First Fruits

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, July 28, 2024:
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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2 Kings
​4.42-44

A man came bringing food from the first fruits to Elisha, the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.”

But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So Elisha repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’”

The servant set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

In many ancient cultures, the first fruits of a harvest belonged to God. This was true in ancient Rome and ancient Greece, and it was true long before either of those empires, in ancient Israelite culture. It can be seen as a simple matter of thanks – for people who are one bad season away from famine, when God provides a harvest, they give a portion of it back to Him. Jewish tradition says that this specific offering of first fruits, given to Elisha to offer to God, was the first harvest throughout the entire region. These are the first of the first fruits, the best of the best. 

It takes real faith to give God these first fruits. Even today, many families that depend on subsistence farming find themselves growing hungry by harvest season. I’ve been blessed to never know true hunger – an ache in my belly that hasn’t been satisfied for days, or the cries of a child whose body wants to grow but there’s just not enough left to go around. But this farmer did, and he was surrounded by a hundred people from his village who were hungry, too. Imagine the faith it takes to set to work, to gather and prepare grain while your belly growls, to bake it into delicious-smelling bread – and then to bring it to a temple instead of your dinner plate. 

Through Elisha, God takes those first fruits and turns them into an abundant feast. A hundred hungry people eat until they are completely full, leaving leftovers behind. It’s not just wheat and barley – God transforms whatever we give Him. When we have the faith to share our first fruits with Him, He works miracles in order to give back to us ten-, thirty-, and a hundred-fold.

There is so much we can give to God, many different types of first fruits. (I’m grateful for that as someone who can’t even keep a houseplant alive!) I can give God the first fruits of my day, taking a few moments right after I wake up to say a prayer of thanks and gratitude. I can give God the first fruits of my weekend, making Mass a priority amid fun activities and family obligations. I can give God the first fruits of my treasure, ensuring that I donate to my local parish and to charitable organizations. 

It can be easier to give God our last fruits – the money left over after expenses and some frivolous purchases, the hasty prayer at the end of the day, what little energy I have left after filling up my work and social calendars. God can work even with these scraps, and there will always be seasons in life when that’s all we have to give to Him. But I encourage you to step out in faith and pray on one area of your life where you’ve got room to give God the first fruits – and be prepared to be blown away by how much He can do with a little bit of the best of your best.




Jenna Young

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