You Give Them Something To Eat
2 June, 2008
The account of Feeding The Five Thousands were recorded in all four books of the gospels. In three of them, Matthew, Mark and Luke, they all recorded a common reply which Jesus gave in response to the disciples: “You give them something to eat.”
The disciples, namely Philip in the book of John, made detail calculation of their pockets and comes up short. On the surface, everyone can sympathise with Philip, Jesus’ request was simply ridiculous in the real world. The amount is mammoth; the timing is off; the location is remote; the task is simply impossible. The mountain is way too big!
But then again, are we to comprehend as the world does? Philip looked at their lack and forgot about Jesus abundance, the turning of Water Into Wine they had witnessed. In John’s account, we know that Jesus was testing them for He already had in mind what he was going to do. His very intention was not to operate by the rules of the world.
Many a times, we like Philip looked at our limits but forgot about God’s boundlessness. With our smallness, we made God even smaller. In the times of overwhelming need, or resource lack, Jesus wants us to give. As always, He is not going to operate by the rules of this world.
Devotionals
Thanks for a great lesson, which I am still struggling to learn myself today. It seems that it is only during the times when I’m struggling to stretch dollars until next payday that children come to my door collecting for the homeless people (who may not actually be homeless, but it’s not my place to judge).
And I find myself thinking, “I can’t support myself and them, too! Give me a break!”
You might want to pray for me that Jesus shows me His abundance.