Moving From a Recipient of God’s Blessing To A Participant
The other day I picked my 7 year old daughter up from church and as always, I asked what she learned that day. She immediately began to recount the story of “the boy who gave Jesus his lunch”. It took a minute to realize that she was describing what what we commonly refer to as the miraculous “feeding of the 5000”. And I guess I forgot how significant the young boy was to the story.
I usually focus on the amiracle itself - how Jesus defies the laws of conservation of matter and the very principles of the universe that He had set in motion at the dawn of time. But in the midst of talking to my daughter, it made me look at the story again.
According to Matthew 14, Jesus frequently sought solace in remote, secluded spots to pursue time alone with God through prayer. On this particular occasion, news of His retreat reached the masses, prompting them to pursue Him on foot from nearby towns.
Upon seeing the multitude, Jesus was profoundly moved by compassion and began to heal those among them who were afflicted with various diseases. As the evening approached, His disciples approached Him, voicing their concerns, "“This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. It would be wise to sned the crowd away so they can journey to nearby villages and buy for themselves."
The guys look at Jesus and say “Jesus, you got to send these guys home. We are out here, we’re isolated. They need to eat.” The disciples are probably getting Hangry at this point too. Jesus met their concerns with a challenge - fixing his eyes upon them He said, "Why don't you provide them with something to eat?"
"Where in the world are we supposed to conjure up food for them?" they wondered aloud. The nearest McDonalds hasn’t been invented yet. Bare in mind, this isn't the day when you can pop into the grocery store. No microwave-ready meals, no door dash deliveries. Gathering and preparing food was a time-consuming ordeal.
Even if we could miraculously find food for sale, how are we supposed to afford it? Do you have any idea of the cost of that? JAccording to John chapter 6, Philip calculated the logistics on the spot and responded to Jesus, "It would take more than half a year's wages just to provide a mere bite of bread for everyone!" Philip, quick with the mental math, estimates estimates the crowd’s size, multiplies that times the average cost of lunch. And even if we could get food, we couldn't afford it!
So the disciples go out and look for food and they come back with one kid. One kid who packed a lunch. “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
“Jesus, this is what we found.” And this kid walks up with his little Star Wars lunchbox. In it, he has two fish sticks, and a couple of loaves of bread. “This is all we have”.
And it was enough.
Jesus' perspective doesn't dwell on scarcity, but rather on abundance.
He doesn’t say, “we don’t have enough,” but instead, he offers gratitude, saying, "Thank you, God, for what we have!" It's a mindset of plenty, not poverty. It’s truly amazing that Jesus can do so much with what little was brought to him. Jesus begins to distribute the food, and remarkably, a multitude of 5000 men, along with women and children, are fed. And then, there are still 12 baskets filled with leftovers. The miracle reminds us of the incredible potential when we entrust even the smallest portion to Jesus – he can achieve remarkable abundance from the little we bring to him.
But you know what I find strange about the story? Sometimes we read the Bible with little kid eyes because we learn the stories as a little kids. And there’s something beautiful about that. But we need to come back and re-read it with our adult eyes sometimes. You know what I have a hard time believing about the story? It’s not Jesus’ ability to create more food out of two fish sticks from a child’s lunchbox. It’s not that he can bend the law of physics, and the conservation of matter to his will. That I believe.
You know what I have a hard time believing? 5000 men plus women and children show up this day. And you’re telling me nobody thought to pack a sack lunch except for one kid? Now, if it was just a 5000 men, I could believe it. If my family leaves the house for a hike or family outing, I'm typically the one urging everyone to hurry up and get out the door! Meanwhile, my wife comes by with a duffel bag filled with snacks and goodies. She’s got goldfish, granola bars, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and enough water bottles for the whole family. But me, when I am in charge of the hike, I can get halfway up the mountain before realizing I forgot to pack any food at all! I can believe that 5000 men could show up and that not one of them brought food. But you add in the women and the children? I have a hard time believing that momma didn’t prepare.
But John says when the disciples go out, this is all they find. Do you know what I think? Now, this is simply Matt’s conjecture, so don’t write this down. Don’t take this is gospel, or biblical truth. Do you know what I think happened? I think that when the disciples set out searching for food, this kid was the only one who volunteered to give what he had. I think that in the midst of this multitude of 5000, someone else packed food. I just think that when they were asked, they weren’t willing to part with it. Now, I can believe THAT about people.
Why? Because I just packed a snack for my family tonight. And if I give this up, there won’t be anything for me to eat.
I know that other people have needs, and Jesus is asking, but I’ve got to take care of my needs first. What about my needs? Then, amidst the crowd, when asked, a single child raises his hand, clutching a Star Wars lunchbox.
More than 5000 people that day got to witness the miracle of Jesus that day. But only one got to participate in it. Everyone there got to benefit from what Jesus had to offer. But only one person was willing to offer what they had to Jesus. Because, when Jesus asked, this child demonstrated a remarkable readiness to give whatever it took.
Have you ever wanted to transition from merely hearing about the great things that Jesus was doing to becoming an active participant in them? To shift from being a mere observer to being a participant in the work that God is doing on this Earth?
Imagine the transformation if we went from being a recipient of God’s blessing and provision to actively INVESTING in the work of His Kingdom? What kind of role could we play in the work of God if we were willing to invest in the work of God, and see a miraculous return not for ourselves, but for other people and the greater purpose of the Kingdom?
What if we took on the mind of Christ, and had the attitude of plenty and not poverty?
