Tuesday 3rd June
Read Luke 9:12-13
“Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.’
13 He replied, ‘You give them something to eat.’
They answered, ‘We have only five loaves of bread and two fish – unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.’” (NIVUK)
Their mission journey was presaged with the instruction to ‘take no food’ and yet they returned safely, having been provided for the entire time. The echoes of the mission journey they returned from extend further. It is in some ways the reverse of the instructions Jesus Himself gave them. Jesus sent them out to the villages and countryside to find food and lodging. The role is now reversed and the disciples ask Jesus to send the crowd away!
We will consider the ‘remoteness’ tomorrow. It is enough to reflect on the response of Jesus. He expects them to provide hospitality in the same way they were to expect hospitality on their journey. Humanly speaking the disciples are entirely correct, they can’t just run to the store to cater for this impromptu conference, they only have poor food, borrowed from a young boy as we learn in other gospel accounts. Despite this, Jesus demands generosity – it is an emphatic ‘you’ give them something to eat (v13).
Is our instinct to be generous in all situations?
