Our text is St. John’s version of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. This pericope reminds me of the child who was asked to name his favorite Bible story. The child replied, “The one with the boy in it who loafs and fishes.”

I am convinced that Jesus was not loafing. He and the Twelve had tried to sneak to the mountain beside the lake for a mini “R & R,” after much work, but when the people mushroomed around him, he gave up on “resting” and returned to ministering. Jesus was then, and is now, “fishing” for persons, persons whose influence he can magnify and multiply.

And I don’t think the little boy was “loafing” either. It was Passover time. That explains why there were so many people around. People had come from far and near to celebrate this centuries-old tradition. Guests and visitors…