I don’t know why Jesus’ words never struck me before.
But this time around, as I was listening to the story of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Jesus’ instructions to the apostles rang out loud and clear.
“He said to them, ‘Give them some food yourselves.’
They replied, ‘Five loaves and two fish are all we have,
unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.’”
Give them some food yourselves.
Jesus can—and will—feed the thousands of people in front of him. He doesn’t need the five loaves and two fish to create a feast for that crowd. But he asks his apostles to participate in the miracle. He reminds them that they have a role to play. He invites them into the moment, letting them step forward and create food for this astoundingly large group of hungry people.
What a beautiful moment.
To be clear, Jesus is God—all knowing and all loving and all powerful. He is the one who performs the miracle. But he allows his friends to be part of it. He helps them see that they have a role in feeding these people.
Give them some food yourselves.
It can be easy to feel helpless, to watch events unfold around us and wonder what role we have to play in any of it. God is God. He has this. He holds us in his hands. He loves us completely and truly and forever.
At the same time, he invites us to see a role for ourselves in the challenges of the moment. He asks us to look for opportunity. The apostles didn’t say, “We have nothing.” They told Jesus that they had five loaves and two fish.
Often, that’s all we have—a little bread, a little fish, a little energy, a little prayer to offer. It never feels like enough. But with God working with and through us, it is all we need. He encourages us to take whatever it is that we have, place it in his hands, and know that miracles are possible.
Give them some food yourselves.
It could feel like an insurmountable instruction. But I like to imagine Jesus saying it as an invitation, as a reminder that we have so much to offer, even when it feels meager, even when we are depleted, even when the obstacles feel enormous. We have something to give—and with God, we have everything to give.
“Our duty, as men and women, is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist,” said the French philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. “We are collaborators in creation.”
Today, as we look at the sea of needs in front of us—in our family, in our community, and in our world—may we see that we have a role, however small, to play. As God invites us into the miracle of creating a solution, may we feel encouraged and empowered to know that anything and everything is possible.
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