17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel – John 6:1-15

It’s the Little Things…

Loaves and Fishes, Tabgha

 Familiar story!!!

 A young boy is walking along the beach when he sees hundreds of starfish washed up on the shore. In dismay, and realizing that many of them are still alive, he begins chucking them back out to sea so they won’t die on the beach. A man comes along and asks him, “Why are you throwing those starfish back out into the sea? You can’t possibly save all these starfish! What difference can you make when there are so many to be saved?” After thinking about it for a moment and throwing one more starfish back out into the water, the boy replies, “I just made a difference for that one!”

We’ve heard today’s Gospel story countless times!  The Apostles complaining that Jesus should send the huge crowd away! The multiplication of the loaves and fishes!  The abundance of the leftovers.  But what about that little boy?  He was part of that huge crowd.  He knew all he had was just a couple of loaves of bread and a few fish.  He knew he couldn’t possibly make a difference!  He could have kept it all to himself and no one would have known.  And yet he willingly offered up all he had.  And his gift made a difference!  Just like that boy in the starfish story!

I wonder sometimes if we give up too easily.  We see someone in distress, and we choose to walk on by, believing that our small effort or offering would pale in comparison to the need.  But that wasn’t the case with the ‘starfish’ boy and it certainly wasn’t the case for the boy with the loaves and the fishes. 

Consider this – even Peter and Andrew gave up on that small compassionate gift!  But not Jesus!  And not God!  Maybe we should make the effort, no matter what and let God decide how ‘little’ that charitable act really is!  Maybe it’s not the size of the gift but the size of the heart!