“They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them, “You give them
Something to eat” (Matthew 14:16).
In our last edition, we discussed the issue of God’s extravagant grace expressed through the provision of our human and material needs. This was illustrated in the feeding of 5,000 men (excluding women and children).
In this week’s edition, we shall recapitulate the same event, stressing the place of the human person in God’s provisional ability, and the socio-religious significance of this miracle.
The great works of God that come about through our faith usually do not come without an initial offering from us. The offering may be pitifully small – so much the better to display or show God’s power; but it still must be given. The temptation to underestimate God’s ability to provide in our hour of great need looms in our heart in the same way we undermine the role He assigns us to carry out.
We pray for the world, our country, our families, our friends, etc. We pray for the salvation of others. We ask God to bless them. We ask Him to heal hurts, bind wounds, lift up the broken-hearted and help the needy. But we may be naive to our civic virtues such as patriotism, pure love, charity, having a sense of responsibility and practical involvement in the situations of those we pray for. We just remain blind to our sacred role and obligation.
In our text above, Jesus encouraged His disciples to be abjectly concerned with the plight of the disillusioned crowd through a practical provision of their immediate need. In the same vein, He waits for us to offer our meagre loaves and fishes, than to send them away with mere kind words like “The Lord will provide”. Yes, God definitely provides, but He says, “Give them something to eat; do not send them away.”
Despite His ability to independently provide, He enjoys our collaborative endeavour with Him to care for those in need.
God brought the Israelites through the Red Sea, but only after Moses lifted up the staff. God brought down the wall of Jericho, but only after Joshua led His people through the right steps. God conquered Goliath, but only after David stepped into the battlefield. And Jesus kept Peter afloat, but only after Peter got out of the boat.
Every miraculous work begins with an act of faith, a stepping out of God’s people on the limb of trust. Indeed, our human effort does not truly complement God’s ability to provide, but we just have to give what we have to impress God and convince Him of our commitment and loyalty. Our abilities are too paltry to meet the overwhelming needs of this world. But when Jesus gets through with them, they are powerfully sufficient. Do we want Him to work through us? We must give Him what we have.
At the end of the miracle, there is that strange little touch that the fragments were gathered up. Even when a miracle could feed the crowd sumptuously, there was no waste. There is something to note here, God gives to humankind with munificence, but it is never right to waste God’s gifts. God gives generously, but a wasteful extravagance is never right. God’s generous giving and our wise using must go together.
Beloved of God, offer yourself an instrument of grace for provision to the hungry. Like the disciples of old, “don’t send them away; give them something to eat”. The supernatural God, who provides for both the poor and rich alike shall handsomely reward you.