The Miraculous on Hold

You know the type. Maybe you are one. They are acutely (even sometimes inaccurately) aware of their shortcomings. "Hey," you say, "could you do this?" And they'll say, "Oh, no, I can't do that." They lack the skill. They're afraid to do it. "Certainly not in front of people" or something. In truth, we all have real limitations and, in truth, we all fail to properly evaluate them.

That's why I love the story of the feeding of the 5,000. (Note that Jesus fed 5,000 at one point (Mark 6:30-44) and 4,000 at another (Mark 8:1-10). No, that's not a contradiction, since Mark listed them in two different places.) You know how it goes. A crowd gathers to hear Jesus. Jesus is concerned that they'll be hungry. In Mark's version the disciples told Jesus to "send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat" (Mark 6:36). Jesus had other plans (John 6:6). He told them, "You give them something to eat!" (Mark 6:37). This is where limitations come in. This is where we say, "Oh, I can't." "Oh, I don't have anything to offer here." "Maybe I have a little something, but what difference would that make to the magnitude of this situation?" The disciples told him it would take 200 days' pay to feed them. Jesus said, in essence, "What do you have?" And they came up with five loaves and two fish (Mark 6:38). You and I can look at that and agree with the disciples; that's inadequate. That won't make a dent in the problem. It won't even begin to fix anything. But Jesus -- I love that phrase, that concept ... "but Jesus" -- stepped in and told them to do the prep work -- sit them in groups -- and then distribute the food He would give them. They all "ate and were satisfied" (Mark 6:42), "and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish" as well (Mark 6:43).

This event was so spectacular to Jesus's followers that it is one story from the life of Jesus that is contained in all four of the Gospels. That should suggest something big. What can we learn from this? We can learn that Jesus can satisfy. Oh, that's a lesson we need to learn repeatedly and with gusto. We can learn that Jesus can do marvelous things. We can learn that what He asks of us is the meager things we have to offer -- clearly too little -- and He can use it miraculously. So why do we hold back? Why do we hesitate? Wouldn't it be a delight to spend your days watching your meager contributions get used by our mighty Savior to produce magnificent results? What are we waiting for?