Ever wonder what this story in the Gospel means to you. I was reflecting on this last night, and I discerned another meaning to this story. In a nutshell, Jesus was preaching to a large crowd of people, approximately 5,000, when it was getting late. His disciples advised Jesus that He should send the crowd off to the farms and towns to look for their own food. Instead Jesus asked the disciples to bring what food they had; which was Five Loaves of Bread and 2 Fishes, Blessed it and distributed it enough to feed 5000 people, with 12 baskets full to spare. Interestingly the Gospel reading starts off with saying that Jesus noticed the large crowd, moving around like Sheep with out a Shepherd, and He decide to preach to them.
A simple and lovely story on how Jesus takes care of his flock. For me I further understood it that it the Five Loaves and Two Fishes really represented the gifts that we have. The number of items , 7 in total could reflect the gifts/ fruits of the spirit. Yet these simple and meager gifts, 5 loaves and 2 Fishes, especially in today's context – really boring meals, barely enough for our own self and not others, through the grace and blessing of Jesus, are multiplied to serve many others, and still be blessed with many more that it is abundantly overflowing. The 5 Loaves and 2 Fishes, were taken from a little boy in the crowd, symbolizing how Jesus, can use your gifts to serve many of his wondering flock.
A further important part of the reflection, is that these gifts without Jesus, will still remain the 5 loaves and 2 fishes, that could only feed the little boy. However in the midst of "Chaos" and with Jesus as our shepherd, and through His nurturing and blessings of the gifts we have, our potential is limitless and overflowing. He uses the simple things in our life, to bring our the full potential we can be, to reach out to the lost and searching, and fills them with good things
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