WHAT CAN I GIVE YOU LORD?

One of the most popular records of Jesus performing a great miracle is the feeding of the five thousand, which is recorded in all four of the gospels.

But what does this miracle tell us about Jesus?

What lessons can we learn from this passage?

Let us delve into this miracle in more detail and see how we can relate this to our lives today as we follow Jesus.

BIBLE READING

5-6 When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered, “Two hundred silver pieces wouldn’t be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece.”

8-9 One of the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.”

10-11 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.

12-13 When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted.” They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves.  John 6: 5-13 The Message

SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER

*  What do you think the little boy thought when Jesus wanted to take his lunch to feed thousands?

Well, I guess the little boy was quite surprised when his lunch was needed by Jesus and probably a little curious don't you think?

And can you just imagine what amazement the boy had when his simple lunch became the reason for the whole crowd to be fed!

*  What though do we really learn from this story?

I believe that God wants us to know that he will provide for us, even when it may not seem possible to us. Sometimes we cant see the way can we? It's teaching us to trust and expect the unexpected.

I think we can also see from this story that God may also want to involve us, (our time, our abilities, and so on) in the process of his provision. We can see how Jesus uses firstly his disciples, to be his hands, not only to find the food, but after the miracle to give it out and collect up the leftovers. He also of course uses just a little boy and his simple lunch.

REMEMBER: God can give us exactly what we need—and he can do it from places we don’t even expect.

FINAL THOUGHT

Jesus could have spoken a simple word, and food would have appeared. He could have simply thought about it, and the hunger of all the people would’ve been instantly satisfied!

Maybe some people think he should’ve done it that way—it certainly would’ve been faster! But Jesus didn’t. Instead, he let the people experience hunger.

He helped his disciples recognize their utter inability to solve the problem themselves, and he used a young boy’s small offering as part of his miracle.

And if God used an ordinary boy and his ordinary lunch to feed 5,000 people then he can use you and your ordinary things to do something amazing, too!

What have you got to offer him? It may only be small, but God uses what we have?