A Day of Miracles

John 6:1-13

The crowd was thick.
Anticipation was heavy in the air,
Carried on the heat of the day,
And on the wings of the flies.
Something was about to happen.

Philip stood next to Andrew,
His eyes squinted against the sun.
"He wants us to feed all of these people."
They looked out over the crowd.
A sea of faces.
Expectant and hungry.
Hungry for bread.
Hungry for the Bread of life.
He looked at the coins in his hand,
And said, almost to himself.
"He asks the impossible,
We do not have enough."
Philip left to speak with Judas,
Still shaking his head.

Andrew stood at the edge of the crowd,
Feeling the weight of scarcity.
A small boy, who had been standing nearby,
Came to him, and tugged on his robe.
He held up his basket, grungy and dirty.
He said, "I have this.
Will it be enough?
You can have it all."
Setting it down at Andrew's feet,
He looked up.
He was missing teeth,
But his smile was complete.
Andrew smiled back,
Patted the boy on the shoulder,
And thanked him,
For his food,
And for his generous spirit.

After the boy ran off to rejoin the crowd,
Andrew picked up the basket.
He always took everything to Jesus --
People, questions, fears.
He supposed this was no different,
Although he felt like a fool.
Shaking his head as he argued with himself,
He carried the basket to where Jesus sat.
"A boy gave me this.
Five loaves, two fish,
I know it's not nearly enough."

Jesus smiled at Andrew,
And told him to have everyone sit down.
They shared the field,
They shared in thanksgiving.
They shared the food.
They all were part of a miracle.

When everyone had been fed,
Jesus had one more transformation to perform.
He sent his disciples into the crowd,
So that they could be changed.
So that their small faith, their attitude of scarcity,
Could be enlarged by witnessing abundance.
What had been small, had been changed to excess.
What had been the generosity of a boy,
What had once been the seed of love,
Had born the fruit of a miracle.
Where the disciples had seen the impossible,
Jesus had shown them more than enough.

It had been a day of many miracles.

Thanks to Jeff's comment and sermon today for many of the images.
Image: Sunset across the street from our house.