‘Mum’s fish sandwiches’ – feeding our Army of the future

Each month on Salvos Online, Rosy, the Territorial Secretary for Spiritual Life Development, shares her thoughts and reflections on the spiritual issues that shape our lives as Christians, exploring how our faith intersects with our everyday experiences and how we can deepen our relationship with God. Today, she focuses on the two ‘multiplication’ stories in the Bible.

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I’ve been hung up on something lately, specifically that the two multiplication stories in the Bible serve as examples of both Jesus’ provision and our personal accountability for the stewardship of what we have.

Multiplication 1: Loaves and fishes For those unfamiliar, the first story is about the preacher who went on too long, and the crowd grew hungry because it was dinner time. The preacher’s backup team looked at one another and grew increasingly stressed about what would happen next. Because the preacher had talked for so long, the people in the crowd were now expecting food because … that’s what happens at events.

But they were a long way from town, and feeding that many people was going to be really, really expensive.

As the adults argued and stressed among themselves, a small child was present. Well, we know that many children and women were present, but they were not included in the total numbers in the Bible story. As was the custom in many cultures, the children would have been seen and not heard (and perhaps not even seen at all!).

This little boy would not have been spoken to or consulted about the imminent disaster. No one asked for his opinion, nor did anyone ask what he thought or how he thought this problem or crisis might be solved. I imagine this little boy looking up and seeing the frowns and anxious tones on the faces of the people in charge, even if he didn’t understand it.

Or I wonder if the little boy looked over at that man, Jesus, the preacher, and saw something different. Something serene in his face. I wonder if Jesus looked at him and somehow said, “You’ve got this.”

It might be fanciful thinking, and I don’t want to add to the Bible, but what we do know is that this little boy offered his fish and bread to the disciples. Something about that offering was so significant that they gave it to Jesus.

Maybe Jesus was right there as the little boy handed them the food. Can you imagine it?

In that state of distress and heightened anxiety, a child tried to give his mum’s fish sandwiches for lunch to the disciples to feed five thousand men, and however many women and children were in the crowd. The laugh, the sneer, or even the straight-out ignoring of the child that the adults may have given him in that moment.

But for Jesus ... the same Jesus who said, “Let the little children come to me.” The same Jesus who didn’t let the disciples stop the children from coming. Perhaps he was present, and instead of letting them turn the child away, he opened his hands.

Then, from that simple offering, Jesus fed everyone.

The Samaritan woman It made me think of the Samaritan woman at the well, who had been divorced by multiple men and cast aside for another. Women were not permitted to issue a certificate of divorce. They were at the mercy of the men in their lives. In all patriarchal cultures, the violence and exploitation by men can often be stopped only by another ‘benevolent’ man intervening.

This woman was now with a man who had not married her. It was incredibly shameful on his part, yet it brought social shame upon her. Many commentators say that she went to the well in the middle of the day's heat perhaps to avoid awkward interactions with others.

And here again she runs into a man ... who dares to speak to her.

Probably not unused to uninvited male attention, yet here was a rabbi, esteemed and with the power to shame or condemn her if she had done something wrong.

Instead, he asked her, “Will you draw me something to drink?” Instead of silently and meekly doing that with eyes downcast, she surprisingly responds.

What follows is the longest theological conversation in Scripture between Jesus and anyone, occurring between Jesus and a woman who was scorned, shamed, and alone.

I was reflecting on the fact that when he told her everything she had ever done, and she went away, filled with joy at his revealing himself to her, this Samaritan woman ran throughout the town saying,

“Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did.”

I have no doubt that, in the gossip culture of both men and women in many towns, people probably knew who she was.

“Have you heard about her?”

“All those husbands.”

“Difficult woman.”

And yet, instead of choosing a fancy, smart head of something, Jesus chose this woman.

He chose her story.

The story of shame that had separated her now became a testimony. I think it was the pall of shame being lifted that made people notice.

Perhaps, as she ran about telling people about this prophet and how he knew everything, there was such joy, exuberance, and freedom that they couldn’t help but ask,

“How could she, of all people, be saying that?”

“How could he, of all people, speak to her?”

“How could she be so free with the story that used to cause her so much pain?”

Multiplication 2: Parable of the talents The second story of multiplication is the parable of the talents in the New Testament.

Talents were a form of gold or money. Today, when many of us hear the word talents, we instead think of the things given to us freely by God: our skills, our abilities, and the things we must use and nurture to honour God and see multiplication.

Perhaps the trap here is thinking of our own skills and abilities, and our faithfulness in using them, as a singular pursuit. But if we tie this to the first story of multiplication, perhaps it is about recognising the resources, gifts, and abilities in those we least expect. And the multiplication is to feed the massive army waiting, hungry. The world waiting, hungry.

Specifically, in the case of what I am calling ‘fish sandwiches’, the fish and bread came from a child.

I just feel so struck by the idea of this child saying, “Here, you can have my lunch.”

I wrote a haiku about it:

Mum’s fish sandwiches.

Daily bread. Fish caught freshly.

Everyone agrees.

God’s provision of daily bread.

God’s provision that we shall become fishers of people.

God’s provision of family together.

God’s provision of taking the lowly, the meek, the humble, and the overlooked.

The, “No, not quite yet.”s

The, “maybe one day when you grow up.”s

The, “How about when your reputation is salvaged.”s

God says, “Now.”

He removes the pall of shame. There is no veil between us.

But we must make sure to listen and look to where the provision will come from.

I was thinking about all of the undiscovered treasures. All of the lost rings and jewellery. Viking coins. Aztec gold.Imagining what it’s like to be that treasure, stuck, buried, or hidden, looking out, waiting to be discovered.

Some of it never will, probably for good reason.

But then I think of all the talent, resources, gold, prophetic vision, revelation, and strength that God has hidden and embedded in children, in those whose stories might carry social shame, or in those we may only see as stigmatised.

What could we learn?

What could feed us!

There is a saying: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

I can see that sometimes in the Church – we’re very adept at wanting to do more of what we’re already doing, even if it’s not quite giving us what we’re hoping for.

I sometimes hear talk of The Salvation Army being the second-fastest declining denomination in Australia, and I worry about leadership, congregations, corps numbers, and how we’re all connected.

But that little boy’s mum didn’t give him yesterday’s sandwiches. She gave him fresh bread and fresh fish, fit to feed an army.

Are we prepared in the same fashion?

Do we go to God daily?

Do we read the Scriptures?

Do we pray?

Fast?

Gather in congregational worship?

Practise vulnerability?

Pursue discipleship and fellowship?

Repent?

Rest?

Maybe we all find that mum’s fish sandwiches will feed our Army for the future. 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God” (Romans 15:13-17 NIV).