When God Gets Involved

Without proper food and water, people die. Throughout history wars have been fought over these types of resources. In fact, add only energy supplies, and not much has changed. Wars still happen over resources. There is one thing the world still hasn’t understood. When God gets involved, there is always enough.

At that time, Jesus, lifting up his eyes and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”

John 6.5-14

Today’s Gospel lesson is an example of what I’m talking about. It was late in the day. Thousands were coming to see Christ. They had to be fed. When the disciples reviewed the resources, they were ‘sure’ there wouldn’t be enough for everyone. There was no way they would feed more than five thousand people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. They were wrong.

The disciples hadn’t figured God into the resource equation. It was true. Given any normal circumstances, a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish would never have been enough to feed everyone. It probably wasn’t enough for the disciples, let alone the crowd. They had forgotten that God is the source of all resources. Everything comes from God.

The lesson to learn from this feeding miracle isn’t how to feed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. The lesson is to trust that God will always provide us enough when we need it. I would not suggest gathering such a large crowd without first having enough food. Chances are, it won’t end well. It might, but I wouldn’t count on it unless something very powerful was about to occur.

Like with all the other miracles Christ performed, this one had a purpose. “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!” The response of the crowd tells it all. They were waiting for the Great Prophet, the Messiah, to rescue them. He had come and shown His power to the people.

We already know He has come to save rescue us. We already know His power. The lesson for us, is to not doubt that His power will always be enough to save us. It may be bread for five thousand. It may also be food enough for our family when we trust Him enough to tithe to the Church. It may be a simple place to live so our family can be dry and safe.

It isn’t always about food. It is about trusting that when God gets involved, we will always have enough of what we need to be saved. Sometimes it will be more, but it will always be enough. Notice I didn’t say we would not be hungry. I did not say we would not be tired, or get sick, or even die. We will always have enough to be saved. When God gets involved, that is all that really matters.