Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled. Mark 6:41-42
“We have this wondrous story of Jesus transforming the wilderness into a place of nourishing plenty. Jesus radically disrupts how the world was thought to be. The wilderness, the “deserted place” in the story, was where there was no viable life-support system. He thought He was going there to rest, but He was met by a big crowd of those who were drawn to Him. They believed He would indeed disrupt their failed world, though they knew not how.
Jesus did not disappoint them. He was moved with great compassion when He saw the hungry crowd. He had His stomach turned by their need. He engaged their hunger, because they lived in a false world without resources. His disciples accepted the barren wilderness without resources as a given; they wanted the crowd dispersed. They tried to protect Jesus from the need of the world. But Jesus scolded them and told them to feed the crowd.
But they were without resources. They said, “We do not have resources to do that,” only puny supplies of bread and fish. They accepted the scarcity and force of the wilderness. The crowd may have expected food, but His disciples have no such hope. They have no such hope even though they have traveled with Jesus and watched Him work.
The story we tell about scarcity is a fantasy. It is not a true story. It is a story invented by those who have too much to justify getting more. It is a story accepted by those who have nothing in order to explain why they have nothing. That story is not true, because the world belongs to God and God is the creator of abundant life. All of us are invited to be children and practitioners of this other story. We act it out in ways that disrupt our society, even as Jesus continues to disrupt our world of scarcity with His abundance.”
Walter Brueggemann in “Scarcity and Plenty” in A Way other than Our Own: Devotions for Lent: Devotions for Lent (Louisville: WJKP, 2017) 50-51.
I think Jesus went out in the the wilderness to be with the Father. Previously, Jesus had spent 40 days with Him there (cf. Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). When, however, the hungry horde followed Him there, He graciously supplied “nourishing plenty” to teach His disciples and the crowds that life in Him included abundance for everyone.
As we walk through Lent, which is 40 days long to mirror the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, we learn that the scarcity story is obsolete. We discover to a new story and resolve to live by it! It is cause for celebration today, the first of seven feast days of Lent! Brueggemann offers us a prayer to this end.
We are constricted by stories of scarcity. Break through those false tales with the surprising truth of abundance. May we bask in your shalom then perform your story of generosity over and over again. Amen.