What You Already Have Is Enough To Set Something New In Motion

I’m guessing that many of us might have heard a version of the folk tale “Stone Soup” when we were growing up. While there are many variations of the story, the basic premise is that a hungry stranger comes into a town looking for food. After facing an initial rejection from the community, the stranger declares in the public square, “If only I had a pot  of water and a fire, I could make my delicious stone soup!” Curious villagers come out and supply the stranger with a pot and firewood. As the water is boiling, the newcomer throws in a stone and “samples” the soup. They declare, “My, my…It is delicious, but it could use a little onion…” Another villager “remembers” that they have an onion at home that they can share and bring it to the stranger for the soup. And then one-by-one the other villagers “remember” that they, too, have vegetables to contribute to the stone soup. The story ends by telling us that everyone was fed with a delicious soup.

Today’s gospel reading sounds like a version of Stone Soup.

A great crowd had gathered around Jesus, and he had been teaching them and curing the sick all day. As the evening approaches, the disciples urge Jesus to “dismiss the crowds” so that the people can go into town and get food for themselves.

A very reasonable idea, indeed! I mean, c’mon, the disciples can’t be expected to feed the thousands who have gathered. Can they?

Well, Jesus apparently thinks so!

We read from the gospel of Matthew today, but this story appears in the gospel of Mark (the earliest gospel written) and a similar story from the gospel of John (the latest gospel written), and each has a slightly different telling. In the gospel of Mark (from which Matthew’s story is adapted), Jesus asks a question of the disciples which is assumed in today’s reading.

Jesus asks the disciples, “Well, what have you got?”

I think is one of the most brilliant questions contained in the gospels.

What have you got?

They say, “Five loaves and two fishes…” I’m guessing they thought Jesus might say, “That’s not enough to feed five thousand. You’re right, let’s send them away…”

Jesus says, “Perfect! Bring them here…”And so the disciples offer what they have.

Peter Block, a famous organizational consultant, once said that “the answer to ‘how’ is ‘yes’.” He likely got that right from the gospels!

Instead of starting with what seems to be the impossible (feeding 5000 people), Jesus starts elsewhere. He asks what they ALREADY have and then declares that to be enough to set a new process in motion.

What you already have is enough to set something new in motion. (We might need to read this sentence over a few times out loud.)

I’ve read quite a few commentaries on this gospel passage, and more traditional interpretations focused on the power of Jesus to do the miracle of multiplication. More recent interpretations, however, focus not so much on Jesus but on the generosity of the disciples and the crowd who are invited by Jesus into a form of radical generosity. More recent interpretations suggest that Jesus and the disciples inspired those who were gathered to put into the baskets that which they were tempted to keep for themselves and offer it instead for the collective. And everyone ate their fill. Maybe not unlike stone soup, someone threw in a bit of dried fruit. Another put in figs. Others threw in some bread as they took out a piece of fish. And so on…

Two things I’d invite us to reflect on in this story.

First, what you ALREADY have is enough.

I know sometimes I can get all caught up in what I don’t have. I don’t have enough time. I don’t have enough resources. I don’t have enough knowledge. And this can stop me from doing something. Furthermore, we live in a culture of consumption that actually seeks to remind us that WE are not enough and do not have enough so that we will keep consuming.

But Jesus seems less concerned with what we don’t have and is more concerned with what we’re willing to offer. He wants us to shift from a scarcity mindset to one of abundance. And once we’re in an abundance mindset, he can work with and amplify what we offer!

In an abundance mindset, we move away from a place of anxiety/threat which frees up our imagination and heart. We see possibility that may not have been there before. This could be in the form of material resources. It could be in the form of time. It could be in the form of prayer or intentional time with God. It could be in the form of direct service. Whatever we offer, God can use that to set something new in motion in the world. But only if we’re willing to offer it. (And what I have found is that once I offer something, I seemingly find a way to offer even more than what I originally intended…maybe that’s what happened with the food!)

Secondly, Jesus is teaching the disciples a new ethic in this gospel passage. It is an ethic of radical generosity, and I know that this is something that I need to hear over and over again living in this culture of consumption and personal accumulation.

Spiritual writer, Cynthia Bourgeault, says that “what seemed disconcerting to nearly everybody [about Jesus] was the messy, freewheeling largeness of his spirit. Abundance and a generosity bordering on extravagant seemed to be the signatures of both his teaching and his personal style…”

I can imagine this drove the disciples somewhat crazy! They’d keep arguing for limits, and Jesus kept responding with the “freewheeling largeness of his spirit.”

Yet this same freewheeling largeness of spirit is what made the disciples fall in love with Jesus and immerse themselves in such deep engagement of the world.

This week in our spiritual journey, perhaps we can reflect on some simple phrases like:

You are enough. You have enough. What can you offer for God to use?

Which then might lead us towards a “freewheeling largeness of spirit” that recognizes the abundance in our midst and drives us towards an extravagant generosity.

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