Doing Much with Little!

In today's Gospel, John 6: 1-15, a large crowd, about 5000 men, not counting women and children,  is approaching Jesus and Jesus asked Philip: "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?"  John tells us that Jesus asked Philip that question to test him, as he knew what he would do! Philip says to Jesus: "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to  have a little."  Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter points out to Jesus that there is a boy there with five loaves of bread and two fish, "but what good are these for so many?"  We know the rest of the story. Jesus asked that the people recline on the grass there. He then takes the bread and the fish and feeds the crowd with twelve wicker baskets of food left over!

Just as Jesus involved his apostles and the boy in the miracle, so, too, does he involve us when, without us, he easily could do whatever he intends to do all along.  God wants us, including children, to be his partners! And furthermore, the little we have is no deterrent to responding to need, no matter how great that need or how large the crowd is.

Who am I in this Scripture passage? Jesus who sees the crowd approaching and seeks ways to meet their need for "food"?  A member of the crowd who needs to rely upon others to get what one's needs met? Philip who is being tested by Jesus and challenged to find a solution? Andrew who notices the boy who has some food--am I that attentive? The boy with the food and who gives the little he has to Jesus, not really knowing what Jesus will do with it? A member of the crowd whose hunger is met by Jesus? Am I, the "bread" and "fish"being broken and shared with others? Or am I all of the above at different times of my life and, even, at different times of one day?

Notice that Jesus is key to this story. Is Jesus key to your life/to mine?  Also notice that the apostles and the boy are also key to this story!  Do I, do you, realize that we cannot make a difference on our own, that is, that we need each other! Notice, as well, that the little you or I have can make a huge difference.  We have seen this during the crisis we are facing with the coronavirus. Someone decides to find a way to get food that farmers are forced to let rot in their fields and, before long, several semi-trucks are involved in getting the food to persons facing a shortage and not able to put food on their table for their hungry children!

Lord, may our trust in you, in others and in ourselves increase.  May we have the courage to share the little we have, to do whatever we can, and not let doubt in ourselves or others or You stop us from recognizing a need and responding to it in some way, no matter how little we have to share!