Feast

I recently spent a bit of time looking into the feast for 5000 men as found in the four gospels. It reminded me of a few years back, something I'd begun to write while looking at the account in John.

Here is what I've written:
Imagine that you are an invited guest for a dinner. You enter the host's home, a comfortable one but not ostentatious. There are about 30 people, young and old milling about in conversation. Finally the host invites everyone to come into the family room/kitchen.... a great room designed for easy living. There is an island in the kitchen and there is the "spread" of food. A small roast beef has been sliced into perhaps 10 or 12 slices, a bowl of mashed potatoes matching in size to the roast, a gravy boat with rich brown gravy accompanies the potatoes, a bowl of green beans with a pat of butter melting over the beans and a basket with perhaps a half dozen dinner rolls peek out from under a red cloth; enough for a family of four or five.

One glance at everyone else's eyes confirms what you are thinking; this guy did not plan well, there is not enough food and everyone is hungry. The host bows his head and begins to pray but all you can think of is how do you gracefully get out of this situation, how do you help maintain this man's dignity by acting like you really aren't hungry. You think of the Taco Bell you passed six miles back and hope the drive-thru window stays open late. Suddenly your thoughts are interrupted by the end of the host's prayer, "....and thank you Heavenly Father for your bounteous gift of food that we are about to partake of. Amen". And then he adds, "Dig in everyone, take all you want." You want to laugh out loud because to your eyes a bite or two of meat, tablespoon of potatoes, five green beans, a meager drizzle of gravy and a shared roll with five other guests is all each will receive this night and you can only hear your hunger.

Suddenly a young boy of 8 or 10 says, "Well, what are we waiting for, I'm hungry". He takes a plate, forks three slices of meat onto his plate, adds two very large dollops of potatoes, a heaping pile of green beans (you're thinking here "What boy eats green beans without cajoling by a dutiful mother), pours gravy over everything and adds an entire roll atop the plate. His innocent hunger has driven him to not understand he must mentally divide out what is before him by the number of diners and take only that portion. All eyes watch the boy carefully find a place at a nearby table, generously butter the roll and scoop a big bite of gravied mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"What do we do now" you think as your eyes turn back to the woeful spread that has been depleted ungraciously by the boy. You decide to follow his lead but will set a more moderate tone. Just as you pick up your plate with the intent of slicing off a meager bite of beef your eyes are opened and suddenly there is more than you thought at the buffet. Had your eyes deceived you at first look of the buffet? How could there possibly be more food when a moment before there was so little. You look around and see that you are the only one who sees this. For some reason you are seeing something others can't see. You follow the boy’s faithful lead and fill your plate with a tiny giggle playing on the corner of your mind. There really is more at this feast than first believed. You just needed to enter into the meal to see it.

I think it was a little bit like that for those folks that day. There was no reason for them to believe there would be enough food for all but they took what they wanted nonetheless, they entered in with the eyes of faith they needed because they were driven by hunger. Unfortunately when the hunger was abated and they were back in Capernaum, they no longer could hear or see the feast that was before them in the person of Jesus.