A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!” Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
John 6:2-13
Dear God, I’m going to make a couple of big assumptions here. In fact, they are so big that they probably don’t warrant me even taking this line of thought when I think about this story. I don’t know. I’ll play with it and see if it goes anywhere. Who knows? What I’m about to type to you might be complete heresy.
Assumption #1: This boy had the fish and loaves because his mother gave them to him.
It could have been his dad. It could have been his mom. Maybe an aunt or grandmother. In fact, as I think about this, perhaps it is too much to assume that his mother gave him this food because of my second possibly erroneous assumption.
Assumption #2: The five loaves and two fish were for his lunch.
I guess I’ve been hearing this story for almost 45 years and the image I always get is of a boy with his lunch bag who is willing to share his food with Jesus. But is that a typical amount of food for a “young boy” in that period. Would a mother send her son off for the day with some fish that can rot and five barley loaves? I don’t know how much the fish or the loaves were, but that seems like a lot of food for his lunch.
The truth is, I don’t really have enough education to answer this question. Perhaps I should go and consult a biblical commentary. I’ll be right back…
Okay, according to Roger L. Frederikson in the Communicator’s Commentary on John (edited by Lloyd J. Ogilvie), “This was bread eaten by the very poor, and the fish were little more than large dried minnows.” So maybe it was lunch. I guess that takes me back to mom.
Now that I’ve talked my way around that circle, let’s just appreciate a woman who ensures her son (even though Frederikson indicates they are likely poor) has enough to eat for the day. I wish we knew more than “young boy,” but I’m assuming (there’s that word again) he must be under 13 because of Jewish tradition of becoming a man at 13. Anyway, this boy was there and prepared to be able to hang out all day without getting hungry. Did his mother make sure he was the most prepared person that day?
Father, moms are amazing. They really are. They love and nurture in a way that, on a whole, fathers don’t. Now fathers tend to have a different role in their children’s lives. It’s an important role. But there is just no replacing mom. And I’m sure this mom had no idea that the love she showed her son that morning didn’t only help thousands of people that day (I’m sure she heard about that part later), but would also be an example of humility, generosity, and your power thousands of years later. The faithful act of one woman one morning dominoed into a teachable moment for us all. May my small acts be pleasing to you as well.
In Jesus’s name I pray,
Amen
