When the Blame Game Does Nothing

(And that's pretty much always.)

The other gospels (Matthew, Mark, & Luke) contain many more stories than John does. But John’s accounts of events, though they are much fewer, provide many more details within a narrative.

The dialogue between Jesus and the disciples in today’s passage is interesting. As the situation builds - Jesus & disciples on a mountain, then the the arrival of a large crowd, then the realization of their need, etc. - we can see a bit of purpose behind the way Jesus handles things.

The general human response seems based upon pragmatics. But in this situation - large crowd, no food - the pragmatics just can’t match the need. As realization of such disparity truly sets in you can perhaps imagine the hopelessness.

Today, we might sit around fretting about it, discussing the various procedural oversights that should have been better. We might argue about the system and how it brought us here. We could blame particular factions or leaders that could have prevented the disparity (“If Rome/Jerusalem/the synagogue was taking care of these people, the crowd following us wouldn’t be so big!”).

In this predicament, Jesus has none of that. He simply goes to action.

Have the people sit down…

John 6:1-13

After this Jesus went across the Galilee Sea (that is, the Tiberias Sea). A large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miraculous signs he had done among the sick. Jesus went up a mountain and sat there with his disciples. It was nearly time for Passover, the Jewish festival.

Jesus looked up and saw the large crowd coming toward him. He asked Philip, “Where will we buy food to feed these people?” Jesus said this to test him, for he already knew what he was going to do.

Philip replied, “More than a half year’s salary worth of food wouldn’t be enough for each person to have even a little bit.”

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “A youth here has five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that for a crowd like this?”

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread. When he had given thanks, he distributed it to those who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, each getting as much as they wanted. When they had plenty to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves that had been left over by those who had eaten.

Psalm 145:15-16

All eyes look to you, hoping, and you give them their food right on time, opening your hand and satisfying the desire of every living thing.

Prayer

God,

Thank you for being the one who sees our need, even before we do. In moments of hopelessness or disparity, when the task feels overwhelming and the solutions seem out of reach, help us to trust not only in your provision, but in the means by which it may come.

Teach us to resist the urge to assign blame or get lost in analysis, and instead, to move active faith. Give us both the wisdom and the gumption to be people who bring order to chaos, hope to despair, and care to those in need—offering what we have and trusting you to multiply it.

When we see the gaps in our world, remind us that your abundance meets our insufficiency. Give us courage to take the small steps we can, believing that you can do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.