John the baptist had just been executed.
Jesus attempted to retreat to be alone (probably to mourn), but the crowds followed him.
Moved with compassion for them, He received them. Preached the kingdom of God to them and healed those in need of healing.
As the day turned to evening the disciples, concerned about the crowd, requested that Jesus send them away to get something to eat.
Jesus already had a plan. We know this by the conversation he had with Phillip. John 6:6
A young man had a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish and we all know what Jesus did with them.
This question occurred to me: What if the young man hadn’t given up his food? We know Jesus took it. But I don’t believe He took it by force. Jesus (or one of the disciples) more than likely asked for it and the lad handed it over.
But what if, thinking about himself and maybe his family and what they would eat the next day, he had refused to give Jesus the food? After all, he wasn’t aware of Jesus plan. He was probably pretty hungry himself at this point. Maybe he thought about giving them half of it. Or maybe he thought of just keeping one loaf of bread for himself. I wonder about his state of mind and I put myself in his place. Would I have freely given all of it? I am often fearful there will come a time when my family won’t have enough. I think this causes me to hold back from my own offering. I call it my “just in case” account. What if I get sick and I miss a day of work next week? What if, what if?
What if the kid in the story hadn’t given Jesus his food?
God honored Abel’s offering and dishonored Cain’s. If our offering isn’t a sacrifice does God honor it?
After I typed this post I immediately thought about deleting it. I wondered if it was a valid point of view. What I see in scripture often seems strange compared to what others see and it worries me. I’m happy that it might have been useful in some way. Thank you for your comments.
As I read this, there was picture on the cover of a cardboard children’s book that we as kids had, in amongst all the “stuff” in the “playroom”, popped into my head, it was of a very little boy with his eyes down holding up the fishes and loaves. And yet I never heard anything like this before, him giving all he had, but now that you bring it up I feel dumb for never noticing. Awesome!
Shelly, Wow! Thank you for “sharing” that. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that perspective before. It is just what I needed to hear. I’m thanking and praising God for giving me the ears to hear it!