Feeding the Five Thousand

I recently heard a interpretation of the feeding of the five thousand, and I want to see if anyone has any thoughts about this particular miracle.

This interpretation says Jesus did not magically create more bread and more fishes. He took the generosity of one boy, blessed the meager fish and bread, and ordered the disciples to pass around the food. As the baskets went around, those who had no food took what they needed, but the example and essence of Jesus encouraged those who had food to put some of what they had into the baskets. This is how there came to be so much extra food, and I guess one could consider it miraculous.

I really like this story. I often wondered how Jesus created more food. It's not that I doubt Jesus' power, and I totally believe he has the ability to magically multiply food (like the widows oil and flour). But I thought it weird to be one of the disciples passing around the food. The little boy did not give very much, so I wondered when the food actually multiplied. Was it like the movies, where a person reaches into the basket and in the quick second that her hand covers the bread another one appears? Did it happen as Jesus blessed the food? Was there a big mob and in the confusion no one bothered to keep count? That sort of miracle seems oddly mystical.

One of my friends pointed out that in Jesus' miracles, he didn't often create something out of nothing. He raised the dead, but the bodies were already there. He turned water into wine, but the wine didn't pour out of an empty jar. He healed people, walked on water, slipped through crowds without a hand grabbing at him, but none of these required him creating matter out of nothing. Now I don't discount the traditional interpretation of the feeding of five thousand, but this way brings a whole new dimension to the story.

We are required to follow Jesus. Even in his death, his greatest and most difficult task, we are asked to follow. It seems like with all of his miracles, we are able to follow. So with this interpretation of the "feeding of the five-thousand" miracle, we should be able to follow. We should live the life prescribed to us in the scriptures, no matter how pointless it seems, and trust that the influence of our actions will spread. We should believe that our seemingly futile actions of self-sacrifice can affect the lives of those around us. We should believe that somehow our little bread and fish can feed the five thousand.