Read Luke 9:10-17

“You give them something to eat”

You are probably very familiar with the story of Jesus miraculously feeding 5,000 people.  Again, I have found it so impactful to put myself into this story and see what Jesus has to teach me from the way He taught His disciples.

The disciples had just returned from a fantastic time of ministry.  Jesus gave them authority and they went out to preach the Kingdom of God.  They healed all kinds of diseases, they drove out demons, and returned to Jesus ecstatic that they could do these miracles in His name.  Of course, they were tired so Jesus takes them with Him by themselves.  It didn’t take long for the crowds to learn where they were and followed them there.  I don’t imagine the disciples were too happy about Jesus welcoming all these people; after all, they were tired!  But Jesus taught and healed until it got quite late.

The disciples finally came to Jesus and reminded Him that the people needed to eat so maybe He should wrap it up.  That’s a reasonable request, right?  After all they were in the middle of nowhere.  They probably thought they were being both compassionate and practical to think of the needs of this multitude.  Putting myself in the disciples’ shoes, I would be shocked to hear Jesus say, “You give them something to eat”.  Wait, what??  Me?  Feed all these people? How am I supposed to do that?  I’m hungry myself, and all I have is this small lunch.  5 small dinner rolls and two tiny fish.  It’s not much and it’s probably stale by now.  It’s not the best tasting bread either.

“It’s only a little bit, Lord, but it’s Yours if you can use it.   Here I am, Lord, with very little to feed those around me.  There’s so much need Lord and I am pitifully small.  I’m not educated, I’m physically weak and I’m not even that good of a person.  Everything I have came from You, so I’ll give it back to You.  My hands, my intellect, my heart, my mouth.  The spiritual and natural gifts You’ve given me:  teaching, leadership, my time and abilities.  Here You go.  Use it, meager as it is, to feed the multitude surrounding me“.   What would it be for you?  What gifts has God given you that He’s now asking you to give back to Him so that others can be fed?  He never intended us to hoard His blessings so that we can be better people.  Every gift He gives us is meant to be a blessing by which He blesses others through us.

As I hand these things to Him, Jesus takes them, lifts His eyes to heaven, gives thanks and breaks them. (v 16).  My heart stops for a moment as I realize Jesus is going to break those things I’ve given Him before they are useful for feeding others.  And in breaking them He’s breaking me.   Broken in order to multiply, in Jesus’ hands it is in the breaking that the miracle happens.   Will you submit to this breaking? Pause for a minute or two to reflect on this before reading on.

The disciples had work to do in this.  First of all, they had to locate and bring to Jesus the loaves and fish.  Only after they gave it to Him did He start to use the disciples.  They had to organize the people which we are told were about 5,000 men, probably additional women and children.  Can you imagine how long that took?  12 disciples walking through this enormous crowd telling everyone to sit down in groups of 50.  Once this is done, they go back to Jesus and He begins to break the bread.  They probably took their own lunch baskets and He filled them and they distributed food to the people.  Again, picture yourself here and imagine passing this out and how much time and effort this would take.  People don’t wait patiently for food when they haven’t eaten all day.  Take a basket to a group, they empty it, you take it back to Jesus, He fills it, and you repeat the process.  And after it’s all said and done, their 12 lunch baskets are still full with all the leftovers they collected.

The disciples did actually give the people something to eat.  But first, they had to admit they could not do it, take what they had and give it to Jesus, obey His command to organize and get people ready to be fed (at this point they still would not have known what exactly they were going to do once the people were organized and sitting), and then do the work of feeding.  It was only after that He gave the disciples the leftovers for themselves.

Jesus is calling us to feed those around us.  We might try very hard, but we cannot do it ourselves.  No matter if you are the most gifted speaker, musician or theologian that has every walked the earth, it is still only loaves and fishes and it’s not going to go very far.    It’s not until you yield what you have to Jesus that He can use it to feed others.  It’s not until He has blessed it and broken it that it is actually nourishing and meeting the needs of the hungry.  It is His miracle, and He’s letting us do the work of feeding so we might be tempted to take the credit. The person who sacrificed their lunch is not even mentioned.  God must be the One who gets the glory.  Only when we recognize who Jesus is and our inability to provide any actual food for anyone without Him can He use us to take and distribute what He has so miraculously provided.

Who is Jesus asking you to feed today?  Ask the Lord to take your gifts and break them and you, to feed all the people who are here because they need Him.  Ask Him to help you feed them and not treat them as a nuisance because they are getting in the way of what you want to do.  It’s about You, Lord, not about us.  When You are glorified, lives change.  We change.  And they are fed.