Today’s Old Testament and Gospel readings clearly go together. In both cases we see a miraculous provision of food for large crowds with meager resources. We are all familiar, of course, with the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, a story that appears in all four gospels. Most of us are less familiar with the story from 2 Kings, in which the prophet Elisha, as instructed by God, facilitates the feeding of a large group of people with a small amount of food. Both of these stories speak to a single and fundamental truth about God and God’s activity. As we see in today’s readings, God can and will provide abundantly for our needs, even when the resources seem completely insufficient.
The prophet Elisha, whom God had called to carry on the work of the great prophet Elijah, served in a time of much strife for the people of Israel. His prophetic work occurred in the midst of the wars between Israel and Syria. There was much in flux and many reasons for the Israelites to live in fear. In addition, it was a time of famine and great scarcity, when many had to struggle to survive on very meager food resources. It was in these very difficult circumstances that the events of today’s reading took place.
Although it’s not entirely clear from the passage to whom he was speaking, Elisha was apparently speaking to a large gathering of a hundred people or so. An unnamed man from an unpronounceable village brought some food for the group. It was not just any food; it was the so-called “first fruits” of his labors. That is to say, it was food from the first products of his annual harvest. Jewish tradition made it clear that the tithe prescribed by Jewish law was to come from the first fruits of the harvest.
This of course being in line with the belief that all things ultimately come from God and that everyone should offer a tenth of their possessions back to God to be used for God’s purposes. It was clearly understood by the Jews that this tithe should always come from the “first fruits”, this being an important symbol of correct priorities. One should make an offering to God first, before all else, then one could use the remaining 90% of the fruits of their labors for their own needs and the needs of their family. It was clearly understood that God should get the “first fruits”, not the “leftovers”.
In the story from 2 Kings, we see a man giving of his “first fruits” for God’s purposes. Although he was not giving it to the Jewish temple, which is where the tithe was usually paid, he was giving it to one of God’s chosen prophets, Elisha. The amount that he gave, of course, seemed a measly offering considering how many people were present at this gathering. A servant gave voice to this fact, but Elisha declared, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” And the miraculous occurred.
Fast forward nearly a thousand years to the miraculous event of Jesus feeding the five thousand. This is the story with which we’re all very familiar. Today we read John’s version of the event. Jesus is being followed by a huge crowd of people who want to see and hear from this remarkable man whom they’ve all heard about.
As the crowd approaches, Jesus turns to Philip and asks where they’re going to get food for all these people, apparently only asking the question to test how clued in Philip really is. Philip fails the test, responding as we all would: it’s impossible; there’s no way we can feed all these people. Andrew mentions the five barley loaves and two fish in the possession of a young boy, but merely to point out the absurdity of thinking they could provide food for this mass of humanity. Then Jesus took the bread and the fish offered by the young boy, blessed them and the miraculous occurred.
Although we are sometimes left to scratch our heads and wonder what the compilers of our Sunday lectionary were thinking with their selection of scripture readings, today we can see that they may have indeed known what they were doing. The story of Elisha feeding a large crowd and the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand are clear parallels. They both provide examples of God’s abundant providence, even when the resources to hand seem completely insufficient.
There is, however, something more to be gleaned from each of these important narratives from scripture. In the passage from 2Kings, the feeding of the crowd by Elisha is only made possible when the unnamed man from the unpronounceable village offers the “first fruits” of his labors. He didn’t offer his leftovers, but he offered his “first fruits”. Then, in the passage from the gospel of John, the feeding of the five thousand is only made possible when the young boy offers the measly amount of food that he had. It wasn’t much at all, but he offered it freely.
We know that we are all called as faithful Christians to make offerings of our time, talent and treasure to God in gratitude for all that God has given us. Today’s readings provide us with a couple of important reminders about our offerings. First, there can be no doubt that God deserves our “first fruits” and not our “leftovers”. All that we have and all that we ever hope to possess, whether it be in time, talent or treasure, comes from God. The least we can do in offering some of these gifts back to God for God’s purposes is to give it off the top and up front, rather than waiting to see what we have left for God after seen to our own needs and desires.
The second reminder from today’s lessons comes in the image of a small boy offering the measly amount that he had. It seemed to be almost nothing in the face of such tremendous need. And yet look what Jesus was able to do with that small offering. We may not always feel that what we have to offer is of much value in God’s eyes, but God can do miraculous things with the smallest of offerings, as long as they are offered freely. As Paul states so beautifully in today’s other reading, the passage from Ephesians, God “…by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine…”
