The story in Matthew 14 of Jesus feeding the five thousand with just five loaves and two fish, is well known.
Having moved continents recently, I have realised that there is a cultural component to how food is shared when in a group. Back home in the UK, when invited to eat with others, we do a kind of mental calculation about the quantity of food available. For example: ‘there are 8 pieces of chicken and 6 people, so I better take just one piece; to take two would look greedy!’ In this way everyone has their share, and the awkwardness only comes later when considering seconds, and then we say ‘No, after you’, ‘No after you’ etc, or perhaps engage in some more devious manoeuvring to increase our chances of getting one of the two remaining pieces of chicken!
In some African cultures, the sharing of food is handled quite differently. The first person to help themselves takes all the food they would like, with no thought that there may not be enough for later eaters. This is not an expression of greed, but simply a different understanding of responsibility.
In the British model, it is the eaters’ responsibility to ensure everyone has food and so they calculate their share. In the African mindset, it is seen as the host’s responsibility to ensure that there is enough food for everyone, and so if the people at the end of the line end up with nothing, this demonstrates the under-provision by the host, not the greed or insensitivity of those at the front of the queue. In the event of the food running out, the host is expected to go and prepare some more.
But, if you are anything like me, I find it difficult not to look at those ‘greedy and insensitive’ people at the front of the queue who have left me without! It is very difficult to put my British mindset aside!
Back to Jesus and the five loaves and two fish.
Imagine yourself sitting in the crowd - a huge crowd of "about five thousand men, besides women and children” (Matt 14 v21), and one of the disciples eventually gets to where you are sitting. You can see that he only has a bit of bread and even less fish, and there are many, many people behind you, still waiting to eat. How much bread and fish do you take?
My first thought was to take just a tiny piece of bread - like at a communion service! - and maybe a flake or two of fish. Even that is more than my share! So I see it as a symbolic meal rather than an ‘eat-all-u-can’ offer that you sometimes see at a restaurant.
The trouble is, that in doing this, I have robbed myself of feasting on Jesus’ abundant provision; I have not realised that the Host is very well able to provide all that I - and everyone else - could possibly need, and indeed much more!
And this Bible passage tells us that He can, and He did!
