Friday - Second Week of Easter 

Gospel – John 6:1-15

The Needs of the Many

Loaves and Fishes –Tabgha

It seems that, at every stop light these days, there is someone standing there with a handmade sign!  Out of work!  Lost my job!  Need money!  Need food!  Can you help?  It’s a familiar and sad sight.  And yet, for most of us, the response is also all too familiar.  Sometimes we stare straight ahead and hope they keep walking by!  We pretend there is no one there and instead we focus intently on the stop light!  Sometimes we check our cash and decide we don’t have enough to give to make a difference; so we give them nothing.  And sometimes we just give what we have!   

The need for help and the need to respond are always there, present and immediate!  And not just at a traffic signal!  We see the opportunity to help every day -when we walk down the street, in the grocery store parking lot when someone is struggling with their shopping cart, over the backyard fence when the neighbor loses their grip on the ladder, or when a friend calls in the middle of the night in search of a comforting voice.  The need is there!  The opportunity to respond is there!

The story of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in today’s Gospel is a familiar one.  And the Gospel provides so much detail in the telling of the story – the abundant grass, the specific number of loaves and fishes, the boy who brings them, the number of people gathered, the disciples complaining about the size of the crowd and the impossibility of feeding them and the number of baskets of leftovers.  All very familiar!

But maybe there is one detail we tend to overlook – the responses of Philip and Andrew!  Jesus addressed both of them directly – what should we do?  Philip’s answer is swift and dismissive.  We can’t help them; we don’t have enough money to feed them all!  And Andrew?  His response is - let’s see what we do have!  There is a very real need to be filled here; the people are hungry and tired!  And these 2 disciples respond very differently!  Philip focuses on what they don’t have – money.  And so he says “no way.”  Andrew focuses on what they do have – 5 loaves and 2 fish! 

Jesus, in His compassion and love, saw the needs of the crowd gathered before Him.  And He offered Philip and Andrew the chance to respond to their needs.  He also offers us that same opportunity.  Now granted, there are certainly times when we just can’t stop and help someone out – heading to the ER or late for that make or break meeting.  But the opportunities to see a person in need and to address that need happen every day.  And while we can’t always give all that someone needs, we can at least give what we have, even if it’s only 5 loaves or a couple of fish.

So consider this – today’s story is not just a miracle story about Jesus’ compassion for the hungry crowd.  It is also a reminder to us to bestow that same compassion on others. 

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