Including Us in the Miracle

One of the most admirable and wonderful things about Jesus is that He chooses to use people like you and me, even when He doesn’t need us and could do everything a lot better without us. He includes us in His miracles despite our frequent liabilities and stunted faith.

Consider the Feeding of the 5000 (cf. Mt. 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14). The Apostles, probably miffed that their prayer retreat had been interrupted by the needy crowd, thought only of sending away thousands of hungry people. Instead Jesus challenged His disciples: You give them something to eat (Luke 9:13). 

Still thinking in self-protective mode, the Twelve protested that they had only a tiny morsel of food--a kid's lunch of dinner rolls and dried fish. To feed this crowd (perhaps as many as 20,000 men, women, and children!) would cost more than 8 months wages!

That’s when Jesus took over. Seating the crowd in groups of 50, Jesus took the boy’s lunch, thanked God for it, and the miracle began.

He first broke the loaves, handed out the pieces, and then did the same with the fish. One minute His hands held food, the next minute they were empty because it didn’t take long to pass out five loaves and two fish. But then His hands were full again. More bread, more fish. Again, He broke bread, handed out pieces, tore the fish into sections, passed them out. He emptied His hands, and then they were full again. Empty, full, empty, full. Jesus created more bread, created new fish.

Which brings me to this point. He could have done this miracle of creation any number of ways. He could have supernaturally produced a loaf of bread and a fish in the hands of every one of the multiple thousands who sat there. Or He might have offered a banquet at each of the groups of 50.

But here’s what He did: he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd (Luke 9:15, my emphasis). "Gave” means “kept giving.” Every piece of food passed from Christ through the hands of the disciples. He included them in the miracle. His divine power enabled them to do the impossible thing He had commanded.

Serving Christ is like that for all of us. We see the vast need, we’re overwhelmed, Christ commands us to do that which we cannot do in our strength, and then He supplies.

He is, after all, the Bread of Life (John 6:35). He, and only He, full satisfies both our emptiness inside and our desire to make things better for other hungry sinners like us.