The Feeding of the 5000 Matthew 14: 13 – 21

Matthew 14: 13 – 21 Gospel Reading for 31 July 2011

Just a little bit of food and a short account, but what a mighty lesson! This Sunday’s Gospel is the feeding of the 5,000, which along with the Resurrection, is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospel accounts.
To put it mildly, five loaves of bread and two fish is a trivial offering to feed 5000, and that is counting only the hungry men in the crowd. Yet with this miniscule token those men, plus the women and children, are so satisfied they could not consume it all.

I have no idea how this would have happened; in fact I cannot imagine the scene, but it does tell us about how God uses the gifts we bring. The disciples knew that the food supply was insufficient and could have been excused for sending away the young boy mentioned in John 6:9. Nevertheless, Jesus accepted the gift, blessed it and it multiplied and spread across a hillside teeming with people.

We might feel our gifts are insignificant, or that those of our students seem sparse, yet God will use them and together our gifts can cover a classroom, a school and a system.

 [Barry Kahl]