Since we enter into the month of August and draw nearer to the beginning of a new school year (we pray), I thought I’d talk about math. Did you know the Bible is full of math? This Sunday’s gospel is one example; Jesus multiplies 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed 5000 men, not counting women and children, with 12 baskets left over. Maybe since my background before becoming a priest was in engineering, I always wonder about the exact math here (nerd alert!). One has to make some assumptions, but I will assume that a loaf of bread feeds one person, and a fish serves multiple persons in the right proportion of 2 fish to 5 people. Therefore, 5 loaves and 2 fish would normally satisfy 5 people. I use as evidence another little parable of Jesus out of the Gospel of Luke, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’’ (Luke 11:5–6). To me, asking for 3 loves for one friend, means they eat 1 loaf per meal, or something like that. Next we have to figure out the end result. To the 5000 men, we need to add women and children, plus how much 12 baskets hold. Lest I go too far down this rabbit hole, just to feed 5000 men by my assumption means Jesus multiplies by a factor of 1000. So, I assume the real factor is greater, maybe a multiplication of 3000 or more!
Recently, we had the parable of the sower, and heard that one good seed in good soil can produce 30, 60, 100 fold. We are supposed to do spiritual math too, to multiply goodness. God’s first commandment? “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:27–28) In the end, we are judged on if we multiplied the “talents” God has given us (Matthew 25:14-30). If you want to read other examples of Biblical multiplication (food, oil, people, years, armies, forgiveness, etc.), here is my short list (Genesis 17:1–4; Exodus 1:12; Deuteronomy 7:12-13; Exodus 16:16–20; Judges 7:2-7; 1 Kgs 17:14–16; 2 Kings 4:42-44; 2 Kings 4:1-7; Proverbs 9:10-122; Mark 10:29–30; Matthew 18: 21-22; John 2:1-11; 2 Corinthians 9:6-10; 2 Peter 3:8). Once you read these things, you begin to see God is multiplying graces all over the place!
How do we do spiritual multiplication? Always, we just bring what we have to God, and offering it with trust, God does the rest. But usually it seems we have to bring a sacrificial gift, a whole gift, and not hold back to make this work. Trust is key here. God requires trust of us to make multiplication happen.
Did you know if we took this seriously how quickly our lives and world would change? If just one person among us decided to double faith by bringing Jesus into another person’s life, and teaching them to do the same, and if this process could repeat itself each year, and each person to which the Gospel spread kept doing this also, the entire world would be converted in 23 years! Spiritual math is awesome!