Five loaves and two fish (7)

Five loaves and two fish (7)

“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five--and two fish.”(Mark 6:38)

Now just imagine how the five loaves and two fish might have passed through a number of hands before it was finally handed over to Jesus by a disciple. The owner of the five loaves and two fish might have handed over it to a disciple standing closest to him. The previous night that person might have told his wife, “I would like to go to Jesus, and could you prepare something for it?” It is uncertain whether his wife willingly or reluctantly prepared the “Five loaves and two fish” for her husband.

We can weave this story further. Through the power of imagination we can add some more creative inputs to this story. The wife who was requested by her husband to prepare food might be in agony in many ways. How could she prepare food under the situation of barely managing to stay alive with the aid of herb-roots and tree-barks? However, she could not decline the insistence of her husband who was to take a long-awaited precious trip. She might have borrowed five loaves and two fish from a neighbor who were close to her family. She might have told her husband, “Honey, I don’t know who Jesus is but go and meet him if you really want to meet him. Here I’ve prepared five loaves and two fish.”

Here five loaves and two fish which were placed before Jesus through the disciples’ hand had come after passing through many hands. It was the hands of his wife and a neighboring woman. Going still a little further it might have reached a baker and a fishmonger. Likewise the fabric of living is connected like net. Nobody or nothing exists independently. Any visible thing or any incident that is revealed in our sight contains in it someone or some story that we never be able to follow. If we do not consider these things, the essence of our living would be nothing but a superficial experience.