Giving Thanks When Your Hands Are Empty

I love to read the bible.

I love to read the bible because every time I read a story, that I assume I know, I see something new, different, and fresh. There are layers and layers to each chapter of the bible.

My children and I were reading the Feeding of the 5000 in Matthew, recently. It’s a well known story, one that you might even feel like you knew all the details to.

But this read through, I noticed something new.

Jesus took 5 loaves and 2 fish and…gave thanks for it. 

This struck me.

Jesus is holding what could never feed all the hungry mouths before him. That amount of food he had was nowhere near enough for the task at hand.

But Jesus gave thanks.

I always sort of thought about that as, “Jesus prayed for the food.”

But, it’s not just praying. It’s something crazier than that.

The word used in here is εὐλογέω or eulogeo. You might see a familiar word in there - eulogy. It means to praise, speak well of, to bestow blessings upon, or to honour.

I must confess that I have most certainly let God know what I think about my lack. He has heard it and my complaint have been brought before Him countless times. In my weakness - I have accused Him of things I won’t write here but they have not been anywhere near thankful or celebratory.

Where I would be complaining, Jesus gave thanks. 

I would have been worried. I would have be scouring the crowd for a baker or a fisherman to find more food. I would have been organizing a committee to better manage our resources. I would have been scrounging up whatever could have been missed. I would have tried to fix the problem on my own. 

But Jesus just holds up an embarrassing amount of food, especially for the Son of God, and speaks well of it.

I am so glad that Jesus is different than me.

Jesus is so mind blowingly counter cultural it’s almost terrifying. I use the word terrifying because He is asking each of us to live this way too.

The world looks at lack and poverty and small-ness and says,

“Here’s something to fix ”

“Dig deeper, try harder, more effort.”

“Here’s a game plan to maximize your potential.”

“Here is a hack to remedy your woe.”

The entire self help industry is built on providing fixes and solutions (that are always easy) to areas that we feel empty. I read an article once that suggested that bloggers ask themselves, “What problem am I fixing for my readers?”, as if any of us could fix another person.

Our cultures have trained us to see lack and emptiness as problems. Things to be ashamed of, parts of ourselves to hide.

But Jesus demonstrates a different attitude towards poverty.

He does not pretend or put on a show for those around. He does not act as if there was more food than there is or try and put a positive spin on the problem. He does not criticize it or make snide remarks.

He takes what is real, what He has truly been provided, and He speaks well of the lack.

Jesus looked at what might have appeared as almost empty hands and He praised it. He took his absolute poverty and thanked God for it.

So, I will leave you with these questions:

What could it mean for you and I to live like this? How would your life change if you spent your time thanking God for the difficult circumstances rather than cursing them?

May you be given a heart that can give thanks in your poverty. May your heart be open to your own poverty because all of us are poor. May you find ways to be thankful rather than ashamed. And may you know Jesus just a little bit better as you seek to be made more like Him.