Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 14 verses 15 through 21:
15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
This story begins with strong emphasis on the great crowd and the little resources. Five thousand people and just two fish and five loaves of bread -- a problem. And so long as what they had remained in the disciples' possession the math was very, very bad.
But the miracle happens when the disciples do what Jesus' asks them to do with the loaves and fish. "Bring them to me," he says; and they do. And in Jesus' hands the resources are miraculously increased. The math somehow ends up working out, and all are satisfied.
It was five loaves and two fish when the disciples gave them over to Jesus; it was enough to feed a multitude by the time Jesus blessed and broke them. The miracle took place somewhere between the hands of the disciples and those of Jesus.
In a commentary on this text St Augustine said that there is always enough of that which is intended to be given away. And the inverse of that is also true, there is never enough so long as that which is meant to be given away is held onto.
And somewhere in between -- between our hands and God's -- lies the miracle we call giving.
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