK & SUCCESSFUL HEALINGS HAD SPREAD ACROSS THE REGION…
AND WORD OF JESUS’ AMAZING GOOD NEWS & HIS EXTRAORDINARY HEALING POWERS HAD CERTAINLY SPREAD AS WELL… FOLKS WANTED TO BE NEAR THEM…
SO EVEN WHEN JESUS & THE DISCIPLES MOVED TO ANOTHER SIDE OF THE SEA TO TRY TO FIND SOME “TIME AWAY” , THE CROWDS – HUNGRY FOR HEALING & A MESSAGE OF HOPE –KEPT FOLLOWING THEM EVERYWHERE…
AND SO ON THAT LATE AFTERNOON, THE DISCIPLES CAN HARDLY BELIEVE THEIR EARS WHEN JESUS TURNS TO THEM & ASKS, “HOW ARE WE TO BUY BREAD, SO THAT THESE PEOPLE CAN EAT?”
CLEARLY JESUS DID NOT INTEND TO SEND THE CROWD AWAY!
JESUS WAS GLAD TO BE ABLE TO PROVIDE FOR THESE PEOPLE WHO HUNGERED & THIRSTED FOR THE GOOD NEWS THAT JESUS HAD TO OFFER… JESUS WAS NOT WORRIED… JUST “FEED THEM” WAS WHAT JESUS SEEMED TO BE SAYING TO THE DISCIPLES – GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO SATISFY THE HUNGER OF THEIR LIVES…
WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE LOOKS ON THE FACES OF THOSE TIRED DISCIPLES - TURNING TO ONE ANOTHER - PERHAPS PULLING OUT THEIR EMPTY POCKETS… THEY KNEW THEY COULDN’T POSSIBLY BUY FOOD ENOUGH FOR THIS CROWD! AND SO OUR DEAR FRIEND PETER SPEAKS THE OBVIOUS: “EVEN SIX MONTH’S WAGES COULDN’T BUY ENOUGH FOOD FOR ALL THESE!”
AND THEN ONE OF THE OTHER DISCIPLES SEES A YOUNG BOY WITH FIVE BARLEY LOAVES AND A COUPLE OF DRIED FISH…”HERE’S SOMEONE WITH A LITTLE FOOD!” HE SAYS... JUST FIVE SIMPLE LOAVES OF BARLEY BREAD… THE SIMPLEST & CHEAPEST OF BREAD…
PERHAPS THE BOY’S MOTHER HAD TUCKED THAT BREAD INTO HIS POCKETS EARLY THAT MORNING AS HIS FOOD FOR THE DAY… AND YES, THERE WERE ALSO SOME DRIED FISH – PROBABLY SARDINES – EASY ENOUGH TO CARRY & SOMETHING THAT WOULDN’T SPOIL IN THE MIDDLE EASTERN WEATHER…
THE DISCIPLES ASKED THE OBVIOUS QUESTION: “BUT WHAT ARE THESE AMONG SO MANY PEOPLE?” AN OBVIOUS QUESTION IN LIGHT OF THE HUGE CROWD… AND JESUS SIMPLY RESPONDS, “MAKE THE PEOPLE SIT DOWN.”
SO THE PEOPLE DID SIT DOWN – THOUSANDS OF MEN, WOMEN, & CHILDREN SAT DOWN & MADE THEMSELVES COMFORTABLE – SITTING NOT IN NEAT ROWS OF PEWS FACING ONE WAY… RATHER SITTING IN CLUSTERS OF BODIES SPREAD OUT OVER THE HILLSIDE – SEEING ONE ANOTHER, RECOGNIZING THE FACES OF FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTACNES FROM ALL OVER THE AREA – FRIENDS & FAMILIES- LOVED ONES & STRANGERS – ALL CLUSTERED ON THE GRASS OF THE MOUNTAINSIDE…
IT PROBABLY TOOK A FEW MINUTES FOR THE CROWD TO GET SEATED… AFTER ALL THEY HAD ALREADY HEARD JESUS PREACH & HEAL THROUGHOUT THE DAY… PERHAPS SOME HAD ALREADY BEGUN TO DEPART FOR HOME WHEN WORD CAME THROUGH THE CROWD TO SIT DOWN AGAIN… IT TOOK A FEW MINUTES FOR FOLKS TO GET SEATED AGAIN & TO START TO PAY ATTENTION AGAIN… MOTHERS FOUND THEIR CHILDREN… FAMILIES CLUSTERED TOGETHER…GRADUALLY THE CROWD DID GET SEATED…
AND PERHAPS A HUSH CAME OVER THE CROWD AS JESUS TOOK THE BREAD & HELD IT UP ABOVE HIS HEAD SO THAT ALL COULD SEE… JESUS GAVE THANKS TO GOD; HE BLESSED THE BREAD, & PERHAPS HE EVEN OFFERED A PRAYER FOR THE RENEWAL OF THE PEOPLE & THE NOURISHMENT THAT THEY WERE ABOUT TO RECEIVE… AND THEN HE BROKE THE BREAD AND DISTRIBUTED IT AMONG THE PEOPLE… AND HE DID THE SAME WITH THE DRIED FISH…
AND PERHAPS FOLKS HELD THEIR BREATH A LITTLE… AS THE LOAVES & FISH WERE PASSED FROM HAND TO HAND… PERHAPS FOLKS ONLY TOOK LITTLE PIECES AT FIRST… PERHAPS FOLKS FOUND OTHER FOOD STUFFS IN THEIR POCKETS & ADDED IT TO THE MIX…
GRADUALLY THOUGH… IT BECAME CLEAR THAT THERE WAS ENOUGH & MORE TO EAT… GRADUALLY IT BECAME CLEAR WHEN THE LOAVES CAME BACK AROUND THAT THERE WAS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR ALL TO EAT THEIR FILL… EVERYONE HELPED THEMSELVES AND ATE AS “MUCH AS THEY WANTED.”
AND WHEN THE DISCIPLES WERE INSTRUCTED TO PASS BASKETS FOR THE LEFTOVERS, EVERYONE WAS ASTOUNDED TO SEE THAT THERE WERE INDEED LEFTOVERS… TWELVE BASKETS WERE FILLED TO OVERFLOWING WITH THE LEFTOVER PIECES THAT FOLKS WERE TOO FULL TO EAT! WHERE THE DISCIPLES HAD ONLY SEEN SCARCITY, JESUS SAW POSSIBILITY AND ABUNDANCE. TWELVE BASKETS OF LEFT OVERS! MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR ALL… NOTHING AND NO ONE WAS LOST….
NO ONE KNEW HOW IT HAPPENED… THEY DIDN’T EVEN UNDERSTAND AT FIRST. THE CROWD DID KNOW THAT THEIR BELLIES HAD BEEN FILLED…
THEY KNEW THAT SOMETHING IN THEIR HEARTS HAD BEEN NOURISHED AS WELL…
FROM THAT MOMENT ON, FOLKS KNEW (IF THEY DIDN’T KNOW BEFORE) THAT JESUS WAS A DIFFERENT SORT OF LEADER, A DIFFERENT SORT OF PREACHER, A DIFFERENT SORT OF HEALER… MANY BEGAN TO BELIEVE THAT JESUS WAS PERHAPS THE PROPHET THAT THEY HAD BEEN WAITING FOR…
JESUS KNEW WHAT THEY NEEDED! JESUS KNEW THEIR HEARTS & THEIR MINDS BETTER THAN THEY DID THEMSELVES… JESUS KNEW HOW TO BOTH TEACH THEM & HEAL THEM… SOMEHOW…. JESUS WAS ABLE TO NOURISH THEM IN WAYS NO ONE ELSE HAD EVER DONE BEFORE…
GOD REACHED DOWN TO THE CROWD THAT AFTERNOON ON THE HILLSIDE ABOVE THE SEA OF GALILEE… JUST AS SURELY AS GOD HAD REACHED DOWN TO THEIR ANCESTORS WHEN THEY HAD HUNGERED & THIRSTED THAT TIME IN THE WILDERNESS…
JESUS INVITED THE PEOPLE TO SEE SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAT AFTERNOON… SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT… SOMETHING LONGER LASTING… AND THEY DID… THE PEOPLE RECOGNIZED THAT GOD HAD FED THEM THAT DAY, THAT GOD HAD SATISFIED THEIR DEEPEST HUNGERS…
WITH GOD THERE IS ALWAYS ENOUGH… AMEN