Loaves Broken

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Matthew 14:13-21 

I grew up attending countless number of potluck suppers in the church. The church I grew up in, had a custom of hiding a number under a plate at each table. The order in which the tables were called in to go to the food service line was based on the hidden numbers. As kids, we would look for the hidden numbers and then sit at the table designated as number one. We always got caught and were made to go last but we always tried, just for the sport of it. There was always more than enough for everyone, and never a reason to fight for first place in line. No matter how many people came and how many dishes were out, there was always plenty.

Jesus has been teaching and healing among the crowds of needy and broken people. The disciples wanted to protect him from the overwhelming need of the people, sending them away to be fed. Jesus wanted to feed them in place. It seemed as if there was so little, yet once the small lunch of bread and fish was offered and blessed there was more than plenty for everyone. This miracle began with a small sharing, an offering of a small lunch. We are invited to see that we are called to share our little so that miracles can happen, so that God's love can be seen in the darkest places.

Today, I ask God to help me offer what I have, not fretting over the its adequacy but rejoicing in the possibility of miracles. May we all be generous with the little we have so that our broken world may be fed with new joy and fullness in God's abundant love.