I am reading Tom Wright's popular commentaries on John's Gospel at the moment - John for Everyone. Today it was the feeding of the five thousand, one of my favourites, and with the distinction of being in all four gospels. I have talked and preached on this story many times. There is so much in it. What particularly struck me today was Wright's comment about a critical element in the story being that Andrew and Philip brought the boy to Jesus, and seeing that as a model for what we should do.
"Philip doesn't know what to do. Andrew doesn't either, but he brings the boy and his bread and fish to the attention of Jesus. The point is obvious, but we perhaps need to be reminded of it: so often we ourselves have no idea what to do, but the starting-point is always to bring what is there to the attention of Jesus. You can never tell what he's going to do with it - though part of Christian faith is the expectation that he will do something we hadn't thought of, something new and creative."
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