The story itself is a great miracle - regardless of whether one believes it happened literally or represents some sort of metaphorical message. As for me, I'm not enough of a studied theologian or blind fundamentalist to know if the story is true exactly as its written. Instead, I take it for the miracle it represents in Jesus taking care of his followers as he routinely promised he would.
But I did have an old-school mindset modified today. For whatever reason, I always envisioned the boy's offering of fish and loaves looking like a couple of smallmouth bass and some Hawaiian dinner bread.
I don't know why. I suppose the images were put in my mind because they were portrayed that way in paintings, clipart, and altar props. A young boy would not be toting around that much volume and weight for his lunch meal, but I never really thought about that angle.Today, our minister reminded us the 5 barley 'loaves' were not much more than what we know as crackers and the 2 fish were about the size of sardines. That illustration makes a lot more sense from a packed lunch view, but it also magnifies the mystery of the miracle exponentially.
TMC
