You could say that Andrew demonstrates for us today the maxim, “God helps those who help themselves.”
Andrew shows us the type of faith we are to have as disciples of Jesus. The apostles are faced with a problem that does not seem to have a solution. How to feed 5,000 men in addition to the women and children?
Philip can only think in terms of what is possible and what is not. “Two hundred days’ wages… would not be enough.”
But Andrew senses there is something more at work. Andrew remembers the wonders he has seen and offers up what little he has for the Lord to work with, a boy with five barley loaves and two fish. Even so, he offers them tentatively, still not sure of the great events he has become a part of. But it is enough.
Andrew teaches us. Remember that Jesus created wine from water at Cana. And he used mud and spittle to cure a blind man. God requires us to bring what we have, however small or meager, so that His love can transform it and return it to us in good measure, flowing over. God does not perform miracles for us while we sit idly by. We are to take an active part in our own salvation.
This is the faith we are called to have, a faith that spurs us to take action. It is a beginning we must have to allow God to do great things for us.
Pax Vobiscum
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time