You Can Do This

Matthew 14:13-21

Do you ever feel you need to start a project even when completing it seems impossible?

Photo by Brett Wharton on Unsplash

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. - Matt. 14:13-21

I am thinking of the apostles here. They have seen Jesus do remarkable things, but feeding so many with so little food? That is not something they can see happening.

I managed a feeding program for eight years, so I know what it feels like to see so many hungry faces arriving at my doors to get a meal.

I understood supply and demand, and I believed that when there is a limit to our supply, we need to portion out the food to make sure everyone gets something. But when the crowds kept coming, like they did during the pandemic, we needed to get creative.

I truly believe we were led by the Holy Spirit in developing solutions. I won’t go into all the ways we managed to get more money, more food, and feed more people.

What matters is believing in God’s ability and desire to help us help Him.

The people didn’t ask to be fed. Jesus brought it up. I believe he was testing his disciples to think outside the box, or to envision the possible in the impossible. In other words, to have the faith of a mustard seed.

We have a situation now with the federal government shut down. Congress is at an impasse, and we are arguing that one side or the other is at fault for people going hungry.

Food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens are pleading for money from us. Why isn’t the response immediate and generous?

Why are we pointing to an entity that only takes up the job because we don’t think to do it ourselves?

Yes, that sounds cruel, but it is also true. Jesus told us this is our responsibility, to act out of love for one another.

Do you think SNAP benefits are acts of love from the government? No, they are an expense from the budget, paid by our tax dollars.

We stand around like the apostles, looking at how impossible this task is, and we want someone else, someone with the resources to make a difference, to do something.

We can do this ourselves if we choose to. We don’t need a middleman. We can multiply the loaves and fishes.

We can go food shopping and bring the bags to the local pantry. We can write a check to the local food bank. We can visit a deli or restaurant and buy sandwiches to hand out on the street. If we take the initiative, others will join us, and soon, like the thousands of people on the grass, all will be fed, with something left over.

If we truly loved one another, we wouldn’t need the government to do our job for us.

More to come...

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