Editorial August 26, 1911 Issue

"GIVE YE THEM TO EAT."

Annie M. Knott

The wonderful story of the feeding of the multitude by Christ Jesus is told by the four evangelists, and it is noteworthy that each of them prefaces his account with a statement of the healing work done at this same time by the Master. The thousands who had come out of the cities and villages were undoubtedly in a receptive mood, many of them ready for the blessings which he was always ready to bestow. He had announced to them, and commanded his disciples to announce, the ever-present kingdom of God, in which there is no sin, disease, poverty, or death, and of its presence he was prepared to furnish and did furnish ample proof. He taught them to pray, "Thy kingdom come," and never to doubt that their prayer would be answered in a manifestation of divine bounty and power.

As we read these accounts of the feeding of "five thousand men, beside women and children," by the Master, who thus revealed to them the one infinite, spiritual source of supply, we may learn many lessons. In noting the slowness with which the disciples apprehended their Master's teachings, we may well arouse ourselves and others to the need of laying aside the heavy weights of belief in material law, in a far-off God, and a consequent sense of lack,—lack of the necessaries of life, of health, of strength, of happiness,—when all needed things are assured to those who seek "first the kingdom of God," the supply, like its divine source, being ever close at hand.

We are also led to think of those who today profess to be followers of Christ Jesus, but who deny the divine power to heal as in his day, and who deny that human need can be met otherwise than by material means. They say all that is good in Christian Science may be found in the other churches. This being admitted, there can be no evasion of the Christ-demand, made to the disciples in that olden time, when the need of the multitude was pressed upon Jesus' attention. He said, "Give ye them to eat;" and today this same demand comes to every professed follower of Christ. If one must plead his own insufficiency, there is the other command, "Bring them hither to me,"—bring the hungry and the sick, bring the pitifully few loaves and fishes, but dare not to bar the way for those who are seeking the outstretched hand of divine Love.

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