Our Little Efforts put in Jesus’ Hands Yields Bountiful Results

07-25-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

The first reading and the gospel have a common theme, the scarcity of resources at hand to satisfy the hunger of a large crowd. In the first reading, a man came bringing to Elisha, twenty barley loaves of bread made from first fruit and fresh grain and Elisha commanded the man to give it to the people to eat. The servant objected saying “how can I set this before a hundred people”. Elisha insisted, “Give it to the people to eat. For thus says he Lord, they shall eat and there shall be left over's. When they had eaten, there was left over's as the Lord had said.” In the Gospel, Jesus asked the disciple, “Where can we buy enough food for the people to eat”. Philip replied, just like the servant in the first reading responded with negative attitude, “Two hundred days wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little”. John in this passage tells us that Jesus said this to test him, because He Himself knew what he was going to do.

The lessons we get from both readings is for us to do our own part and let God do the rest for us. The only thing Jesus demands from us is to put our every little effort into His hands and see the miracle He would do for us. Jesus takes the little that is offered to Him, and in His hands it becomes an abundant meal. No wonder Living Word Today has this beautiful quote, “We bring to the Eucharist the little that we have, all fragments of our inadequacies, our successes and failures, our hopes and fears. We offer them to God with the fruits of the earth and the work of human hands, and these small gifts are transformed and offered back to us as the gift of Jesus sacramental body and blood, into whose life we have gathered.” Every little effort put in the hand of Jesus yields a bountiful result.

The second lesson is to avoid looking at any situation as an impossible or hopeless situation at the first instance. Elisha’s servant in the first reading when told to give the food to the people saw the situation as hopeless because in his mind the twenty loaves could not feed all the people: What he immediately saw was a hopeless situation, however, at the insistence of Elisha the servant gave out the bread and at last there were many left over. Similarly, in the Gospel, when Jesus asked the disciple where they could buy enough food for the people. Philip saw a very desperate and impossible situation and that is why he said that even two hundred days wages would not be enough. The attitude of looking at any situation as hopeless at first instance is a sign of lack of faith in God, who told us to trust in Him at all times. We are not to conceive any situation as hopeless no matter how bad it looks, but to hand that very situation into the hands of Jesus and see what He would make of it.

The last lesson we could take from this gospel reading is to become an Andrew, in this situation who sees a boy with barley loaves and two fish. To become Andrew means to see hope, future and a little light in every situation from where the other abundant miracle could happen. It was because Andrew, saw the little boy who had the little barley loaves which were brought to Jesus that the miracle was able to happen. In our lives there can always be people like that little boy who can bring something that transforms our lives and change our situation, unless we become like Andrew to such things we would miss the miracle. May God open our eyes to always see people within our community, family and society with five barley loaves and two fish which would be put into the hands of Jesus to bring us change.