Does God Need Our Help?

Lectio divina. John 6:1-5. The Feeding of the Five Thousand

Photo on Unsplash from The National Library of Wales

Narratives describing the feeding of the multitude appear in all four Gospels, and they’re all remarkably similar. Clearly the earliest Jesus followers found these stories to be of great importance. John’s Gospel includes it as one his seven “signs.” 

What struck me in reading the story today was that in none of these narratives does Jesus produce food out of thin air. In each, one of the disciples presents what little they’ve been able to muster. Here, five loaves and two small fish, offered by a boy. 

In the face of lack, the boy is willing to relinquish his meal – which just for him would have been sufficient. The boy has what he needs (but not much more). Still, he is ready to offer it to the disciple and then to Jesus, trusting, it seems, that something good, something important will be done with it – and that he will not go hungry. Of course the boy doesn’t know what Jesus is about to do. Yet he gives what he has. 

The story tells me that God chooses to work with what we have – which is often nowhere near enough for the task at hand. God invites our participation by asking us to offer what we’ve got – which might be enough just for us, if barely – in order to make something far greater. 

In the narrative, the boy is an essential partner in God’s work. And so, the story teaches, are we.