August 23, 2010
August 23, 2010
Luke, in the ninth chapter of his Gospel, relates the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. You recall the story, I am sure. The disciples were a bit incredulous when He asked them to have the crowd sit in groups of about fifty. Let’s see . . . that’s about 100 groups of fifty! And the story relates only the number of men. It’s not unreasonable to think that there were about that many women and some children, too! Let’s say, conservatively, there were 200 groups of fifty. On a hillside. With only five loaves of bread and two fishes.
I can just hear my fourteen year old son, Thomas’, response to this: “Yeah, right, Dad!” “Like if I’m s’pose to believe that!”
I’m sure that I would have stood on that hillside for a moment and just looked dumb. How can it be possible to feed so many with so little?
There are times to be intellectual about things, and there are times to move with faith and a bit of reckless abandon. That hillside experience called for faith and reckless abandon.
I’ve always found this story a bit amusing. The amusing part is really the abundance of food! Our God is a God of excess! He doesn’t just bless us. He really blesses us. Abundantly! So it was on the mountain that day near Bethsaida. After everyone had eaten their fill, the disciples gathered twelve baskets of food. Twelve baskets!!! Think about it. If each basket were to have been capable of holding, say, even two loaves of bread and three or four fish . . . well just imagine what such an abundance of food must have been to those five thousand people.
If you expect to receive the miraculous, be ready to do the ridiculous. No doubt the disciples, when faced with feeding 5000 (plus!) with only five loaves and two fish felt a bit ridiculous, yet, it happened. And it was abundant!
In these changing times in the world of medicine, we will be called upon more than ever to live a life of faith. It will take faith to navigate the changes that will no doubt come about as a result of ObamaCare. Faith and courage on the part of patients and providers alike. In fact, as providers, perhaps what we will be able to do foremost for our patients might be to live examples of faith. God will feed us, as surely as He fed the five thousand on the hillside.
Do not be afraid when you find yourself with the equivalent of five loaves and two fish, facing 5000 hungry mouths. Do the ridiculous. Listen to God’s direction in your life. You won’t have room for the leftovers!
