Witness To A Miracle
Something So Small and Insignificant
Ronald W. Mitchell
“Do you believe in miracles?” Those words are forever linked to the 1980 Olympics men’s gold medal hockey game between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was the four-time defending gold medalist and heavily favored to take the gold once again. The game is often referred to as the “miracle on ice.” That day in Lake Placid, the unexpected happened with the US winning 4-3, and capturing the gold medal.
My guess is that we hold a shared hope that miracles are possible. Think of those moments when the odds against you are unimaginable and the outcome seems certain. But somewhere deep inside you there is a thought… a hope, that it can turn out differently. I know I’ve been there many times and am certain that life has even more situations like this in store.
Miracles were commonplace in the life of Jesus Christ. Some miracles were the result of His simply calling forth the unexpected. Other times, Jesus used raw materials to perform a miracle. Like the time Jesus used a little boy’s lunch of 5 bread rolls and a couple of sardines to feed over 5,000 hungry people.
This remarkable story begins with Jesus finishing a short boat trip across the Sea of Galilee. Having stepped off the boat, Jesus encounters a large crowd. The crowd is a mix of the curious (who is this Jesus Christ?) as well as those anxious (perhaps he can do for me what he has done for others) to hear and be close to Christ. The crowd numbered in the thousands, but the push of the crowd never seemed to unnerve Jesus. He never loses his cool or becomes short-tempered with the people and their needs. In fact, if you look closely, the needs of the people deeply moved Christ with compassion. Being moved with compassion, Jesus begins to move among them, healing many of the sick and afflicted.
“And the people saw them (Christ and his disciples) going, and many recognized them, and they ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. And when He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things and healed their sick.” (Mark 6:33-34; Matthew 14:14)
Notice that Jesus saw people. You say, “well that’s obvious with the crowds around him.” But there is more. When Jesus saw people he saw them with all their pain, emptiness, loneliness, and brokenness. To have compassion, (splanchnizomai in the Greek New Testament), means literally to be moved in one's bowels, or viscera, where the ancients considered the emotions and feelings to reside. The Son of God was not remote or coldly calculating and analytical concerning men's needs but was deeply moved by the suffering, confusion, despair, and spiritual lostness of those around Him. Jesus felt pain, experiencing genuine anguish for the suffering of others, whether they were believer or unbeliever, Jew or Gentile, man or woman, young or old, wealthy or poor. He must have felt much as He did when He approached Lazarus's grave and wept (John 11:35) and when He looked out over Jerusalem through tears and said, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes" (Luke 19:42). He is the compassionate heart of God.
It seems that Jesus’ preoccupation with the people made him unaware of how late it had become. His disciples approached Him and reminded him of how late in the day it was, that there was no food near by, and that the people should be sent home to eat.
“And when it was already quite late, His disciples came up to Him and began saying, "The place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
In John 6 we see that Jesus turns to Philip and asks for the local bakery. “When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’” (John 6:5). Bethsaida is just off the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee and was Philip’s home territory. He knew the area and it was familiar to him. As I think about this moment and opportunity for faith, I am reminded that often the enemy of faith is that which is familiar and known. I know my tendency is to lean into what I know when God might be asking me to lean into Him; trust Him.
Phillip seems to have a mind that is a lot like mine. He is confronted with the question and immediately his mind engages analytically. And in a moments time he comes up with the answer: a denarius was a Roman coin worth a day’s wages for a common laborer. Even eight month’s wages would not be sufficient to buy enough bread for everyone have to have a bite.
So, throughout the day Jesus has been moving among the people, healing the sick and hurting gathered on the hillside. The disciples, and not for the first time, have had front row seats to the miraculous authority and power of Jesus. Yet, having seen, they do not see; having heard, they do not hear.
Having seen do you see? Having heard do you hear? Having believed do you believe? This puts context to faith as John describes it in his gospel. True faith, saving faith, believes and continues to believe. It is not like those who believed upon seeing Jesus perform a miracle only to hear him declare something hard, not hard to understand but hard to accept, and at that point turn away from following Him.
On this occasion the disciples are like a person who stands in front of Niagara Falls and asks where I can find a drink. They were shoulder to shoulder with Jesus, who holds all authority and power, yet they were so slow to exercise faith. They knew it, but they did not know it. Had anyone asked them, “have you witnessed Jesus do miracles,” in unison they would have answered, “yes we have, on numerous occasions.” Now, in this moment to exercise trust, they saw their own lack instead of His sufficiency.
We are tempted to think that, had we been there, our first thought would have been to ask Jesus to feed the multitudes, as He had proven Himself previously. What could have been a more obvious solution than to have the Son of God create food to feed this crowd, just as He had created wine for the wedding guests at Cana? That would hardly have been an impossible challenge to the One who healed every sort of disease, raised the dead, cast out demons, walked on water, and instantaneously calmed a fierce storm. Yet, how many times have you faced a crisis that seemed overwhelming and insurmountable, yet failed to consider the Lord's power?
Despite two years of walking with the Lord, hearing Him teach God's truth and seeing Him demonstrate miraculous power, the twelve were still too spiritually dull to see the obvious. They were looking only with their human eyes and only at human resources.
Has what you have seen and heard translated to personal faith?
At this point, a young and small boy, demonstrates the purity of a child’s heart. Andrew, one of the disciples, brings the boy to Jesus. In his hand is a small lunch, packed by his loving mother. Here’s how the scriptures record it: "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. And when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost." (Mark 6:35-36; John 6:8-12)
Though all the gospels record this miracle only John mentions the boy. He describes him with a double diminutive; most likely he was very young and very small. There is something else to observe about the boy that is revealed in the kind of loaves he has in his lunch. Barley was generally considered an inferior grain by the people of that time. It was lower in protein as compared to wheat; described as “food fit for beasts”; and was fed to soldiers who were being punished for losing courage on the battlefield. Therefore, this very small and very young boy is likely the son of a poor family. And what about the fish? The small, pickled fish were what we might commonly consider a sardine.
From a very small and very young boy’s brown bag lunch, thousands were not only given something to eat, but as the scriptures testify, “were filled”. This expression can also mean “to be satisfied.” In the agrarian culture of Jesus’ day it was used of animals who stayed at the feed trough until they wanted nothing more to eat. Jesus used the same term in the Beatitudes when He promised that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness "shall be satisfied" (Matt. 5:6).
The lessons from this event are numerous. The little, that the boy had, (little in comparison to the need) he surrendered to Christ. What Christ did with it was amazing. The point here is that the little lad first had to relinquish control. I wonder if it was hard for this boy to let go of something his mom had lovingly prepared for him? I wonder if he thought about his own appetites going unmet? I guess we could venture answers to these questions all day but the one thing is very clear, the little boy did not hesitate to share what he had.
During that day, did the boy witness one or more of the many healings Jesus performed? Did that spark something in his imagination that Jesus might do something extraordinary with his little lunch? I’m not convinced the boy knew what Christ could do with his meager lunch, but I am convinced he trusted Him with the little he had. What about you? You too may not know what Christ can do with what you surrender to him, but are you are you willing to trust him by surrendering what you have.
Have you trusted Christ and discovered for yourself that he alone can satisfy the yearning of your soul? Have you come to him and declared, “here’s my life, I place it in your control. I’m counting on you alone for all of life and eternity.” Like the little boy, we can experience something greater than we ever imagined, by placing what we have in the hands of Christ and trusting Him with it.
You too, can know a satisfaction that is beyond anything this world can provide. This satisfaction is found only in Jesus Christ and is abundantly provided.
