When Jesus Failed an Algebra Problem

     I remember those days of Algebra class in High School, with those awful word problems.  I was never good at them, I know they were suppose to be preparing me for real life scenarios  but I struggled to ever get them right.  I think Jesus did too.  He was presented this problem.  Five thousand men, plus women and children are hungry and have no food.  All that is available to feed them is five loaves of bread and two fish.  How many people can be fed? (Story found in Matthew14:15-21)

    Well, if you stretched it out maybe a handful could get a fish sandwich, and a few people could just have a slice of bread.  But Jesus takes it and gives thanks for it, and then breaks it.  He broke more than the bread.  He broke mathematical logic and patterns. His answer was; five loaves and two fish can feed five thousand men plus the women and children (lets say a few thousand more) plus have leftovers of twelve baskets full.    On the Algebra test, he would have gotten it wrong, but in real life, he got it right.  God is always the God of enough and extra.  In 

II Corinthians 9:8 (CEV) it says, "God can bless you with everything you need, and you will always have more than enough to do all kinds of good things for others." 

    The test giver must have felt Jesus needed a second try at this mathematical problem, because a short time later (Matthew 15:32-39) a little bit smaller crowd needed to be fed. This time there was four thousand men plus the women and children and they had a little bit more food to serve.  They had seven loaves of bread a few fish.  How many can it feed?  Again Jesus broke the rules, and it fed everyone, and all were satisfied and had their fill.  I've known a few people in life, that it takes more than a small piece of bread to have their appetite satisfied.  I'm sure there was a few in this crowd.  But they  were all satisfied, they all had enough, and they even had seven large baskets full of left overs.

  God is not El Cheapo, or El Stingy.  He is the God that is more than enough, in Hebrew  El Shaddai.  He's the God of enough and extra.