10 When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida. 11 But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick.
12 Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.”
13 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?” 14 For there were about 5,000 men there.
Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 So the people all sat down. 16 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. 17 They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!
Luke 9:10-17
Dear God, the Catholic daily readings skipped to the story of Peter proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah starting in verse 18, but since I touched on that yesterday I wanted to stick with what was next in the text, and that’s the feeding of the 5,000. I noticed these things before, but I think it’s a good reminder for me.
First, Jesus intended for them to have some R&R after their big adventure out healing people and casting out demons. But the crowds wouldn’t let it happen so Jesus pivoted because he loved them. The interesting thing is that it upset the disciples. They wanted their downtime. They wanted their little break. They wanted to stop and revel in their success just a little longer. But you had some work for them to do.
Then, they had just done all these miracles, but they were still doubtful they could feed the people that were there. I guess this was a miracle that was simply outside their paradigm for miracles. They’d seen Jesus heal people and even resurrect people. They’d seen him cast out demons. So they had a paradigm for that. But they didn’t have a paradigm for food mysteriously multiplying so they hadn’t even considered it was possible.
It makes me think of when I read the story of Hezekiah and the Assyrians in 2 Kings 19. Even as the reader I found myself wondering how Isaiah’s prophecy could possibly come true. Then you did something to the Assyrians that was completely outside of what was within my paradigm. I took that story at the time and leaned into it with a challenge I was facing at work. We were looking at starting a capital campaign and I was dreading raising the money. After reading that story, I felt like you told me, “Don’t worry about the money.” And three years later, I haven’t had to worry about the money. You’ve been amazing as we’ve raised it.
Father, guide me. Lead me. Reveal yourself to me. I have some mountains in front of me that seem impossible to move. They mostly related to family relationships. But I ask that you come in and redeem all of us from our sin. Pay the ransom with your blood and resurrection power so that we might be drawn closer to you through the pain we have experienced and/or caused. Be glorified in our lives. Be glorified in my life. Be glorified in this world through me.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 