Week 4 – Tuesday 29 March

“Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.”

Reading

Mark 6.30-44

Feeding the Five Thousand

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.’ But he answered them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said to him, ‘Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘How many loaves have you? Go and see.’ When they had found out, they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

Reflection

There is little more basic than bread. If you have access to the staple food of your culture, you live. If you do not, you starve. Bread is a measure of justice. Those who hoard it deprive those who need it, and waste it themselves. Bread reminds us that justice and injustice are practical, embodied, and urgent. As the people of God moved away from Sinai, the memory of manna in the desert became distant. God’s abundance was forgotten and scarcity led to competition for resources and increasing inequalities of wealth.

In the midst of scarcity, of worry about providing for the crowd, Jesus proclaims anew that God’s abundance is still there to be received. The meal is simple, but everyone has their fill, and leftovers are taken away – enough for those who were absent, through choice or necessity.

Where are the ‘leftovers’ in your life? Love, food, resources to be shared?

Prayer

Generous God, give us today our daily bread, and let us not hoard for tomorrow the bread that our neighbour needs today. Amen.

Today’s family challenge

Hunt for spare toys, books or games you no longer need