Perfect Provision

And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?" And he said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass… And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.

 

 

Mark 6:35-41

 

 

The miracle of the loaves and fish is just that—a miracle even though many scholars argue that there was no miracle at all. They suggest that the generosity of the one who provided the loaves and fish simply inspired everyone else to share their food as well. When we look at the story, it's not hard to understand why they could reach such an erroneous conclusion.

 

After all, what does Jesus do?

 

He simply says the blessing.

 

The disciples have just returned from their first mission, as they excitedly report back to Jesus, but they're exhausted, and He is fully aware of it. They seek refuge in a remote place, but then they turn around and see as many as 15,000 hungry men, women, and children who have followed them. The seemingly ludicrous command of Jesus, "You give them something to eat," is meant to prepare us for the miracle to come. The hard truth is, a year's wages couldn't buy enough food to put a dent in the hunger of so many. Jesus then asks, "What do you have?" The small amount of food the disciples can scrape together is absurdly inadequate in the face of the multitude.

 

Yet Jesus is always ready to use our absurd inadequacies... that's what makes the stuff of miracles!

 

The rabbis taught that one of the most serious crimes against God was to misuse what He had given. In Judaism, to fail to thank God before and after the meal constituted misuse. The rabbinic blessing, or barocha, for the meal was: "Blessed art thou, eternal God our Father, who causes bread to come forth from the ground."

 

After the barocha comes the straightforward command to pass out the food. Once again, notice there is no waving of arms in the air, no words of incantation, only Jesus' simple words of blessing for the meal. Mark does not record the response of the crowd, whether they recognized a miracle had occurred or not. Perhaps he doesn't tell us because for some unknown reason he thinks we don't need to know. But in the face of such a miracle, the lack of response should get our attention.

 

We know how absurdly inadequate our resources are, and yet God will use and multiply them as He did in the feeding of the five thousand, even when we fail to see the miracle of it all. Praise God for "just enough" provision as well as for abundance.