Feed each other

Luke 9:12-17 (NRSV)

The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, 'Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.' But he said to them, 'You give them something to eat.' They said, 'We have no more than five loaves and two fish-unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.' For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, 'Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.' They did so and made them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

I wonder what the disciples thought when Jesus turned to them with the simple-yet seemingly impossible-instruction to 'give them something to eat'. How easy it is to direct people to the nearest shop and how hard it is to provide for them ourselves, to take responsibility for each other in the way that Jesus teaches.

A story tells how, once, a man was invited to visit both heaven and hell. First, he went to hell, where he found all the tormented souls sitting at long tables, laden with all kinds of wonderful food, yet they were starving and howling with hunger. Each soul had a spoon, but the spoons were so long that they couldn't get them into their mouths. Their frustration was their torment.

Then he went to heaven and, to his amazement, there too he found the souls of the blessed, sitting at long tables, laden with all kinds of wonderful food, but they were all well fed and contented. Each had a spoon just as long as the spoons in hell, but they were able to receive all the food they needed. They were feeding each other. Their mutual service was their blessing


Reflection
Next time we are tempted to send a fellow human being elsewhere to find what they need, may we have the grace to save them the journey and feed them ourselves.

Margaret Silf



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