The events in today's text took place at a pivotal time in the apostles' relationship with the Lord. They had just returned from their first "mission trip", when He had given them authority over unclean spirits and diseases and had sent them out to preach. They had a lot to tell Him, but there was no time to do it because people around them were making too many demands; therefore, Jesus took them with Him on a spiritual retreat across the lake. At least, that was the plan--only when they went ashore a great crowd was waiting for them. Now I would have been a bit put out, and I'd bet the apostles were. Jesus, however, saw a need (v. 34), so He changed the agenda and spent the day preaching and teaching instead.
As the day drew to a close (v. 35), the apostles saw a need too. Not counting women and children, they saw 5,000 men in a rural area who were going to be very hungry very soon. Verses 35-36 tells us how they reacted to this perceived need. Note whose problem the apostles thought it was. It was the crowd's problem! Let the crowd take care of it!
Let's think about that for a minute. How would 5,000 plus people in an isolated spot go looking for food? There weren't any supermarkets. I doubt it would be done in a very orderly way. In all likelihood, too many people would converge on the same village so that the merchants there sold out their stock, which would force the unlucky ones to move on to the next village, where the same scenario would repeat itself, on and on. While some would get fed quickly enough, others would likely still be on the road late into the night. In short, this situation had the makings of a real mess. Now, I don't know if the apostles considered any of this, but if they did it didn't change their attitude. All they saw was aneed that wasn't theirs.
No doubt they thought they were being perfectly reasonable. In the world we live in, the Not My Problem attitude is generally thought to be reasonable. In verse 37, however, the Lord replied in a most unreasonable way: "You give them something to eat." Now, He could have said, "I'll give them something to eat" and then gone through the same steps He did in our text. If He had done so, however, the apostles would have been merely spectators. Instead He involved them, even though their involvement consisted of saying (and I'm paraphrasing here), "You want us to WHAT?" It may not seem like much, but He had moved them from apathy to helplessness. Realizing that the problem was too big for them was better than treating it as someone else's problem. Once they had made that admission, He took them to the next step (v. 38): "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." Next, He had them bring their few loaves and fishes to Him. Then a miracle happened. He took the loaves and fishes, blessed them, gave them to the apostles to pass out, and gave, and gave, and kept on giving until nobody could eat any more, "and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish" (v. 43).
This is an important lesson for all Christ's followers. We too are surrounded by a mass of people "like sheep without a shepherd". Sheep cannot defend themselves, nor can they effectively run away. Without someone to protect them, they are easy prey. I would say that with the pressure of rising prices, stagnant wages, the furor over the "one-percenters" and the ever-present specter of terrorist activity, that is how many people around us feel. When we look at the spiritual picture, we see beliefs under attack on every side. We see institutions that people have always relied on for stability tottering and falling. People are starving for a rock to build on (Matthew 7:24-25). The first question today's passage forces us to ask ourselves is, how do we react to the hunger around us? Do we treat it as someone else's problem? Do we adopt the attitude that we have enough to do to take care of our own group and its needs? That's natural enough to do. If we take that approach, though, we are missing out on the chance to see God do a miracle. We must recognize that our God does not change. He says the same thing to us that He said to the apostles: "You give them something to eat!"
There might be some churches that would answer, "We'll get on it right away, Lord! We'll form a committee! We'll raise money! We'll start a program--Call it the 'Sheep without a Shepherd program'! We'll bring in a big name speaker! We'll have those sheep fed before you know it, Lord!"
If we think the need is small enough for us to meet, we are only fooling ourselves. Hopefully we have enough sense to respond as the apostles did, "You want us to WHAT?" It's when we realize that we only have a few loaves and fish, but we give them to Him, that a miracle happens.
Protestant churches don't talk much about Francis of Assisi, and that's a shame, because once you get past the sentimental legends that have been attached to his name, the real story is remarkable. As a young man, Francis lived like the son of the richest merchant in town, which he was. However, he served as a soldier in one of the many conflicts that Italian cities kept fighting with each other, and when he was captured, his ransom didn't materialize quickly. He became sick in captivity, and his spirit changed. When he returned to Assisi, he spent a lot of time roaming the countryside fasting and praying. On one of these trips, while praying at the altar in a decaying church building, he had a vision in which Christ on the crucifix said, "Go and rebuild my church, which as you can see is almost in ruins." Now, Francis was not one to reflect on the greed, corruption and worldly ambition which had consumed the Roman Catholic church of his time. Instead, he saw a sanctuary that was falling apart around him, so he sold some of his father's goods and gave the money to the priest. His father became furious. He sued Francis to recover the lost amount. Francis responded by renouncing his family. He became a beggar, living in the open and using what money and materials he received to help restore that ruined church building.
So far this doesn't sound like the kind of story you would read in Guideposts. Nevertheless, the strangest thing happened. As people saw this man they knew serving Christ with everything they had, they were moved. One person joined him; then a few more did. There were never very many, but when people heard him talk about repentance (which he did frequently), they took it seriously. They began to treat Christ as Someone Who should be taken seriously, not a front for worldly wealth and power. And the whole Roman Catholic church in Europe began to change.
The point of the illustration is not that we should all become wandering friars. Instead, the lesson is that Christ did the same miracle through Francis of Assisi that He did one day two thousand years ago by the shore of a lake; He took a pittance and fed a multitude. We serve the same Lord. There is a starving crowd around us. You may not have a multimillion dollar budget, a stable of gifted evangelists, a fleet of church buses, or even a worship band that can play on time. It doesn't matter. Christ isn't asking us what we don't have. He asks, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see". He is ready to do a miracle through us. Are we ready?
