25 July 2021

25 July 2021

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, ‘Give it to the people and let them eat.’ But his servant said, ‘How can I set this before a hundred people?’ So he repeated, ‘Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, “They shall eat and have some left.” 

2 Kings 4:42-44, NRSV

This story of the miraculous feeding of a large crowd from a small offering of food reminds us straight away of Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand. However, the story told in this reading happened many hundreds of years earlier in the time of the prophet Elisha. At the time when it happened there had been a widespread famine. In the context of a famine, the gift brought by the unnamed man represented an act of great generosity. The fact that the food offered to prophet came from the “first fruits” made the gift even more special. The first fruits of a new harvest represented new life and hope and would no doubt have tasted much better than the stored food from the previous harvest. However, when the man was instructed to give it to the large crowd of people present, the gift no longer seemed adequate to him. Elisha, however, did not stop at the problem but invited God in. The result was that through God’s generosity, everyone was fed and there was food left over.

    • Why do you think Elisha was able to trust in God’s providence?
    • Have you ever been surprised by God’s generosity?

Reflect on and give thanks for the ways in which God Has been able to use the “little” you could give to achieve more than you could have expected.

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