There was no time of rest, no place of quiet,
and no pulling aside for reflection, or even prayer.
Countless men and women came to where Jesus was.

They sought his healing touch.
They hungered for a glimpse of something better than the lives that they were leading.
They were thirsty for words of wisdom.
And all these things flowed out from Jesus like water,
and lilies bloomed in hearts that had been as dry as the desert's dust.

But whether one draws from a water glass or a deep well, one can only pour water out for a time without pausing to let the source be refilled.

Jesus knew that.

So he gathered the disciples and crossed over the Sea of Galilee
to a grassy plain near Bethsaida Julius.
It was His practice to withdraw to teach the disciples,
to talk about what had just happened, and to pray about all things.

The time of the Passover festival was near.
Jewish pilgrims from everywhere were on the road to Jerusalem.
The crowds who had witnessed the works done in Capernaum walked the nine miles around the edge of the sea to the place where Jesus now was.

No doubt the crowd picked up bands of pilgrims along the way.
Jesus looked up to see thousands of people
approaching the plain where he and the disciples sat.

The time of rest had been brief.
The time for a meal was fast approaching.

So Jesus turns to Philip. Bethsaida is Philip's neighborhood.
Philip knows the lay of the land.
"Where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat," Jesus asks.

Philip analyses the situation quickly and declares that it is hopeless.
There is not enough material with which to work.
Philip soberly declares that six months wages would not buy enough bread.
It is all over as far as Philip is concerned.

Who among us hasn't looked at life that way?
There are times and situations in which we just can't see how to solve the problem at hand. We use the skills we have. We assess the resources at hand.
We gaze across the familiar landscape of our own experience for ideas.
And then we declare defeat without opening ourselves to any further possibilities.
Like Philip, we don't leave room for God to act.

There is a spontaneity and mutual dependence in faithful living
that can be like improvisational theater.
If we just speak our piece and then close the curtain,
we will miss what God may say or do.

We are surprising willing to shut down the theater before the second act even begins.
Philip seems to want to say "The show's over",
to turn out the lights and just wait for the crowd to go home.

It is a good thing that there are people like Andrew in the world.

It is a good thing that there are also children who don't know any better than to face the impossible by simply offering up what they have.

Philip seemed to assume that he was supposed to produce everything himself.

He felt that this was impossible. And he was right.

Andrew had discovered something Philip had over looked.
Andrew presented a small boy who was willing to share his bread and his few fish.
"But what are they among so many people," Andrew asks. Can so little be enough?
God knows. "Make the people sit down, " Jesus says.
Five loaves, a few fish, and five thousand folks.
A small bit of sustenance surrounded by a sea of people.
Jesus gives thanks, breaks the bread and begins to distribute the food.

And then something incredible happens;
something beyond Philip's expectations and above Andrew's understanding.
The crowd didn't see it coming and there is no visible explanation.

But there is an analogy that may help.

If you take a beaker of warm water and slowly dissolve certain salts into it, you reach a point called supersaturation where the solution is still clear but the contents of the beaker are on the edge of changing state.

The insertion of the smallest solid object into the beaker enables the formation of a crystal to begin. The minerals which were in solution and invisible a moment ago become visible and solid. Once the crystal has appeared it grows larger and larger, drawing more of the invisible salts out of the material at hand. A crystal as big as a house could be grown from a supersaturated solution held in a large enough container

We live in a such a supersaturated solution.
We live in a boundless container.
We live and move and have our being in God.

We are surrounded by an amazing potential.
The smallest offering is enough to start a reaction that is beyond our understanding.
With Godıs grace, small offerings can manifest in world changing ways.
A loaf of bread and a few fish dropped down in front of Jesus fed a crowd of thousands.

One boy gave what he had, and it was more than enough.

And what do we have to offer?
Does it seem meager?
Do we worry that it will not be enough?

If we think like Philip, we may be right.
What we can provide by ourselves is not enough.

But we are not by ourselves.
We are part of Christ, by our baptism.
We are in God, who is full of unending possibilities and limitless potential.
We are in a great company of witnesses, the communion of saints living and dead.
We are surrounding by miracles in solution that wait only for the smallest bit of material from which to work.

The people on the plain of Bathsaida, saw the sign of the scared
in the twelve baskets of food that appeared out of nowhere.
"this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world," they said.

And they saw the chance to project their own dreams onto God.

They wanted to write the script themselves. They hoped to seize Jesus and make him King. They wanted to send their new King off to fight the same old battles; the battles that had always ended in death.

But Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
It is as though he simply dissolved out of their midst,
slipping back into some invisible supersaturated state;
full of potential yet not perceived.

We too would make Jesus our king.
We want to pick the battles God should fight.
We want a God that is good at taking orders ­
one who will produce the miracles we want, when we want them.

But it is God who chooses the battlegrounds,
provides the miracles (or not), and has charge over us.
It is God's work to be God.

Our work is to offer ourselves, our souls and bodies.
And to make available whatever worldly stuff we carry with us
as seed crystals for the work of God.

God determines what will be made manifest,
what visible grace will come into the world.
By God's hand we are fed, nurtured and sustained.

On our altar we have a few wafers and a little wine.
It is enough to feed the world.

In our hearts we have a little room.
It is enough for God to move in and live within us

In our lives we have a little time.
It is enough to do great things, more than we can imagine or pray for.

What we have and who we are is enough,
when we offer it up, it is sufficient material for miracles;

For with God all things are possible.