When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little [bit].” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. [John 6:5-13]
I love the Gospel of John’s version of the feeding of the thousands. Here we have this little boy offering up his family’s food. There’s no way one family’s cache of bread and fish could be enough to feed 5 thousand people. But this boy, undaunted by Andrew’s cynicism, stepped out in faith and gave what they had.
Did Jesus need that family’s supper in order to feed the crowd? No. He could have called down steak and loaded baked potatoes, dessert included, for everyone. But, He waited until someone acted. Jesus took what was given, multiplied it, and provided amply for all. He worked a miracle!
Jesus wants us to step out in faith and give. He will take our gifts, no matter how insignificant we think they may be, no matter if we think we need that money to provide for our family. He wants us to give sacrificially because He will take our gifts to work miracles. Ask yourself this question, “Is anyone missing out on a miracle because I didn’t give?”
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