a willing spirit

"Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place." But He said to them, "You give them something to eat." They said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish--unless we are to go buy food for all these people." For there were about five thousand men." Luke 9: 13-14


It had been a long day. There had been healing, there had been teaching and there was no doubt that as night was drawing near, even the Teacher was fading. As the Twelve surveyed the situation according to their limited human capacity, they recognized the problem (they were in a desolate place, it was late and no one brought a sack lunch) and they presented their solution to Jesus. Their solution was simple: send them away to meet their own needs.

As the story has been preached about and studied, I think we are quick to condemn the disciples for the hastiness and lack of faith. They evaluated the situation, the present needs, and the resources available.  They most likely consulted one another to come up with a reasonable solution together. Truthfully, I think they have done well thus far. They then proceeded to present their problem and their solution to Jesus. What I love about this is their humanity is so plain to see and yet many of us miss it and the lesson that we can and often need to learn from it. They saw that the need was greater than their human capacity and although they had already experienced the power of Jesus in miraculous ways, the thought that He could surpass human limitations and feed these people didn't even cross their minds. If that doesn't define me perfectly I don't know what would! If I had a nickel for every time I doubted, fretted or just plain wished the situation away I would be wealthy! There have been so many times in my life that I have evaluated my situation, taken inventory of my resources and slinked away in discouragement.

What I love is Jesus' response to them, "You feed them." Have you ever felt as though God led you to a task that was impossible to complete? Every day I have sweet, sleepy children greeting me in the morning. Their hair is tangled, their eyes are still heavy and the day lay before us fresh, new and without error. It is in these moments that I am often met with great love coupled with a real sense of inadequacy. There is no way I can love these children in the way God has called me to on my own. I am so sinful and riddled with selfish ambition, that it would be impossible for me to be the kind of mother and example that they deserve and that God has called me to be. Yet, He still calls me to that task. Why? So I can be reminded yet again of my limitations and His ability to surpass them all. No doubt Jesus stood His Twelve before this crowd of more than 5,000 hungry men, women and children and asked them to do the impossible. Did He do this so He could watch them fail? No. Did He do this to embarrass them? No. He did this so the Twelve could see their inability and His supremacy side by side. Often, this is where we fall short. We only see our inability and we fail to see His sufficiency in all things. As a result, we often fail to experience it as well. The greatest plague of humanity is a desire to depend on self. Take a look at the very first humans, Adam and Eve. They had only been on earth a short time. When we think of them and the first sin, it is often thought of as simple disobedience. While their actions were indeed disobedient, we often miss the heart of the disobedience. They didn't eat of the tree for the sake of eating--they had an abundance of food all around them. They ate of tree out of a sheer desire to be like God--to BE God (Gen. 2: 5). The desire to be in control of our lives, to be self sufficient in and of ourselves is nothing knew--it is the very plague of all humanity. This is precisely what keeps mankind from God. It is not until we acknowledge our desperate need for a Savior and our complete inadequacy on our own that our souls will ever find the rest and peace that we so desperately desire. Pride stands in the way. This is what Jesus was confronting that day before this hungry crowd. He wanted His disciples to be effective in ministry and knew they could never be until they realized their inability and recognized His sufficiency. We can see that they realized their inability, thus their desire to send the crowds away. However, Jesus desired more. He desired to work through them in spite of their inability. That is precisely what Jesus was setting them up for that day.

The Gospel of John is the only book that tells us anything about the well prepared, generous boy that has become an icon of sorts in the Christian church. There are only twenty words written in regards to him according the English Standard Version of the Bible, and a majority of those words are describing the food. This boy has no recorded name, age, physical description or even birthplace (which was very important in that culture). Why does this matter? A lot is said in what was not written. The boy, the giver of the food, is insignificant. All we need to know is that he was willing to give what little he had. It is not the boy that God wants etched in our minds because that is where idolatry settles in. Rather, we need to have a clear picture of the smallness of the offering and the willingness of the giver. In so doing, we will then magnify the greatness of God rather than the greatness of the giver. You see, in our human minds we make the work of the Lord all about us: what we are good at, what resources we have, what we enjoy doing and how it fits with the rest of our lives. When in reality, all of this is irrelevant. While God has given each of us gifts to use for His glory, He is not limited to what we can and can not do. If this were the case, then we would be the ones magnified and glorified which would defeat the whole purpose! Our deeds ought to glorify the Giver of all Good Things (Matthew 5:16) or they are worthless.

Jesus is leading you to a task that will most certainly be impossible for you, not because He wants you to fail, but rather because He wants you to be blessed beyond measure. He wants to not only include us in His work, but to blow us away. He could have made just enough food to tie the crowd over until they got home. Instead, He multiplied it so greatly that they were not only full, but they had 12 baskets remaining! God wants to take what little we have and multiply it beyond our wildest imagination.

Just as Jesus asked the boy what was in His hand, He is asking you and me the same question. It is not a question to embarrass or shame us, but rather it is an invitation. It is an invitation to give what little we have and to see it multiplied into something of great impact for the kingdom of heaven. Who knows, perhaps it will have an impact so great that generations of people will be impacted by your willingness to give and be inspired to follow suit.
May the peace of God which transcends all understanding guard your heart and mind today in Christ Jesus.

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"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not us." 2 Corinthians 4: 7