The Boy and His Food
Finally done with the stiches. So happy I completed it, but it took long enough. When a person does his quiet time with God at 3 45am in the morning, then you know he’s probably dealing with stuff he is absolutely positively NOT proficient in. But glad its finished.
Was recalling what the pastor was talking about on Sunday, and found it rather powerful a message. It was a message about your identity in church, about how much one is willing to risk for God, and how much you dare to put on the line for him to use. And the rewards that come with it. This is the story of 5 bread and 2 fish.
One not so fine day, with the heat scorching and sand burning the feet of the hungry, Jesus was doing his normal stuff, walking around trying to save men. Then, a crowd gathered because they heard this man could do miracles. Under the blistering heat Jesus spread talked of salvation, but the people pondered on the hero they needed.
During this time the romans have conquered their land, and the people yearn for their God to provide them with a king to destroy this opressive force called the roman empire. And Jesus was their answer to that, their ‘hero sent by God’. Jesus knew what they wanted him to do. He knew he could do it, and in doing so be crowned a king. With his right hand he could blast the roman phalanxes into kingdom come. But he did not, and fleed afterwards because he was not there to become king. Jesus was there to save, and he stuck with his job.
As the temperature becomes unbearable and the sky darkens, his disciples urged Christ to call it a day. The very disciples that after his death became the cornerstones of the christian religion, spreading and proclaiming their faith like wildfire breaking lose in the Amazon Forest, at the cost of their lives. But here they were not yet what they will become. Here they were perspiring and waiting impatiently for Jesus to finish his preaching. They urged him to shelter. He urged the men to allow him to save his children. The disciples believed in the lord, but their hearts have not fully contemplate the will that God has given to Jesus, and Christ knew time he grasped could well save another of his beloved child, one by one. So he continued preaching, continued saving, until everyone became hungry.
He knew he could feed them. He had the power, the glory of God shining within him. However, Jesus shot a question to his people. He wanted growth from them.
“Where do we get food for all this people?’” One of them stood up and let his doubts known.
“Eight months worth of wages and we can’t even feed half of these starving bunch!”
This person believed in Jesus, but questioned him about his ability. True, he is loyal, and is a disciple that has been listening to the master’s words. However, he chose to use it to question the ability of Jesus. Then there was Andrew.
“Lord, there is a kid with some food.” Okaaaaaaaaaay, so it wasn’t all that great. He found a boy with some food. However, if you stopped and pondered for a bit, you would realise that Andrew beat the same heart as Jesus. He felt what Jesus felt about saving lives. He wanted to save more. He wanted the people to stay and listen to their salvation. So he scowled the premises for any sign of food he could find, but all he found was a boy with some food. Barely enough to even feed himself. BUT he believed God can do something about it, so he brought the boy to Jesus. “Lord, will you not do something?”
Finally there was the boy. In his hand, he held 5 wheat biscuits, the size of Ahoy! chocolate chip cookies, and 2 pieces of fish the size of sardines. Tells you how wealthy this kid actually is. It was probably his dinner, if not his lunch AND dinner. He stood there in front of thousands of people, hungry and starving. His dinner was at stake, and he could be sure anything edible will be gone the moment it dropped into the crowd. So now what does he do? He turned to the one he knows can help everyone, and gave him everything he had. The 5 biscuits. The 2 fish. Everything. And he left nothing for himself. “Lord, take these. These are all I have. Please use it.”
And so Jesus did so, distributing the 5 biscuits and 2 fish among all, feeding everyone satisfactorily, and when the food had gone round, the leftovers filled baskets and bags full. Christ turned to the little boy with the bags and baskets, and smiled.
” Sorry I borrowed your food. These are the leftovers. Hope its enough to fill you.” The little boy was probably buried in food, the same food that initially could not feed even himself.
God knows our needs and wants, he knows when we are in trouble, in need of a little divine intervention. But what good does it do if you do not learn and grow from it? God wants you to trust him, to lean on his shoulder, to lift up his hands. God wants you to have everything he prepared for you, if only you would give yourself up to him. He knows that all of us need to start at the beginning, when we were just another person in the crowd trying to discover who Jesus really is. But he wants us to grow, to mature progressively in heart and soul through his guidance, so that we are closer to him. All the way till we become on par with the little boy with 5 biscuits and 2 fish.
