How Do You Respond to Impossible Challenges?
Article by Joe on ChristianPF.com Painting by Eric Feather
Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. – John 6:3-13 NIV
This story has four main characters: Phillip, Andrew, the boy, and Jesus. By learning about each of them we can learn about ourselves.
Phillip: The Math Nerd
Phillip ran the numbers; his thoughts were probably something like this: “Let’s see . . . looks like about 5,000 men, so, counting women and children, we would need to feed around 15,000. Of course we don’t have that much food here, so we will need to get carry out. As a minimum, we need one piece of bread and one sardine per person. If there are 20 pieces of bread in a loaf, we would need 750 loaves. At $2 each that comes to $1,500. I think there may be 6 sardines in a can, so we would need 2,500 cans. I would guess about $2 a can, or another $5,000 for a total of $6,500.”
Knowing this cost was prohibitive, he reported back to Jesus, “It would take at least $6,500 to feed everyone just a little.”
Do you run all the numbers before trying anything new? I do. But what do you do when the numbers don’t justify the project? Do you give up or do you seek other ways to make the project work?
Example: My wife knew we didn’t have money in our budget for new deck furniture, so we quit eating out until we did.
Andrew: The Common Sense Disciple
Andrew wasn’t interested in the math; his thought process probably went something like this: “By checking around to see what food is already available, I can make a logical evaluation of what the situation looks like.” His survey was less than encouraging: five loaves and two fish. To his credit, he brought them to Jesus, but his assessment was discouraging: “What are they for so many?”
Do you make conclusions based solely on the evidence at hand? Does your good commonsense ever prevent you from trying something new? Do you ever think outside the box? Do you limit what you try to do when you’ve tried it before and failed?
Example: Many were convinced that running a four-minute mile was impossible until Roger Bannister ran a 3:59.4 mile on May 6, 1954.
Example: The Wright Brothers, though taunted by “experts” who claimed that a flying machine was scientifically impossible, proved them wrong by inventing one that could fly.
The Boy: Giver of What He Had
The boy might have thought, “I don’t understand this talk about my loaves and fishes, but this man is with Jesus, so I am going to find out.”
Even if you don’t understand how the project will work out, do you volunteer to give your best effort anyway? Are you willing to lay your own ego on the line to try someone else’s idea (especially a boss’s idea) even if you don’t see how it could work?
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