(a Thanksgiving week series)

There is never enough.

That’s how many of us feel as we are planning parties, as we are preparing for events, as we are getting ready for company.

There is never enough. There is always something more we should fix, something more that we need to provide. We worry about running out. We wonder whether there are enough potatoes or stuffing or pizza or snacks.

Tragically, that concern means that we spend the whole time focused on whether people are having a good time. We completely waste time together wondering whether there is enough.

At one of the biggest feasts of Jesus’ career, there clearly wasn’t enough. He knew it. The disciples knew it. Anyone overhearing knew it.

Five loaves, two fish.

Preachers  spend hours trying to make a point about how big or small the loaves were, whether the fish were like sardines or salmon. In making a point about the quantity, they sometimes obscure the point: there wasn’t enough to go around. (If one of them had been the size of Jonah’s friend, perhaps the story would have been different.)

But there wasn’t enough.

What’s he do? After having everyone pull their chairs up to the table, he takes the loaves, gives thanks, and passes out as much bread as anyone wants.  He does the same with the fish.

He gives thanks for not enough. He gives thanks for what he has.

Jesus acts as if God is completely capable of accomplishing what God wants to accomplish.

Of course, the people were out on this hillside so long because Jesus had been teaching. He gave them spiritual bread, as much as they could hold. Then he fed them.

When we bring our bits, sometimes we can hear his thanks. And then, more than enough.