Context No. 1545 of 4322 · Luke
Context · Reflection
Luke 9:11-17: in context
11But the multitudes, perceiving it, followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them of God’s Kingdom, and he cured those who needed healing. 12The day began to wear away; and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and farms and lodge and get food, for we are here in a deserted place.” 13But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.” 14For they were about five thousand men. He said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15They did so, and made them all sit down. 16He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to the sky, he blessed them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17They ate and were all filled. They gathered up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.
A great crowd has followed Jesus to a remote place, and as the day wears on the disciples urge him to send them away to find food. But Jesus says, you give them something to eat. They protest that they have only five loaves and two fish, unless they should go and buy food for the whole crowd of five thousand men. Jesus tells them to seat the people in groups, takes the five loaves and two fish, looks up to heaven, blesses and breaks them, and gives them to the disciples to distribute; and all eat and are filled, and twelve baskets of pieces are left over.
The moment worth dwelling on is Jesus' command and the disciples' inadequate resource. You give them something to eat, Jesus tells the disciples, setting before them a task plainly beyond them; and they answer by counting their meager supply, five loaves and two fish, absurdly insufficient for five thousand. What Jesus does is take exactly that inadequate little, bless it, and multiply it until it feeds everyone with abundance to spare. The disciples had almost nothing; but the little they had, placed in Jesus' hands, became more than enough. There is a pattern here worth learning. Jesus often calls us to do what is beyond our resources, and our instinct, like the disciples', is to count what little we have and conclude it is not enough, and so to do nothing. But the lesson of the loaves is that the little we have, brought to Jesus and placed in his hands, is not the last word; blessed by him, it can become far more than it was. The five loaves would have fed no one if the disciples had kept them, discouraged by their smallness; given to Jesus, they fed thousands. Our inadequacy is real, but it is not the end of the story when what we have is placed in his hands. He does not usually ask us to produce the abundance ourselves; he asks us to bring the little we have and let him multiply it. Bring your five loaves; do not withhold them because they seem too few. In his hands, the insufficient becomes more than enough, with baskets to spare.
When Jesus calls me to what is beyond my resources, do I count my little and conclude it is not enough, and so do nothing, or do I bring the five loaves I have and place them in his hands, trusting him to multiply the insufficient into more than enough?