I love the Gospel story of the feeding of the multitudes. It really pings my heart to see how desperate people are to know that God exists and that He provides for His people at all times and in all places. What a great lesson it is for us to take to heart and live with each day. But perhaps there is something more going on under the surface!
As I gave foremention in my previous post, I don’t think that the Gospel contains the whole story. We just get a part of it, to whet our appetitites I suppose, for the full story that perhaps got lost somewhere on the way to the editor and press house.
Some people have already surmised that maybe Jesus didn’t necessarily have to increase the numbers of loaves and fishes in order to have a good supply, if the people who were there gave out of their abundance as they realized that the nourishment that they had brought for their own consuming could be offered to the congregated throng of people, in addition to the seven loaves and a few fishes that the disciples had on hand. Jesus merely had to give the command for it to be gathered and passed out.
I don’t buy that version either. There simply wouldn’t have been enough to feed the large crowds that Jesus attracted. There wouldn’t have been any place to keep that much food stored in one place where the disciples could get at it in a hurry and redistribute it, even if the owners generously elected to sacrifice it and give it to their assembled neighbors.
There had to be a middle man, as there always are on these occasions of opportunity. Some wealthy businessman or a keen trader who recognises a chance to make a buck by anticipating the need for a broker or handler of goods to be procured and delivered. The advertisement for the event would announce a warehouse location enroute to the site of the sermon or parable. If you were too busy to take advantage of the offer, then you most likely went without. Everyone who came could then concentrate on the speaker rather than whether or not their tummies were full. The miracle in this case is that the people came at all. That they took time from their schedule to hear a man speak who claimed to have higher connections.
The Bible doesn’t mention whom this person might be, but we can make some probable guesses that are certainly close to the truth.
Peter was a fisherman before becoming a disciple. He certainly would have access to those in the fishing community.
Jesus later said, Feed my sheep, Peter, if you love me. Is it possible that this might be a veiled reference to an earlier event, when Peter literally fed a multitude with physical food rather than merely spiritual varieties of apostolic showmanship. Peter vehemently remonstrates, You know I do Lord. He could have added for effect, Don’t you remember when I provided for the crowds at your chats? Wasn’t it I that did all that for you, Lord? Have I ever let you down in the past? And so on. But in the face of his betrayal can only reply, You know that I do Lord.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say yes, it was Peter who provided the multiplication of the fishes, out of the abundance of his love for Jesus his Lord whose strength he needed and from whom he sought forgiveness.
Where is the likeness of Peter today? Who has the storehouse of smoked fishes that could be relieving the starvation that is present in the world today? Does anybody take literally the saying of the Christ, Feed my sheep? If we love Jesus, then we should do as he asked us to do.
Where is the likeness of Peter today? We give some crumbs, some dried up rice and flour to our neighbors today, and they get some nourishment from it, but they also need meat, living tissues of life that the rest of us take for granted. Chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows are not vegetarian products. They don’t grow in rice paddies, but in fields of green grass and blue skies.
Where is the likeness of Peter today? Who cares for the unloved, the unneeded, the forsaken? Pray for the likeness of Peter who can come through once again for God’s suffering ones under oppression and starvation!
Jesus said, I have prayed for you Peter, that you not be sifted by the evil one. The gates of hell shall not prevail against you.
The man like Peter is our man. Where is Peter?
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