Loaves and Fishes

(Based on Matthew 14:13-21)

Jesus said to his disciples “You give them something to eat”
We are often just like the disciples in this Gospel story of loaves and fishes. We think that we are not very well equipped and have little or nothing to offer others.

It’s distressing for us to see advertisements on TV showing babies dying of starvation,
families living in tents in muddy refugee camps and kids living in poverty without the proper school uniform or food. These advertisements move us from distress to despair. Often, we think “Jesus, please just send them away!”. At other times, our sincere prayers are “Jesus, we want you to work some kind of miracle and to look after and feed these unfortunate people”.

In this story of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus shows that he can take what little we have to offer, bless it, and give it back to us so that we are then able to bring fulness to the needy.

In Holy Communion, Jesus transforms the eucharistic bread. He also transforms us into Eucharistic people. The meal of Jesus is always obtainable. The twelve baskets of leftovers collected by the
disciples are a lesson to us that the miraculous nourishment provided by Jesus is still available for those who seek it.

As long as there are people looking for the gifts Jesus offers, this nourishment can never be totally used up. But the Gospel story also tells us that Jesus wants disciples who are prepared to distribute his gifts. Jesus calls us to become his “subcontractors” to nourish the needy.

Jesus certainly works an amazing miracle. The miracle is seen as Jesus asks each one of us, “What do you have?” This isn’t necessarily a question about money; perhaps it’s about other resources such as time or a special talent.

The reality is that we don’t have much. Just a couple of fish in our basket, and a few loaves. But Jesus encourages us to take what little we have and to recklessly share it. Jesus desires us to give it away. We are urged  to share our meager resources with the multitudes.

Whenever we respond to this urging of Jesus, the real miracle is that whatever we have to share turns out to be enough.