In John chapter six, we're told that Jesus has just crossed over the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. Once they arrive to the other side, they climb up a hillside overlooking the shore. They sit down, and Jesus notices that a huge crowd has followed them - about five thousand people! All these people are gravitating toward the man who has performed miracles among the sick, and they can't get enough of him. Jesus asks Phillip, who's sitting next to him, "Do you know where we can buy enough bread to feed all these people?" Jesus already has a plan in mind, but he's trying to stretch Phillip's faith. Phillip says, "Two hundred silver pieces wouldn't be enough to even make a dent in this crowd." Then, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, comes up and says, "There is a little boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish."
Jesus says, "Can you go get those for me?"
Andrew asks the boy for his food and takes them back to Jesus. Then Jesus tells the disciples, "Get all these people to sit down. There's a nice patch of green grass."
Once the people sit down, Jesus takes the bread and the fish, gives thanks for them, gets the disciples to start passing it around. We're told that everyone who's seated eats until they're full. After the feast, Jesus tells the disciples to gather all the leftovers. It turns out their are twelve baskets full of leftovers! The people realize that God is at work among them in what Jesus has just done. Murmurs around the crowd can be heard, "This must be the prophet! This is God's prophet right here in Galilee for sure!"
Jesus notices the crowd's enthusiasm, and knows they are about to grab him and appoint him as their king. To avoid this, he slips off and goes up the mountain to be by himself. He avoids the kingship.
I'm in Divide, Colorado right now staying in a cabin that overlooks Pikes Peak, one of the five tallest peaks in Colorado. It's in the middle of nowhere, with evergreen trees covered in snow and sunlight shining through the trees reflecting off all the ice hanging off the roof of the cabin.
Yesterday, on the way here, there was a homeless man standing on the corner of one of the intersections. My friend, who was riding in the passenger seat, mentioned, "Should we give him one of our sandwiches?"
I said, "That'd be great."
So, my buddy got the sandwich, stepped out of the vehicle and said, "I don't have any cash on me, but I have a sandwich. Here ya' go man."
The homeless man took the sandwich and said thanks. Near the homeless man was a guy riding a bike, and waiting for the light to turn green. He was watching the whole time as my friend gave the man the sandwich, and as my friend got back into the car, the bike rider went up to the homeless man and gave him some cash. I was stuck at how much attention the homeless man had been given in just the short amount of time. In Houston, it's very rare to see much attention being paid to homeless people at intersections. We had three sandwiches, amongst many other things we could give to this guy, and my selfish thinking up to this point wondered, "Which one of us will get the third sandwich? I'm pretty hungry."
The solution was, we had more than enough and my friend was aware enough to realize that. As I reflect on this passage, the phrase that keeps popping in my mind is, "I have more than enough to go around." Phillip is still using logic to find solutions to the problem of feeding the hungry people. He's thinking in terms of currency, not faith. I don't blame him. Logic is one of our greatest gifts, not to be taken for granted. Andrew, however, is thinking in terms of faith. He doesn't know how it's gonna happen, but he offers the little boy's bread and fish up to Jesus in faith that something good may come out of it.
What logic is good for is making smart, logistical observations. It's good for planning, like for a road trip. You make a schedule, put the financial figures on paper, create a budget, and decide the timing of everything. However, logic doesn't cover the surprises.
A good gauge for faith is how we react with the unexpected. It's in these instances that logic is not enough. We take a look at our inventory, and logic tells us that we can't afford to give away what we have. It may cause problems in the future. Faith tells us that we have enough to go around, no matter what our inventory shows. Somehow, someway, we have enough to help other people. It may be money, food, shelter, shower, clothes, or just simply listening.
Jesus stretches Phillip's faith, trying to get him past his logical deductions of the situation. We're not told whether he actually steps past logic, but Andrew seems to pretty solid in the faith department.
When we choose to step out on faith, which is pretty illogical most of the time, amazing things happen. We let go of what we think we couldn't, and other people receive something they didn't expect getting. Believe it or not, there is enough in this world to go around. There is enough food for everyone. There is enough water for everyone. There is enough shelter for everyone. The problem is, the distribution is completely lopsided, leaving a small percentage of the population with more than enough and a large percent of the population with meager portions.
I love the phrase, "Be the change you want to see in the world." One of the most exciting aspects of taking the risk of trusting God is, taking what is logical, setting it aside, and doing what seems impossible. When mathematics, financial budgeting, and our intellect tells us there's no way, and we follow that still, small, voice inside us that says, "Risk everything. Don't worry. You'll be okay." When we move past logic in the instances where we look hurting people in the eye, we see a few measly coins or a sandwich multiply into something we couldn't have thought up.
I'm convinced that when we take steps of faith, we are moving beyond our intellect. The numbers don't add up, it just doesn't make sense, and we're not sure how we're gonna come out breaking even. But, we find out that everything's gonna be fine. When we realize that we always have enough to go around, we experience an unbelievable connection with a power much greater than ourselves, and a connection with humanity that we hadn't experienced before. When faith is not added to logic, we tend to draw lines around our lives, putting up boundaries that confine us to what we can and can't do.
Today's Action: Think of a time when our logic kept us from from taking a leap of faith. Keep our eyes open today for opportunities to go beyond logic, and to help someone based on the risk of faith.
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