Sharer: Sarah Lauren Lim, Batch 43
Gospel (John 6:1-15)Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
6 Some time after this, Jesus
crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of
Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw
the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus
went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The
Jewish Passover Festival was near.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a
great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy
bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for
he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would
take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to
have a bite!”8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there).11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
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The story about Jesus
feeding the five thousand is not new to us. In fact we heard it several times
but do we apply it in our personal lives? This story teaches us that with God
nothing is impossible. In the story, the boy shared what he had and after doing
that, people imitated him by sharing what they also had which resulted to
having plenty of leftovers. It also teaches us to give thanks to God for all
the blessings he has given us like what Jesus did. Let us focus with sharing
our blessings and giving thanks to God.
I asked my best friend,
Ayette about the question: “Why do you share?” Her response is that “Sharing makes me happy because I feel that I
am so blessed that God gave me this kind of opportunity to share the blessings
he gave to others too. One reason why I share is because the feeling of knowing
that I shared to someone gives an impact that can be contagious. It’s like the
one whom you shared with, will also find ways to share to others because deep
within his heart it is a nice feeling. Then it will create a ripple effect that
will go on and on.” Several friends also agreed that it gives them a nice
feeling after sharing.
We are blessed to have
a generous, merciful and loving God. He is teaching us to do the same to our
neighbors no matter how difficult and challenging they can be. Our Lord is an
amazing God that even before we ask, He already knew what to give to us even
beyond what we deserve. As he extends his hand and blesses us with much, he is
also expecting us to bless others with the blessings he gave. The joys in our
heart after sharing like experiencing heaven on earth. This unexplained feeling
of happiness and contentment is different and can only be experienced through
sharing and through the grace of God.
Sharing your blessings
doesn’t refer to money alone. Sharing can be through your time, talent or
treasure. Sharing is blessing, is caring and is loving. In sharing, we also
give thanks to God because He is the source of all this and by doing that, we
give glory to His name. Let us continue to share what we have because God’s
generosity cannot be undone and that the more we share, the more we gain and
also the more people will experience the same. As followers of Jesus, may we
become an instrument of God’s love to the people we encounter by sharing and
being a blessing to others so that they too can experience heaven on earth and
will also do the same to others.
And for this may God
be praised!
