A Community potluck dinner creates a fine experience of being together and of belonging. Several different times in the Gospels Jesus has a dinner of this type with the people. He gathers them through the power of his preaching and feeds them in generosity.
Each time he begins with just a little — a few loaves of bread and some dried fish. Never does anyone go away hungry or left out. These miracle were signs of the coming of the Messiah. We might express the same truth today in this way. The feeding of the five thousand is a promise of heaven.
A careful reading of Matthew’s story shows that the disciples have a very important part to play in feeding the people. They help find the available resources and they are the ones who distribute them to the crowd.
Stop and think about that fact for a minute. The feeding is not the work of Jesus alone. The feeding happens because the community of believers (the disciples, you and me) search for what gifts God has given and then, after the prayer and blessing of Jesus, make those gifts available to the people. The miracle of multiplying of loaves and fish did not happen before they were given. Jesus did not make a big pile and then tell the disciples to pass out that pile. No, the multiplying happened as the loaves and fish were given.
This miracle was a sign and promise of how Jesus will choose to work in and through the community of believers. Bring what you have for the good of your sisters and brothers. Jesus will multiply it. He will take your ordinary, consistent efforts and create abundant blessings.
Do you believe this ? Try to remember a time when some one gave you something, or stood by you or helped you in a small way and that made a big difference in your life. I remember clearly the day I was very sad, discouraged and depressed. A child came and gave me a teddy bear. That little teddy bear had power over the darkness in my spirit and I found renewed hope. Jesus took the small and ordinary, given in love, and made it a powerful blessing.
None of us will ever know how God will use our smallest gift given in love. Let us try to use every opportunity to allow Jesus to work miracles.
