Choices

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They scoffed the lot - all five thousand had a taste
Of tilapia without tartar sauce; tuna without mayonnaise.
Two fish multiplied to satisfy, and that they did
With fingers licked clean to the bone.
 
But not so the bread, with twelve basketfuls of left-over
Crumbs and crusts. They'd had enough of the barley
Blessed as though it might start sprouting;
Five rolls duplicated into hundreds for the supply chain
Exceeding abundantly more than we could ask or imagine.
 
He did say those who come to him wouldn't be hungry;
Maybe that's why all that bread was left over.
Bread of heaven; fish from the sea.
 
I need a job, so I'll stick to boats and nets
Especially here in Galilee.
 


September 2011
 
Like all of us, the boy who gave his lunch to feed 5000 people (John 6: 1-16) had to make choices.

Below:  
Eularia Clarke ‘The Five Thousand’from the Methodist Church Collection of Modern Christian Art
Copyright: Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes, used by permission of Trustees of the Collection
 
 
Click here for a commentary by Francis Hoyland on 'The Five Thousand'..