August 5, 2019. It’s Monday. It’s The Feast day. As we waited for a jeepney to take us to SM City, a little boy came to us and begged some money or food. Here in Cebu, there are a lot of people who are like this boy– hungry, impoverished, homeless. Lots had settled in their state of life in the streets. As we were accustomed already to seeing these people, our default response also was to reject them and shoo them away.
Little did we know, the Gospel from the mass that time was from Matthew 14:13 and it shares the story of Jesus Christ and how He fed 5000 people– a popular miracle done by Jesus. When Jesus instructed His disciples to feed the people before sending them away, Andrew responded, “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish.” But Jesus answered, “Bring them here to me.” And then He performed the miracle. Not only did He provided everybody enough to be full, but lavished them so much that there are still basket fulls of left over.
Not only the scripture is reminding us the power of Lord Jesus Christ and His miraculous works, but it is also reminding us the compassion of Jesus Christ to His people and it is also telling us how important it is to trust in God because He is powerful, and He fulfills what He says. The Scripture also tells us to be like Christ, to be loving and giving, to have compassion to the people who are in need. The priest said that the usual reason why we hesitate in giving something is because we think we can only give so little, that what we give can’t help and move the status of those people.
But Jesus Christ is urging us to give even we have little to give, because in Him, everything ordinary will become extraordinary, everything that is little will be magnified, because little is much when God is in it. Christ is telling you that your little help, your 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes, could go a long way as He did in feeding 5000 people, if you just entrust this help to Him. The resources may be little but our God is a powerful God and He promises bountiful blessings.
“Christians must never believe their resources are too little to serve God.”
This experience was really transforming and humbling. I am really rebuked by my behavior towards the needy. I need to remind myself that nothing is costly in giving when it is done out of love and compassion for others, a Christ-driven action.
Let us become more like Christ! May God be glorified.
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