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| Photo by Tim Nichols |
Eli kicked off his covers, yawned and stretched, then
peered out his window at the new morning. The sun had just barely cleared the
hills on the far side of the lake, but it was already beaming a narrow, golden
path across the dark water. Eli often dreamed he could walk across the water on
that bright ribbon of light to the dark, mysterious hills beyond the sea. This
was Eli’s favorite time of day. He sat quietly for a few minutes, watching the sky
grow lighter as the sun rose higher. The ripples on the surface of the lake
began to sparkle in the sunlight. Eli straightened the blankets on his bed and shoved
his feet into his still-damp sandals.
Eli’s mother had been up long before
the sun and was putting the last of the day’s flat barley loaves on the hearth
to bake. She smiled when she saw her son’s face appear in the doorway. Even
though he was fast becoming a young man, she could often see glimpses of the
little boy he used to be in his face.
She could also see a new restlessness in his eyes. She placed her hand
against his cheek for a moment when he stooped to kiss her good morning,
leaving behind a trace of barley flour on the smooth brown skin.
“Don’t be long,” she said. “Breakfast will be ready soon, and I may need you
to stay with Hannah for a while this morning.”
Eli ducked out the door and jogged
down to the water’s edge, as he had done every morning for as long as he could
remember. He gazed across the water at the hills on the other side again and
wondered for a moment what life was like outside his small village. Then he
picked up a flat stone and skipped it out across the water before he began
searching the water’s edge for any treasures that had washed up during the
night. His search was interrupted by the hum of voices in the distance. He
glanced up and saw a crowd of people gathering near the one of the fishermen’s
boats.
“Mother,” he called, “I’ll be right back.”
He hurried toward the growing crowd,
fearing the worst – that one of the village fishermen had been lost. But when
he got closer, he realized the voices didn’t sound sober and worried, as they
had when his father’s boat had washed up on the shore in pieces. No, this time they
sounded bubbly and excited, and there were many people he didn’t recognize,
people from other villages. He melted into the edge of the crowd to
listen.
“He’s in a boat, headed toward
Bethsaida. If we hurry we can meet him there,” said a tall man Eli didn’t
know.
“Who are they talking about?” Eli
asked a boy his age who seemed to know the man who had spoken.
“Jesus! And his disciples. My papa says
he’s a miracle worker. He thinks maybe he can heal my bad leg."
For the first time, Eli noticed the boy was leaning on a wooden walking stick. He glanced down to see a crooked, withered leg. He quickly glanced away, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable. When he looked back at the boy’s face, he saw a friendly grin.
"Don’t worry about it. I’m used to people taking a second glance. You should come along with us!” the boy said, as they noticed the crowd beginning to edge down the shoreline.
For the first time, Eli noticed the boy was leaning on a wooden walking stick. He glanced down to see a crooked, withered leg. He quickly glanced away, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable. When he looked back at the boy’s face, he saw a friendly grin.
"Don’t worry about it. I’m used to people taking a second glance. You should come along with us!” the boy said, as they noticed the crowd beginning to edge down the shoreline.
“I have to ask permission,” Eli said. “I’ll be right
back – I hope!”
“Hurry,” said the boy, “I can move pretty fast, even
with my bad leg, and I know my father won’t want to waste any time getting there.”
Eli raced up the shore to his house. “Mother,
Mother!” he yelled as he burst into the house.
“Eli, what’s the matter?” his mother
asked, looking up in alarm. “Where have you been?”
“There’s a big
crowd of people who are going to listen to Jesus. They say
he
can do miracles. There’s a boy with a lame leg, and even his father thinks
Jesus can heal it. Mother, please can I go with them? Please?”
Eli’s mother looked down at her son;
again she saw the restlessness and the pleading in his eyes. “I wish your father
was here to go with you. I’d go myself, but Hannah woke up with a fever this
morning. Oh, Eli, couldn’t you wait and go another time?”
“Mama, there might not be another
time. Please, please let me go.”
As soon as she heard it, she
realized he hadn’t called her ‘Mama’ for a long time, maybe not ever since his
father died. He was trying so hard to grow up, and she knew she must try
equally hard to let him.
“All right, Eli,” she said slowly, “you can go, but
stay with the people from the village.”
“Thanks, Mama!” he said as he kissed
her cheek for the second time that morning.
He turned toward the door.
“Wait,” she said; “you haven’t had
any breakfast.
“Mama, I don’t have time. I have to
catch up.”
“Let me pack you a lunch to take
with you then. Here, there are only two fish left, but there’s a lot of bread.”
She placed the fish and several of her smooth flat loaves of freshly baked
bread into a bag for him.
With a grin and a wave, he was out the door. Eli’s
feet flew along the dusty path as he raced to catch up with the crowd. Though it was still early, the sun was
already bright and hot. As the road wound up the hillside, Eli was almost dizzy
with his independence and the beauty of the day; he felt as though he’d never
seen a bluer sky.
The crowd slowed to a stop at an open grassy place,
and Eli heard a rich warm voice begin to speak. He slipped through the crowd
almost unnoticed as he made his way closer and closer to Jesus. He guessed most
of the people he wriggled past thought he was going to join his family. It
seemed as though the crowd was made up of men and their families. On one hand,
he wished his mother and Hannah were here with him, and of course, he really
wished his father were here, but he’d been wishing that every day for the past
year. On the other hand, though, it was
an adventure being here on his own in this big crowd. He found a little spot not far from Jesus
where he settled down and began to listen intently to Jesus’ words about the
kingdom of God.
As the day wore on, Eli felt himself relaxing more
than he had in a long, long time. The months following his father’s death
hadn’t been easy, and it was a relief to just be here by himself being a kid
again instead of trying to be the man of the household. A couple of times, it
seemed to him that Jesus’ kind eyes looked right at him, and he found himself
sitting up straighter and wishing the day would never end. Just being near
Jesus made him feel less sad and more hopeful.
When Jesus began healing people, Eli watched in
wonder. Suddenly, he caught sight of the boy he’d met this morning in the crowd
in front of Jesus. He caught his breath and stood to watch him make his way to
the front. Jesus looked into the boy’s eyes and said something that made the
boy nod and smile as if they were old friends. Then Jesus touched his crooked
leg and said some more words as he looked up toward the heavens. There were
tears streaming down the boy’s cheeks as Jesus took the homemade crutch from
under the boy’s arm, and the boy stood up straight, flexed his legs, then
grinned and turned to find his papa. But then he whipped back around and threw
his arms around Jesus before running, yes—running through the crowd and into
his father’s arms. Eli swallowed hard
and blinked back his own tears at what he’d just witnessed. Strangely, as happy as he was for the boy, he
was also feeling a little bit jealous, even though he’d had two good legs his
whole life. He longed to feel Jesus’ gentle touch and then be able to run to
his own father’s arms.
When he looked back at Jesus, he saw several of his followers
clustered around him. They were talking in low, tense voices, but he couldn’t
make out their words. The men seemed distressed as they gestured towards the
crowds of people. Jesus didn’t look worried though, and as his followers moved
out into the crowds, Eli thought he might have seen a little smile flicker
across Jesus’ face.
Eli watched the men move from group to group. They
seemed to be looking for something or someone. Soon, one of the men came over
to the grassy patch where Eli and some other families were sitting.
“Do any of you have any food? Any bread?” the man
asked.
No one, it seemed, had even thought about food—until
now, and suddenly everyone was hungry. Eli was surprised to see how low the sun
had slipped in the sky. He’d been so wrapped up in watching Jesus, he hadn’t
even thought about eating the lunch he’d brought. He grabbed his bag of bread
and fish and held it up.
“I do,” he said quietly.
As the man made his way toward him, Eli
looked in the bag and saw that his mother had put in five loaves of her good
barley bread along with the two fish.
The smell of the bread made Eli’s stomach growl, and he thought for a
minute about keeping one of the little loaves for himself and giving the rest
to the man. But he felt the eyes of the
crowd on him, so when the man reached him, he handed over his whole lunch. The
man peered in the bag and shook his head, muttering, “What good is one lunch
among so many?” But he thanked Eli and continued moving through the crowds,
searching for more food.
Eli settled back into his spot, waiting
to see what would happen next. When he
glanced up at Jesus, he gulped—Jesus was looking at him—for sure this time. And
he was smiling. The proud look in Jesus’ eyes reminded Eli of the look his
father used to give him when he’d done something especially good or kind. Eli
smiled back and gave a little wave. Jesus’ eyes crinkled at the corners and he
looked as though he was about to laugh. Instead he gave a little wave back and
mouthed, Thank you. Suddenly Eli knew
this was a man he would never want to disappoint. He was so very glad he hadn’t
kept one of the loaves for himself. In fact, he wished he had another lunch or
something else to give.
He watched as Jesus turned his attention
to the disciples who were gathering around him. They were all empty-handed
except the man holding Eli’s lunch. They seemed to be arguing among themselves
or maybe with Jesus.
Meanwhile, the
crowd of people, reminded of their empty stomachs, had grown restless. They
were on their feet; Eli felt them pressing forward, almost like a wave in the
sea. He scrambled to the top of the big rock he’d been leaning against, so he
could still see Jesus. If Jesus ate one of his mother’s good loaves of barley
bread, he wanted to watch, so he could tell his mother about it when he got
home.
Sure enough, the
man who had taken Eli’s lunch handed it over to Jesus. Jesus said something, and the man turned and
pointed at Eli. Eli smiled shyly from the top of the big rock. Jesus smiled
back and gave Eli a look he never forgot. It was a look of promise—it was
almost as if Jesus was saying, You are
safe with me. I am going to take care of you.
Jesus turned his attention back to the
restless crowd and soon the disciples were asking everyone to sit down in
groups of fifty people. Once everyone was seated, a hush fell over the
hillside.
Jesus took Eli’s five smooth loaves of
bread, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks. Eli’s brow furrowed as he watched,
and his heart began to beat faster. What would the hungry crowd do if Jesus ate
in front of them? Jesus broke the first loaf of bread into pieces and put them
into a basket one of the disciples handed to him. He did the same with the
second loaf and the third. As Eli watched, wide-eyed, basket after basket started
filling up with bread. Somehow, his little loaves were multiplying. The
disciples started moving among the groups of people passing out bread. The more
pieces Jesus gave away, the more there were. Then he did the same with the two
little salted fish. Before long, everyone was talking and laughing as they
munched on the bread and fish from Eli’s lunch. The women around Eli
complimented his mother’s fine baking. Eli murmured his thanks as he nibbled at
his bread and fish. He couldn’t take his eyes off Jesus, who continued to pass
out baskets of bread and fish to the disciples until everyone was fed.
Eli watched Jesus serve bread and fish to
each of the hungry disciples. He went
around the circle, putting a hand on one man’s shoulder, leaning in close to
whisper something in another’s ear, tousling the hair of the youngest disciple.
Eli wished he were older and could be in that close circle. He’d give anything
to feel Jesus’ hand on his shoulder or to hear his voice whispering something
just for him in his ear. What was it about him that made Eli feel this way? All
of a sudden, Eli realized something: although Jesus had made sure everyone else
had plenty to eat, including his own disciples, unless Eli had missed it, he
had not taken even one bite himself.
Soon the disciples were on their feet
again moving around the crowd of people. After awhile, each of the men came
back to Jesus with a basket full of leftover bread and fish. People near Eli
were talking in low, hushed tones about Jesus. Who was this man, they wondered,
who could take two fish and five loaves of bread and feed thousands of people
and still have food leftover. When Eli turned back toward Jesus, he saw him
calmly helping himself to some of the leftovers, seemingly unaware of the buzz
in the crowd over what had just happened. Eli watched as Jesus put a little
piece of fish between two small pieces of bread, closed his eyes and bowed his
head for a moment, then popped the little sandwich into his mouth. Almost
immediately, he reached for more bread. Then, as if he felt Eli’s eyes on him,
he turned and beckoned to him.
Eli jumped to his feet and hurried over
to Jesus, dodging in and out of the groups of people who were gathering up children,
fastening sandals, and preparing to head back to their homes.
One of Jesus’ followers saw Eli coming
and blocked his path, saying kindly but firmly, “It’s time to go, son. Jesus is
tired.”
But almost instantly, Jesus was there,
gently moving the man aside. “I’m never too tired to talk to children,
especially this young man whose mother bakes such delicious bread. Please tell
her how much we all enjoyed it,” he said to Eli. “It reminds me of the bread my
own mother makes.” Then he put a hand on each of Eli’s shoulders pulled him
close for a minute. Jesus’ rough tunic smelled of sun and sea and freshly-baked
bread. Eli threw his arms around Jesus’s waist just as he’d seen his friend do earlier.
Jesus bent his head and whispered quietly in Eli’s ear. Eli looked up at Jesus,
his eyes brimming with tears. Then he nodded and smiled and gave Jesus one more
quick hug before he turned and headed for home.
Epilogue:
Eli grew from boyhood to manhood. Eventually
he left his small village behind and explored the mysterious hills beyond the
sea. Like most lives, Eli’s was filled with great joy as well as great sorrow.
Throughout the good times and the hard times, Eli carried with him the memory
of the afternoon on the hillside when he gave Jesus all that he had, and Jesus
took what he offered and made a miracle. He held Jesus’ words close to his
heart and shared them often with his children, his grandchildren, and his great
grandchildren and with anyone else who would listen: “Anything is possible to
those who believe.
Story
based on the Bible, particularly the following passages:
Matthew
14:13 – 21
Mark
6:30 – 44 and 9:23
Luke
9:10 – 17
John
6:1 – 15
