Jesus has been ministering to a great multitude of people who followed him to a remote place. He’s teaching them about the Kingdom of God, and healing all who are sick.
As the day grew late, the concerned disciples approached Jesus. “Send the people away, so they can go into the nearby villages and buy food.”
Jesus looked back at them and said, “You feed them.” He was training his disciples about ministry.
Philip reminded Jesus that they didn’t have food, or nearly enough money to go buy food to feed these thousands of people.
Then Jesus asked, “What do you have? Bring it to me.”
The disciples found a boy with a poor man’s lunch of five small barley loaves and two little fish. At Jesus command, they seated the crowd into orderly groupings on the grassy field.
They placed the barley loaves and fish into Jesus hands. Holding the meager lunch, he looked up to heaven and blessed it.
Then he began to break it into pieces and hand it out to the disciples, who then passed it out among the people. The miraculous multiplication happened while Jesus held the food in his hands.
From that small boy’s lunch, five thousand men plus their families and all who travelled with them ate until they were full. Then Jesus instructed the disciples to gather up the leftover fragments, so nothing would be wasted. They gathered 12 small baskets full.
The Lord Jesus sends us out to minister to others. We may feel inadequate to the task. Like the disciples, we may respond with, “But I don’t have the resources. I don’t have enough money.”
Our Savior who assigned the task asks us, “What do you have? Bring it to me.” When we place our small portion into his hands, he blesses it. And it multiplies into more than enough.
---Beverly Nickles