the feeding of the five thousand

late one Tuesday night, a sliver of Scripture slipped under my skin like a splinter.

matthew 14:15-21

despite this being one of the first stories we are taught in Sunday school, i’d never truly broken it down and understood it piece by piece. by pure grace, God tugged at the veil that’s so often covering my eyes, and this Scripture was able to sink deeper into me.

i tried jumping into the next chapter, but i kept circling back to that short seven-verse paragraph. it was hard enough to get past verse 19.

so here’s the breakdown:

-there’s a ridiculous amount of people (roughly five thousand, actually) spread out over a hillside, listening to Jesus preach.

-it's getting late, and instead of sending them into town to eat (where there was an abundance of food), Jesus says they should stay on the hillside (where there was nearly nothing to eat).

-the disciples have enough food for perhaps five (if they’re being generous) of the five thousand people.

-Jesus sees it and says “no worries, bring it to me.”

-once it’s in His hands, Jesus blesses it, communicating directly with God and thanking him for the little there is.

-Jesus then gives it back to the disciples.

-the disciples then give it out to the five thousand.

the order of events here is crucial to the impact and “success” (dare i use that word) of the end result. perhaps i’m repeating myself, but let me dive in a little deeper and tell the story the way i understood it that Tuesday night.

-the first thing we see is the juxtaposition of such an immense crowd and such a glaring lack of resources.

-the second thing we note is Jesus’ faith, trust, and beyond-the-moment eyesight, believing their needs would be met.

-the third thing that happens is the disciples obeying Jesus’ command and bringing what little they have to Him. they don’t try to do anything themselves except for quite literally place it in the hands and care of Christ, entrusting the little they had to Him.

-the fourth thing that happens is Jesus blessing the little that the disciples gave over to Him, thanking God for it.

-the fifth thing that occurs is Jesus placing it back into the disciples hands, which is done ONLY ONCE what was needed to be done has been done. that’s when it was given back to them. it was imperative that they did not take it back too early.

-the sixth and last thing that happens here is action. Jesus hands the bread and fish back to the disciples so that they would bless others with it, and not just keep it for themselves to eat. He miraculously multiplies what little they had so that multitudes can be fed.

the one thing that most jumped out at me, and probably because it’s the stage i currently find myself in (in various aspects of my life), is when the disciples bring it to Him and place it in His hands. that must have been so difficult! i’m sure at least one of the disciple’s mentalities was “um, yeah right Jesus. what difference will that make? i’m better of holding on to it and eating it myself.”

and so often we fall victim to that mentality ourselves: balling our fists and clutching our breadcrumbs way too tightly, instead of opening up our palms and letting them fall into the hands of the Creator- saving present scraps instead of sacrificing for a future feast.

bring it to me He asks confidently. give me everything, be it much or little, and i will bless it and feed multitudes.

are you ready to give it all up? do you believe that your present sacrifice will in no way compare to the future harvest?

friends, we must quit clutching what little we have to our chests (as if it was worth anything without God!). we must stop seeing things from such a fleshly perspective. we must reject the mentality that it is better for only us to benefit instead of surrendering what we have in faith that God will do great things with our limited resources.

bring it to Him. 
place all of it into His hands; save not a sliver for yourself, and be amazed at the incredible beauty He will bring from it.