“How many loaves do you have?”

Mark 8:1-4, In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”

It’s wonderful to see that the disciples who walked with Jesus had a hard time believing in what he could do, for we do the same today. It’s amazing that just before this time Jesus had requested that they feed five-thousand, and they had seen his miraculous feeding from only five loaves. He is compassionate not only towards the hungry multitude, but also to their blindness as he is to ours, for he simply proceeds once again asking them only to bring what they have to him, and once again a multitude of four-thousand eats until they are satisfied with food left over. How much do we limit what he wants to do by our own blindness and unbelief?

Give us your eyes to see what you want to accomplish; increase our faith in what you can do!

ESV Lectionary