WONDER-BREAD

 “God will provide”--how often have your heard someone say that, maybe glibly or with the strain of unbelief from being in a tight spot? Or maybe that phrase brings up the Biblical account of Jesus feeding the multitudes without any supermarket or even a carnival-style food circus nearby.

Sometimes such questions lead me to a quest to find answers—and this was one. Basic truth: there were two occasions when huge crowds who'd come to hear His teaching found their stomachs rumbling and no fast-food places nearby. And Jesus delivered—not with a little car sporting a “pizza” bonnet on its hood. He acted with divine compassion and provision, miraculously multiplying meals shared in the crude woven baskets of that time.

Both “feedings” occurred in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee, but here are some of the differences.

CIRCUMSTANCES

#1 (5,000)--Jesus had just learned of the execution of His cousin, John the Baptist. Understandably, Jesus and His disciples got away to a deserted place. But even before modern communications, human word-of-mouth traveled like electricity. Soon, multitudes (mostly Jewish) followed, hoping for healing and teaching. Soon, they were hot and famished.

#2 (4,000)--This event took place later in Jesus' ministry, and occurred in a predominantly Gentile region. After three days of healing and teaching, the large crowd was famished with no local provisions.

LOCATION

#1: The 5,000 were fed near Bethsaida, the north end of the Sea of Galilee Just west around the road a bit is Capernaum, where Jesus spent a lot of ministry time. This was also considered Jewish territory.

#2: The 4,000 were fed in a desolate region of Decapolis, southeast of the Sea of Galilee. The crowds here were mostly Gentiles. That general area is where He healed a demoniac plus a deaf-mute man.

FOOD VENDOR

#1. Thanks to a little boy offering his lunch, the disciples had five little barley loaves (typically the size of a hand, weighing 2-3 pounds and one-fourth inch thick) and two small fish among them, barely enough for their own snack. Certainly not enough for the multitude that had swelled to 5,000, sweating and famished in a desolate area.

#2. This time, the disciples had seven loaves and a few fish that Jesus miraculously multiplied.

LEFTOVERS SYMBOLS

#1: From five small loaves/two fish, twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered. Some have noted that those numbers match the five books of the law and the twelve tribes of Israel.

#2. From the seven loaves/a few fish, there were seven baskets of leftovers. Possible symbol: seven days of creation, and the “completeness” of God's work.

DEEPER SYMBOLISM

The events were powerful demonstration of Jesus' compassion, divine authority, and mission to a needy world, including Jews and Gentiles. As the bread and fish were broken apart, they also foreshadowed His own broken/wounded body when crucified to be our new Provider and Sustainer.

My little “digging” about the background of this miracle led me to reflect about how easily we skip over deep truths revealing the power and love of God. Yes, even how a little boy's lunch made history. And--what could He do with my "little," given up?

MAKING A LIST...

If Santa was for real, what would be the most-requested item in his mailbox?

I wonder how many millions of notes would ask for “Frozen” costumes and play gadgets. Or toys connected to Spiderman or some other super-power character?

 Back in the really old days—like Bible times—kids had pretty simple want-lists. I pick that up from Jesus’ teaching about children’s gifts:

You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:9-10)

This teaching’s context is Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” in which He unlocked truths about a holy but gracious and generous God. I think the point of this portion is sometimes we are asking for symbolic stones and snakes, not realizing their worthlessness and potential for harm. If human, fallible parents can make good judgment calls about children’s “wish lists,” so much more can our Heavenly Father do so.

When my children—now adults and parents—were small, they were allowed to open one gift before breakfast and before opening the rest of their presents.  They knew it would be rectangular and rattle when shaken. Because I favored buying “healthy” breakfast cereal the rest of the year, their joke gift would be the most sugar-laden, crazily-advertised cereal I could find.

The rest of the year, they had to eat healthier stuff, but oh the sugar rolled on Christmas morning. I called the joke gifts “Flicky Flacky Flakes,” and thankfully the package didn’t last the week. The normal breakfast around our house—something a challenge with their lists of likes and dislikes—was usually a bit more nutritious to keep them from fading halfway through the school day.

In my adult world—my spiritual adult world—I try to guard against empty spiritual calories in the morning. I don’t have a “Santa list,” but my first thought in the quietness of an early morning devotional time is like this little song: “Good morning, Lord, this is your day. I am your child. Show me your way.”

I don’t need Santa. I don’t need stuff.  But I do need God’s gracious provision of wisdom to discern stones from the Bread of Life, and snakes from the miracle Sea-of-Galilee fishing nets, in the choices and problems I face every day.     

Golden truths

A series inspired by a visit to Kauai
The hotel where we stayed in Kauai had “Koi feeding” as one of its in-house activities. Dozens of the colorful tropical fish filled a pool adjacent to the restaurant.  When the waiter assigned to “feeding duties” came with his telltale can of koi food, the pool turned nearly solid orange with thrashing fish. Their feeding frenzy reminded me of my childhood, when I biked to a nearby salmon hatchery with friends. In those days before security fences and safety precautions, we kids could walk alongside the long concrete pools of juvenile salmon. They churned the water to froth as they spotted us, thinking we were the “keepers” who tossed them food.

Yes, koi are pretty, their scales an attractive mosaic of white, orange, yellow, and black. Most of these fish were a foot in length. I asked the keeper their value.  He smiled and said, “Expensive.”  An on-line search showed koi costing up to $225 each. One source said they can live a century.  Unless, of course, something looking for a fish dinner shows up.

Sometimes my mind goes in strange directions, and as I watched the hungry, showy koi, I remembered a song from the 1957 Broadway show, “West Side Story.”  In one scene, Maria is in high spirits because a boy has paid attention to her.  She dances and sings, “I feel pretty and witty and bright!” Our culture easily connects beauty (like koi?) with desirability. But the Bible warns against linking the two.  A case in point comes from the book of First Samuel.  Big, muscular, handsome-hunk Saul was serving as Israel’s first king. Before being anointed king, he was described as “an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the others” (1 Samuel 9:3). But a few years into his reign, his character flaws emerged. Then came his biggest mistake: saving some booty from the raid on the Amalekites, even though he was told to destroy everything.

Off Samuel went on a secret mission to anoint a king-in-waiting. God led him to Jesse of Bethlehem, father of many big, handsome sons. But the one God chose was a little guy out in the pasture with the sheep. God saw in David the character He wanted:

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

God’s like that. He chooses unlikely candidates and grooms them for His great assignments. They may wrestle with their human frailties in health or personality. But God isn’t limited by those. Paul wanted to be freed of a debilitating “thorn in the flesh”—whatever it was. But God designed for him to live with it, in the power of Christ, encouraging him with the words that still apply to us:

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:5)

Ministry isn’t about being colorful, big and aggressive (like those pricey koi in the hotel ponds). It’s about the golden promise that as we yield our dullness and weakness to Christ, He can transform us to love and serve Him well.