How many loaves have you? Go and see. ~Mark 6:38
At Tabgha, a sloping green field stretches down to Lake Galilee. It’s not hard to picture a crowd gathered along this shoreline. Jesus often spoke where the water behind him could amplify his words.
According to tradition, this field is where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed a crowd of 5,000 men, plus women and children. This miracle of abundance is so foundational to the Christian faith that it’s repeated in all four gospels (which is unusual) — plus two of the gospels record an additional miracle where Jesus fed 4,000 men, plus women and children.
The first church built on this site dates to the 4th century. Today, in the Church of the Multiplication, there’s an altar over the rock where Jesus laid and blessed those miraculous loaves and fishes. A mosaic lays below the rock, like an ancient caption.
As so many other pilgrims have done, I kneel to pray at the rock. The rock surface is blackened from millennia of human touch. So many people need so many things multiplied.
As I kneel, the Spirit becomes present to me, revealing the abundance in my life and showing me new ways I might share abundance through my writing.
A friend taps me to say that the tour bus will leave in minutes. With a pounding heart, I rush into the gift shop to buy some sort of souvenir. I quickly choose communion pieces bearing the image of the mosaic.
Safely back on the bus, I realize my urge to tangibly cling to this intangible feeling of abundance. I see my foolishness, and am at peace with it. We humans have our limitations.
What do you need multiplied today?
Prayer: O Spirit, I am grateful, yet always lacking. Fill me.
This material is adapted from my book, Chasing the Divine in the Holy Land.
The photo is mine, taken in Tabgha.
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