ODJ: The Other Way

May 3, 2017 

READ: Luke 9:10-17 

But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish (v.13).

Photographer Oliver Curtis’ exhibit Volte-face (“about turn”) interacts with iconic landmarks—only his images capture what’s found in the opposite direction. So, when he arrived at Stonehenge, he turned 180 degrees before taking his pictures, capturing images that are typically ignored. Curtis says the photos “send [our] gaze elsewhere and . . . favour the incidental over the monumental.”

Most of us are drawn to large possibilities, solutions or obvious sources of provision and power (the big things) over small possibilities, quiet solutions or inconspicuous sources of provision or power (the incidental things). Jesus’ disciples weren’t immune to this tendency, as demonstrated by their reaction to the needs of the crowds drawn to Jesus. In one instance, when He’d attempted to slip away to rest, the “crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him”. Jesus “welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick” (Luke 9:11).

More than 5,000 people had gathered in the wilderness, however, and they were hungry. Jesus asked His disciples to feed them, but they replied: “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish” (v.13). Of course the situation was impossible, even ridiculous. Yet the disciples would soon learn to see things in a new way—Jesus’ way. Jesus often uses the small, forgotten or foolish things to do His work (1 Corinthians 1:27). Only a few biscuits and sardines to feed thousands. A motley crew of bewildered disciples to announce God’s good news. A dying Saviour to redeem the whole world.

You may think you have nothing to offer—that your life is too trivial or insignificant. Look closer. With God, nothing is too small.

—Winn Collier

365-day plan: Esther 2:1-23