18th Week in Ord. Time, Monday – 2nd August 2021 — Gospel: Mt 14,13-21
Shun Excuses
The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand was actually a sermon in action by Jesus. On the part of the disciples, it was an embarrassing moment. There were more than five thousand hungry people, and they had nothing to feed them. Certainly the disciples knew that Jesus was powerful enough to meet the need, yet they did not turn to Him for help. Instead, they took inventory of their own food supply and their limited treasury. When they considered the time (evening) and the place (a desolate place), they came to the conclusion that nothing could be done to solve the problem. Their counsel to the Lord was, “Send them away!” How wrong they were to conclude, because they could never grasp the right time or place for God to work. Jesus watched His frustrated disciples as they tried to solve the problem, but He himself knew what He was intending to do. He wanted to teach them a lesson in faith and surrender. He had compassion on the hungry multitudes. Therefore he not only expressed “give them something to eat”, but provided them more than sufficient. For the disciples, it was easy to send the people away, to make excuses, to plead a lack of resources. Whereas Jesus expects to give Him all they have, for they will never lose anything, rather, they will always end up with more blessing than when they first started.
