Loaves & Fishes
Posted onI woke up this morning thinking about my favorite Bible story, the miracle so nice he did it twice: the feeding of the multitude. Two different instances of this miracle are documented multiple times in the Bible. Jesus is gathered with thousands of people who need to be fed. He instructs his disciples to feed the crowd, but all they have are five loaves of bread and two fish (or seven loaves and "a few" fish, in the second instance). Jesus breaks the bread, puts the food in some baskets, passes them around the crowd, and tells people to take enough to eat until they are full. When the baskets return, everyone is fed, and there are twelve (or seven, in the second instance) full baskets of food remaining.
The typical interpretation of this story is that Jesus performed a miracle. His prayer to God led to the multiplication of a meager offering, as proof of Jesus' divinity. My interpretation is different: there was always more than enough food in the crowd. The story is about the false fear of scarcity making people afraid to share what they have. The miracle was not a magic trick but a clever manipulation of human nature that teaches a lesson most people miss.
My favorite version of the story is one in which the loaves and fishes are offered by a small boy who had brought them as his lunch. My read is that Jesus intuits that many people in the crowd had done the same, and there was plenty to go around if everyone only ate what they needed and passed on the rest (5 loaves of bread seem like a lot for one child!). Only the young boy was willing to forgo his own food if it meant others might eat. The rest in the crowd were afraid to share because they could not see that there was enough. They feared that if they shared what they had, they would go hungry, even if they had more than they needed. What if the "undeserving" were fed while they themselves went hungry? Is it fair that the people who did not responsibly prepare ahead and bring their own food, or people who already had plenty and didn't need more, get their share while the person who shares goes hungry? Instead of sharing for all, they hoarded what they had, perhaps with the intent to share with those closest to them; their family, their friends, their people, rather than risk sharing for all and having nothing for themselves.
Jesus knew there was enough to feed everyone, even when the abundance was not apparent. He understood why people were afraid to share and designed a process to resolve their fears and make it feel safe to share. When the basket came around, people took what they needed. Once they were fed, their fear of not having enough was resolved, which negated any reason to withhold what they had, and those with more food than they needed passed on their excess.
We are living in a time of many crises and injustices, but also one of incredible abundance. Never have more people been so well fed, well housed, and materially cared for. The false fear of scarcity, in this era of abundance, is at the root of a multitude of crises, injustices, and oppressions. The hoarding of what we have to take care of ourselves and "our people," for fear that there is not enough to satisfy everyone, is a barrier to building a world where we can all thrive. This is not simple greed. It is easy to point fingers at the greediest while ignoring how they manipulate these fears to divide and exploit us.
The manipulation of this fear shows up everywhere in our politics. People believe things like: "If we let in too many immigrants, they will take what is 'ours,' leaving 'us' with less"; "If we are too generous with our social supports, people different from us, who may be irresponsible, or even undeserving people who don't really need the help, might benefit, leaving less for 'us.'"; "If we allow more homes to be built in our neighborhood only undeserving developers benefit and our new neighbors will not be like 'us' and will diminish our neighborhood"; "If we replace a car lane with a bus lane, other people might benefit but it might inconvenience me." These beliefs are all rooted in the false belief that there isn't enough to go around, which can only become true if we refuse to share what we have beyond what we need, whether that is our country, our neighborhood, our streets, our tax dollars, or a loaf of bread.
When you can, be the boy. Share what you have even if it can't possibly be enough. When you can't, when the basket is passed to you, take what you need but let go of what you do not, lest it be wasted and deprive others unnecessarily.
And if you'll allow me to pass you a basket: if you are feeling like you have a little extra right now, send it over to the World Central Kitchen. They are showing up and feeding people who need to be fed wherever they are, without judging whether they are deserving. When the US government refuses to send aid relief to Democratic states in crisis, like in the recent Spokane wildfires, WCK fed people. When the people of Gaza were relentlessly bombed, killed, and displaced from their homes, WCK fed people. Help fill up the basket. And in times when you can't, trust the rest of us will help fill the basket when it is passed to you.