One of my favorite things about the gospels is how often I read a passage and think it can’t possibly contain anything new for me—and then I get whopped upside the head with a big idea I’ve missed.

That happened to me the other day when I was reading Matthew’s chapter 14 account of Jesus feeding the 5,000. What caught my highly developed sensitivities was the phrase—“besides women and children.” As if women and children aren’t real people and only sort of count? Ack!
If Matthew were alive today, imagine how anxious he’d be to edit that part!

But that’s not what I want to write about today. What caught my heart was noticing for the first time ever that Jesus didn’t feed the 5,000.
His disciples did. His followers noticed the need and worried about it—so kudos to them for that. But their initial solution was one I recognize: “We can’t deal with this. Send them away!”

Jesus had a better idea. “How about you give them something to eat. Whatcha got?”
The disciples brought Jesus what they had, which wasn’t remotely close to enough: Fives loaves of bread and two measly fish.