When the Apostles of Our Lord were faced with a great need they turned to Christ…..well sorta. In the Gospel story of the feeding of the 5000, faced with “only five loaves and two fish” the Apostles urged Jesus to send the crowd of people away to get food for themselves. They said, “This is a deserted place, send the multitude away, that they may go into the village and buy themselves food. We have here only five loaves and two fish.” (Matthew 14.15-17) In their hearts they didn’t consider the miracles they had already witnessed, otherwise they would have known the power of God to feed a “few people.”
Too often we forget His power in our lives to accomplish what seems like an unmanageable task. Just like the Apostles, we look at our limited resources – financial and other resources – and wonder how in the world we can accomplish what the Lord expects from us. That is just when this Gospel should come to our minds. Look closely how the Lord accomplishes this miracle and you will see that He uses the resources the Apostles already had and blessed them to do a great work. “Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” (Matthew 14.21) But the Lord didn’t directly feed the multitude Himself; He utilized the efforts of the Apostles.
Today the Lord is calling us to a great work – to grow the Kingdom of God in Tarpon Springs thousands of miles away from the Holy Lands – and we might be tempted to consider our limited resources as a weakness, but God is greater than we are. We need only to remember His awesome power and willingness to use our talents and resources. And just as the Apostles “took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained,” (Matthew 14.20) there will be more than enough for us to feed ourselves and feed others who are hungry for the Lord.
Embrace the words of Christ, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14.16) and let Him work His miracle.