The Twelve return from the mission Jesus sent them on, full of stories, and Jesus tries to give them a quiet place to rest. 10"he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida." It does not last. The crowds track him down, and in place of sending them away, 11"he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing." His own need for rest gives way, once again, to the needs standing in front of him.
By late afternoon the disciples see the practical problem building and bring Jesus a reasonable solution. 12"Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions." It is sound logistics. Five thousand men, plus women and children Luke does not bother to count, are in an empty place with no food and evening coming on. The obvious answer is to disperse them while there is daylight to travel.
Jesus' answer refuses the premise: 13"You give them something to eat." It is a command placed on the Twelve themselves, men who a moment earlier were suggesting the crowd be sent away to fend for itself. Their reply shows how impossible the assignment sounds from where they stand. 13"We have no more than five loaves and two fish." A single afternoon's snack could not begin to touch a need this size.
He asks them to organize the crowd. 14"Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." It is an orderly instruction for what is about to become a disordered situation. Then, with the same five loaves and two fish the disciples had just called hopelessly insufficient, 16"he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them," broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. The miracle happens in the ordinary, repeated act of the disciples carrying baskets back and forth through the crowd, and no single dramatic instant everyone can watch marks it. Food goes out and does not run out until 17"they all ate and were satisfied." What was left over was picked up, 17"twelve baskets of broken pieces," one basket, it is hard not to notice, for each disciple who had insisted the resources on hand were nowhere near enough.
What Jesus asks of the Twelve is to take part directly in providing for a need they had already correctly called impossible to meet. Their insufficient loaves become, in his hands, more than sufficient, but only after they hand over the little they had instead of holding it back as too small to bother offering. The lesson ends with twelve men carrying baskets that an hour earlier they believed could never be filled.
Think of the need in front of you that you have already concluded is too big. Then ask what small thing you have been holding back as too little to offer, and put it in his hands.
Prayer
Father, thank you for taking whatever little we have, five loaves and two fish, whatever feels laughably small against a need this large, and making it enough in your hands. Give us courage to hand over what we have and not hold it back as insufficient, trusting that the blessing is yours to give. Where you have told us to give them something to eat, let us obey. In Jesus' name, amen.