Article February 25, 1928 Issue

"Give ye them to eat"

LOUISE KNIGHT WHEATLEY COOK

That the incident in the life of Christ Jesus, wherein he fed the multitude with the few loaves and fishes, made a profound impression upon those who witnessed it is proved by the fact that it is the only one of the Master's miracles which is recorded by all four of the gospel writers. It was of unusual interest to them doubtless for the same reason which makes it of unusual interest to us, because we are all endeavoring, in greater or less degree, to demonstrate the universality and availability of ever present supply.

The human mind appears to have undergone but little change with the passing of the centuries, and one of its most insistent and fundamental beliefs seems to be that it is always lacking something. What this specific lack may be differs, of course, with each individual. With some it is a deficiency of some material thing deemed essential to happiness and well-being, while with others the need may be of an entirely different nature; but by whatever name it calls itself, it always harks back to the same basic error in the end, namely, the belief in a selfhood apart from God, unsupplied and incomplete.

The story referred to above is so familiar to the earnest Bible student that it needs but the briefest repetition here. Most of us have almost pictured the scene, the "desert place" with its bleakness and desolation, the motley company who had followed Jesus there, dusty and travel-strained, but still wide-eyed with wonder at the gracious words which fell from his lips, the little group of anxious disciples begging him to send the people away to buy themselves food, and the figure standing in their midst, pausing for a moment in his discourse to attend to what may have seemed to him like an interruption.

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