Five and two. My height :-). But two numbers that have a much greater significance…
Picture this. Jesus and his disciples sitting on a lush hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee, a huge, beautiful fresh water lake. Aaaaaaahhhhh! They are talking and probably resting and recovering from an ever growing crowd that continues to follow them. Jesus looks up from their conversation and sees the crowd, bigger than ever, making their way towards Him again. He knows their motive. They want to see more miraculous signs. They want to be healed. They want another performance. They want, they want, they want. But Jesus sees beyond what they want and knows what they will soon NEED.
He turns to Philip and says, “Where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat?” He had a plan, but He wanted to see how the faith of His friends was doing. Philip said that eight months’ wages wouldn’t even give everyone a bite. Andrew speaks up and mentions that there is a young boy who has five loaves and two fish, but that this won’t even make a dent in this crowd of five thousand. People are following Him to see a miracle, but His own disciples are still looking for a human way to solve the problem.
Jesus had everyone sit down on the grassy area, all five thousand of them. He took the fish and bread that the little boy offered and blessed it. Long story short, everyone had their fill of food and there were twelve baskets full of bread leftover. Jesus didn’t want anything to be wasted. There was so much blessing that the people couldn’t even take it all in. Literally.
Wow. So much here. I hardly know where to start. First, the heart of Jesus. His compassion for these people was so great, that even though they didn’t recognize who He really was and their motives in following Him were less than unselfish, He cared for their needs. The needs that they hadn’t even thought of yet. Again, He knows our needs before we have an inkling of what they are. And He didn’t just give enough. He gave to full and overflowing. That’s the Jesus that does the same for us today.
Second, He included his friends in on the miracle. They got to be part of it, working alongside Him. They brought what little they had to offer and He blessed it. And they got to see the miracle right before their eyes. They were the ones who got to share the miracle with others, by passing out the bread and fish, seeing people’s needs being met, and then picking up the leftovers, amazed at God’s abundant love and provision. They didn’t just watch a miracle – they were involved in it. What a faith builder! And Jesus does that today, too. He invites us to join Him in the everyday happenings and miracles in our own lives and in the lives of others. He takes the little that we have to offer and does something amazing with it. He asks us to get involved so that we can see it with our own eyes and our faith can get a little bit deeper and a little bit stronger.
Third, Jesus asked the question, “Where can we buy bread for these people?” He asked the question to prove the impossibility of the situation in human terms. To show His disciples that there is no way that man could solve this problem on his own. God would have to step in and do something extraordinary. A miracle. That way, God would get the glory for doing something completely over the top and indescribable. There would be no other explanation.
And finally, it hit me that the two things used and blessed in this situation were bread and fish. I am going out on a limb here, because this is just my gut reaction. But Jesus was called the Bread of Life. He gave Himself. After His death and resurrection and before He went back to heaven, He asked his followers to take communion to remember Him. They were to use the bread to signify his broken body. Jesus, the Bread. Here at this place on the hill, He offered bread. He broke it, blessed it, and filled others with it. A foreshadowing? Just a thought…
And then the fish. Jesus told His disciples that He would make them “fishers of men”. The fish symbol represented Christians in the early church. So Jesus offered not only the bread (Himself) but the fish (believers) to touch and meet the needs of a hungry world.
These are just my little ponderings. I hope I am not way off base, but to me, it seemed like the symbolism is so clear and completely applicable to what Jesus does today.
Five loaves, two fish. More of Him and a little of me to feed a hungry world…
