Today I saw something I hadn’t connected before when reading about the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000+ people with 5 loaves and 2 fishes.
What I had missed was the context of this story. As I have seen repeatedly, Jesus never does anything on just one level. He is always teaching and answering on many fronts with everything He does, both in the Bible and now.
The context or setting of this story was that Jesus had decided it was time for the disciples to go out on a practicum and put into practice everything they had been observing and learning under his teaching. So in Luke 9:1, Jesus called his disciples together, giving them spiritual authority to cast out demons and power to heal every disease.
Then he gave them instructions on how to know where to stay and minister. He sent them out in friend-pairs and then He added a faith challenge to the whole thing: they weren’t allowed to take anything with them. No backpack, no money, no change of clothes.
And off they went. And it worked. They were legit disciples.
Time passed. The Passion Translations says months went by. (Vs 10)
The disciples returned to report to Jesus everything that had happened and they were EXCITED!
Jesus wanted to deconstruct it all with them privately and took them quietly to Bethsaida so they could be alone, and He could go through it with them.
But the crowds figured it out and followed them almost immediately. (VS 11)
Jesus instead of being frustrated, had compassion on the crowd teaching them and healing the sick. All day.
By the end of the day the disciples identified a problem.
The people were tired and hungry, and they were way out in the wilderness with no food. This also means the disciples were tired, hungry and way out in the wilderness with no food.
No worries however because they were problem solvers.
And they quickly came up with a solution. They decided the solution was to send the people away from Jesus (our Provider) to the world’s source of provision (the nearest farmers’ market). I won’t dig into all of that – I am sure you will follow that thought through.
The disciples go to Jesus and tell Him what they feel the problem is and then TELL HIM WHAT HE SHOULD DO ABOUT IT (!)
I apologize for the caps but I think the reality of what they were doing blows by us sometimes.
- They identify what they feel is a problem.
- They come up with what they think is the solution
- They ‘pray’ to Jesus and tell Him how to solve their problem.
Can anyone identify with this? How many times have we done this in one form or another?
Dear Jesus, please make XYZ happen to help “Jane/me/whoever” with this issue.”
What are we effectively doing?
We are identifying what we feel is a problem, coming up with what we feel is the solution and then informing God of what He can do to resolve this, so we can then praise Him for executing our instructions.
Outrageous when you look at it from that perspective.
No wonder people sometimes feel like God doesn’t hear their prayers!
Do you think this could possibly be considered ‘asking amiss’?
We assume we know what is going on in the Spiritual part of ‘Jane/me/whoever’s’ life. We assume we know what the solution is, and we assume God is sitting up there waiting for us to give Him orders.
My experience going down this road is that … I am usually not even in the same conversation God is having, not in His headspace and have no idea what is really going on.
Hence most of those kind of prayers go seemingly unanswered.
Back to the disciples ….
The context or background I have previously missed in this part of the story, until today, is that these are the same disciples who just returned from their ministry practicum and had been sent out specifically with no food, no money, no extra clothes.
No provision. They were to go with faith in their Provider for every need.
And they came back soooo pumped because it had worked. So, they had presumably been praying in every meal and necessity for several weeks – maybe a few months – up to this moment.
And here comes the pop quiz.
Jesus just looks at them and replies, ‘You feed them.”
And in the moment, they forget and revert to instinct.
Gut reaction. They look at the facts. 2 loaves, 5 fish. 5000+ people. Not happening.
How often have we fallen into this trap of relying on our human reasoning and resources to work through the problems in life forgetting all we have learned in our discipleship journey?
What’s that verse in Proverbs say …? “… don’t rely on what you THINK you know …” Prov 3:5
No wonder in the gospels Jesus often figuratively throws up His hands and asks How long Lord do I have to suffer with these people?! Lol.
But Jesus, ever the patient teacher gives them an object lesson they will never forget.
The dinner happens with 2 loaves, 5 fishes and the blessing of our Provider.
And the disciples each get a basket of extra food to carry home.
Here are a few additional ponderings if you want to linger here.”
- Notice He doesn’t agree that this is a problem or that it should be solved. (Different headspace, different conversation).
- What was Jesus doing while His disciples were away for possibly months?
- Have you ever been praying for a specific solution only to have Jesus answer in a completely different way that in retrospect addressed the whole situation much more perfectly and completely?
