Matt 14:14-22
Let us marvel at the great provision that our Lord makes for those who love Him. As was His habit, our Lord withdrew into the wilderness to pray, however, at this time He was followed by a whole multitude of people who came bringing their sick to be healed and who wished to hear His teaching. First let us note how it was that our Lord responded to those who had come to Him. As God, Jesus Christ had no needs, for He is all sufficient, however, as a man, He had needs even as we do. He needed to eat, to sleep and in this case to have some time to Himself. And yet, here was this great multitude of people who followed Him, even out into the wilderness, and intruded on His time. And Jesus seeing the multitude had compassion on them, He did not send them away, He did not become irritated at their intrusion, He did not refuse to have anything to do with them – even though these might have been perfectly understandable human reactions. Rather, He saw them and had compassion on them and gathered the people together as a shepherd gathers his sheep that they might not get lost and he began to care for them, to heal their sick and to teach them.
As the day grew old, the disciples came to Jesus saying that the people must be hungry, but they had no food. Surely our Lord knew this, but He waited for His disciples to see this and to ask Him to help. In this manner He encouraged the growth and development of this same compassion in them.
He simply turned back to the disciples and asked them what food they had. This He did to focus their attention on their own inability and inadequacy to meet the needs of the people by themselves. And the disciples quickly began to assess their own resources and found that among themselves they had nothing, and from among the crowd there were only 5 loaves and 2 fishes to be found. Certainly this was wholly inadequate for there were, as the Gospel relates, 5000 men and then women and children in addition to that number – so there were really about 10,000 or so, hungry people.
What good would 5 small loaves and 2 dried fish be to feed all of these people? And yet, the disciples gathered this small offering and took it to Jesus. They did not know how He would provide, but by now it was clear to them how inadequate their own resources and strength were to meet this need. Like the hungry people, we too are constantly faced with the needs of our lives – both physical and spiritual. And like the disciples we find that our resources and strength constantly fall short of the task of meeting those needs. And yet, the disciples, seeing their own need did not despair, but rather took their small and inadequate offering to Jesus Christ, Who accepted it and made it sufficient, and more than sufficient to fulfill the needs of all present – so much so that there were 12 baskets left over.
Recall again the temptation of Christ by the devil when, after 40 days fasting in the wilderness, the evil one suggested that Jesus turn the stones into bread. While He certainly could have done so (for the devil does not bother tempting us with things we cannot do) Jesus did not do it, for it would have been a useless show of power. But here the need of the people is real – why then did not Christ simply turn the stones into bread for the hungry people?
He did this that we might learn to bring to Him what we have. We are not passive in our relationship with God, but rather we bring to Him first what we have and place it in His hands. He then takes what we have and by His power, and His grace, makes it sufficient for our need. And so the disciples brought the bread and fish that they had gathered from the people. So also we bring our best bread and wine in this Holy Liturgy, which no matter how fine by the standards of this world, is wholly inadequate to provide for our salvation, and our offering is accepted by God Who through the descent of the Holy Spirit upon these gifts changes them and gives us in return His own most Holy Body and His own precious Blood.
God wants our cooperation, He wants us to work and to bring to Him the fruits of our labors, and He, then, in accepting these things, adds to our own efforts making what we have brought to Him sufficient for the meeting of our physical and spiritual needs. He wants us to be His partners, not His pets. He wants us to work with Him.
Finally let us look not at Christ or even at the disciples for a moment, but at the people themselves. How they must have hungered, not for physical food, but for spiritual nourishment, that they would have followed Christ even into the wilderness so that they might not miss even the smallest fragment of His grace. See how they put themselves entirely in His hands. They followed Him with no promise of food, no assurance that they would be taken care of out in the wilderness. They followed Him out of love of God and because of their deep and abiding spiritual hunger. They found in His words more nourishment and satisfaction than in a whole bakery full of bread.
By the example of the child who brought of his loaves and fish to the disciples, we see also that they freely gave to one another, with no thought for themselves, putting all their trust in God alone. Truly they acted on the words of Christ when He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.” and again, “Consider the birds of the air, the lilies of the field – they neither sow nor reap, they do not spin or weave, and yet they are fed and clothed by our Father in heaven.” They took Christ at His word, focusing all their energy and resources on acquiring the Kingdom of God and trusting that their worldly needs would be provided by Christ. This too is an example for us. Let us place ourselves wholly in God’s hands, taking no thought for what we shall eat or drink (in other words not concentrating on fulfilling our earthly needs) but rather seeking to acquire the Kingdom of God, investing all of our strength and energy and efforts in fulfilling the Law of God and doing the tasks that He sets before us.
If we do our best to follow His will and offer to him our own efforts, no matter how inadequate they seem, then He will care for us, He will provide for us, and He will see to all of our needs, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem.
This then is the provision of Christ – that we put all of our trust in Him, unconditionally and completely, that we turn to Him with all of our needs, no matter how small they may seem. We offer to Him all of our works, our labors, our resources, everything we have and are, so that we might work beside Him, that we might work with Him, and He accepts our offerings no matter how inadequate, and makes them more than sufficient to meet the need of the situation. And if our goal, our focus, all of our desire is focused on Him, we can be confident that He will provide all that we need, both physical and spiritual, and that He will open the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven that we might walk through them with Him.
Christ is still King!
Comments will be approved before showing up.
