"All of Them Ate... and Were Filled."

"I ask for the grace to pray and meditate faithfully.  I ask for patience, tolerance, gentleness, empathy, and compassion.  I ask to abstain from anger, anxiety, compulsive behaviour, discouragement, arrogance, and self-importance.  I ask to know and follow Jesus more closely, seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly."


Matthew 15:32-39
32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ ³³The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ ³⁴Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ They said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’ ³⁵Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ³⁸Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.^*


1) "...compassion for the crowd;" "...three days;" "...have nothing to eat;" "...enough;" "...bread in the desert;" "...giving thanks... broke... and gave;" "...crowds;" "...Jesus called;" "...bread in the desert;" "...so great a crowd;" "...four thousand men, besides women and children;"


2) The words, "giving thanks... broke... and gave," are the same words used in the institution of communion.  Matthew has made a parallel here.  "bread in the desert" is clearly a reference to "manna in the wilderness" of Exodus.  If the disciples knew their scripture, they might have seen the set up.  The desert is an unlikely place to eat one's fill, let alone some 10,000 people, men, women and children.  Yet, it is asserted, they ate and were filled.  This account does not say they were satisfied, only that they were filled.  Can I trust that we have enough?  Some days it is difficult when work gets stacked up and everyone has a need at the same time.  But God provides in the wilderness and the desert, why wouldn't there be enough here in the middle of the rainforest?


3) What is the invitation in all this?  To trust that there is indeed enough, even when it feels like we are in a dry place.


"Holy One, let me trust and obey, even when I doubt."


Breathprayer: "All of them ate... and were filled."