A Multitude of Questions

I helped at church tonight in our Kid's Chapel. The story read was about Jesus feeding the 5,000. If you've been around the Bible at all, it's a familiar story. It's the only miracle outside of the resurrection of Jesus that is mentioned in all four gospels. It's been renamed "The Feeding of the Multitude" more recently as the 5,000 people numbered were only the men, not the women and children. The people in attendance probably numbered in quintuple digits.

It's one of those stories I'd love to have more details about--what we have leaves a lot of questions. Like, out of all those thousands of people, was that one boy the only one who thought to have some food with? I doubt it. But if not, why was he the only one who volunteered to share? And where were his parents? Were they somewhere else? If so, why did they send him with five loaves of bread, let alone two fish? Isn't that a lot of food for a boy? And if it was his lunch, where were the veggies? Was anyone in the audience who didn't believe in Jesus after being in the crowd? And what happened to all the baskets of leftovers?

Regardless of the questions the story brings, it's point is fairly clear: give what we have to Jesus and let Him use it, not matter how small and insignificant it seems. Like many things, that is easier said than done. I still struggle at times with letting Jesus use my little--possessions, time, talents. Sometimes it's because I'm not willing to give it up. I mean, if I give Jesus my fish and loaves to feed 5,000, what guarantee do I have that I'll get anything? Selfishness gets in the way. Sometimes it's because I don't think my fish and bread are significant enough to matter; I don't think that Jesus can use the small things I have to do anything worthwhile. Small thinking gets in the way. Sometimes it's just because I don't think Jesus can do anything with it. My lack of faith gets in the way.

I'm sure these same thoughts were going through the minds of everyone else in the crowd who happened to have had a few morsels with them that day. The long and short of it is that Jesus can only turn our small things into big things--He can only use what we have--if we're open to giving what we have to Jesus. In many ways, it's a matter of posture as much as it is a matter of giving what we have.