Now
the men numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples,
"Have
them sit down in groups of about fifty."
They
did so and made them all sit down.
Then
taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and
looking up to heaven,
he
said the blessing over them, broke them,
and
gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were
satisfied.
And
when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker
baskets.
Luke
9:15-17
It may seem that this passage is either about magic or morality.
Either it is intended to show Jesus was capable of incredible miracles, or it
is intended to be a powerful moral lesson about sharing. (E.g.: moved by
Jesus’ good example, the crowd added bread and fish to the communal basket as
it was passed around). In fact, it was likely a literary device
deliberately imitating the story in 2 Kings 4 where Elisha multiplies four
barley loaves to feed one hundred men. How likely is it that the message of the
great prophet Elisha was that we need to share more? Did the Creator of
the Universe become Incarnate to encourage more sharing? I think both
stories were meant to convey the abundance of God's loving concern for us.
We don't have to fight over God's attention like it is a scarce resource.
The fact that God loves you doesn't mean there is less for me. Faith can
be open, welcoming, and totally accepting. It seems so simple and yet we prefer
to use this story to divide each other into people who share and are acceptable
to God and people who don't share and are less acceptable.
