“In Abundance”

“Taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.” Matthew 14: 20

I don’t know about your garden, but my garden is overflowing with huge tomato, basil, cucumber, potato, and zucchini plants. Every year, it never ceases to amaze me how well the garden grows with an abundance of vegetables and herbs. Every year, I am also amazed to the point of almost annoyance how well just one zucchini plant can produce so many zucchinis. In our house, we’ve had shredded, bbq, baked, sautéed, and raw zucchini…in abundance.

The story in the Bible of Jesus feeding 5000 people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish is a miraculous story and a story of abundance. What began with a very small amount of food for a couple of families, fed thousands of people with lots of leftovers. Miracles are hard to understand and explain, but they are meant teach us about God. The miracle of God providing food in abundance for a group of hungry people 2000 years ago teaches us about the abundance of God.

Generally, a good rule of thumb is ‘everything in moderation’, but not with God because God works in abundance. God offers us an abundance of justice and peace and grace and hope and love, even more than my abundant crop of zucchinis. Now, that is a miracle.