From Forward Day by Day
Mark 8:4 His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?”
Jesus and his disciples see the vast crowd and they see also that people will be hungry. At first, it seems like nothing can be done. Then Jesus blesses bread and fish, and suddenly there is more than enough. Too often, I hear people dismiss these stories with convenient explanations. Can we not consider the possibility that this is a miracle? If we believe in a God who created the heavens and the earth, if we believe in a God who could raise Jesus on the third day, could we not also believe in a God who could create abundance where there was only scarcity?
I might be tempted to doubt miracles like this and to ask how people can be fed in a desert. But then I think about miracles I have seen in my lifetime. How can there be reconciliation in South Africa, where racism is entrenched? How can Catholics and Protestants find peace in Northern Ireland? In each case, the impossible happened. What might God do in our lives to create abundance where there is scarcity?
