Tabgha- Feeding of 5000 people

Church where the feeding of 5000 people took place 

5 Loaves and 2 Fishes (1)

 5 Loaves and 2 Fishes (2)

We visited the place that the feeding of 5000 people took place at Tabgha. This is the place that Jesus fed 5000 people in Mark 6:38-44, using five loaves and two fishes. I am sure that many of us would have read this many times. It is one of our favorite stories that we heard growing up as children. However, as I read it again and again, I begun to question and ask, why did Jesus tell his disciples in Mark 6:37, to give the people something to eat when he knew that there was no more food or very little left. The disciples replied and said that it would take more than half a year wages to buy bread for all of them to eat. Jesus replied and told them to go and see how much bread is left and the disciples came back with only five loaves and two fishes. Jesus looked up in heaven and gave thanks and broke it and fed them all.

 But couldn't Jesus who turned water into wine, provided bread without the five loafs and two fishes. The answer is of course he could, but then we wonder, why did he ask the disciples to make the effort to find whatever remaining food there is?

Place where Jesus could have
 given thanks before breaking the bread

I personally feel that Jesus wanted to teach 

his disciples about trusting in God. Faith in God is something that we need to have and trust is something that we do as a result of our faith. Imagine we were the disciples, we would have looked at the five loaves and two fishes and said that it is humanly impossible to feed five thousand people with it. But Jesus taught them the perfect lesson that with God, all things are possible.  

The same can be said about us. Sometimes, when we look at the demands of our school, work or other things in our life and we might think that it is impossible for us to fulfill it. But we just need to learn to bring our five loaves and two fishes to God which is what we are left with or able to do and leave the rest to God. He will multiply and give us the strength to fulfill our tasks. All we need to do it is to call out to him to help us.

 Isaiah 58:9, says that when you call out to God, he will answer and 2 Corinthians 12:9 says that his grace is sufficient for us and his power is made perfect in our weakness. Therefore let us learn to place our trust in him in everything that we do.