Editorial October 28, 1905 Issue

Feeding the Hungry

Annie M. Knott

The account of Jesus' feeding of the five thousand, as given in the four gospels, may well remind us of the angel's declaration to Mary, "With God nothing shall be impossible." As students of Christian Science advance in the understanding of Truth, they become more conscious of the world's great need and long to aid in meeting it, and thus they find a supreme opportunity to prove to themselves how much of the truth they have made their own.

We are told by the evangelists that at the close of an eventful day which was spent by the Master in healing the sick, the disciples came to him and reminded him that the people needed food. His reply is very significant. He said, "Give ye them to eat." Their response indicates that they had not then learned to look away from matter to Spirit as the true source of supply, for they began to talk of their limitations, and to say how little even two hundred pennyworth bread would be, where with to feed such a multitude, and then they pointed to a few barley loaves and two small fishes. This unpromising outlook was, however, illumined by the Christly love which had compassion on the sick and the sinful,—the love that had power to draw thousands from the weary ways of mortal experience to listen while he told them of the kingdom of God. He would not send them back fainting to those ways, and though his disciples, so soon after their call to this service of Truth, were not yet rich enough toward God to obey his command, "Give ye them to eat," he did not deny them the privilege of serving his guests. He bade them bring him the scant viands which betokened human poverty, and when all were seated, for no courtesy was overlooked at that never-to-be-forgotten banquet, he blessed and brake the loaves, and the five thousand partook of his bounty, —"as much as they would."

Nowhere in the gospels do we find a more striking contrast between the material sense and the spiritual, than here. "What are these among so many?" said the disciples, as they looked at the insufficient supply, and counseled the sending of the people away from the one who healed all their diseases, and who was as ready to satisfy their hunger by the utilization of the same spiritual law. The vital lesson for the student of Christian Science is found, however, in the Christly command, "Give ye them to eat," and in the clear light of Truth we can find no excuse for evading it and parleying about "two hundred pennyworth" of materiality, since, after two thousand years of experimentation with it, humanity is still starving for the true bread.

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